Today we had reservations to go to the Accademia which is the museum housing Michelangelo’s David. We toured the museum which also has quite a collection of Florentine religious art from the 13th century through the 16th century. It was very well done and gave a good understanding of the changes which were made throughout the period. The way I would describe it is that it goes from a Byzantine icon style to an increasingly realistic style. The museum allows people to get quite close to David which is a tremendous gift. I was happy to take a photo of this masterpiece.
Following our time in the museum, we walked over to the Piazzale Michelangiolo. This is a park on a small bluff south of the Arno River which overlooks Florence. The day was gorgeous and the scene beautiful.
This is a view of the old city wall.
The following video link gives a panorama of Florence.
Following that we walked over to Santo Spirito basilica. Though it was not open, this is where the priests allowed Michelangelo to do dissections which at the time were forbidden.
As we were walking following that, Gay noticed a sign for a Lutheran church! It was fun to have an outpost of the Reformation in Florence.
You may be able to read the German above the door- "Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott"- "A Mighty Fortress is our God."
The following photo is of the church's founding plaque. The verse is from 1Peter 1:25 and translated says, "The Word of the Lord remains forever."
We then walked over to the Santa Croce Basilica. As a basilica, it is very large and is the burial place of many famous people from the region.
This is the tomb of Galileo.
This is the tomb of Michelangelo.
But, the most important one for Italians is the following. Take a guess before you look at the caption.
This is the tomb of Dante who by his work fathered the modern Italian language.
Gay and I will be going out for dinner after I send this and though we have already had gelato (a recurring theme of our time in Italy), we may have it again.
Blessings.
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