Without a doubt, the highlight of the entire tour for me was Florence.
On Wednesday, June 17 we arrived in the port of Livorno around 7:00 am. We were met by a curious craft. It seemed to be a tugboat, a fire boat, and transport for the pilot. The ship's captain is always in charge. But at each port a local pilot, who is familiar with the currents and obstacles, is at the controls when the ship is entering or leaving the harbor. It is a tradition that the pilot jumps to or from the larger ship. (The small boat doesn't tie up to the large ship; it just pulls alongside.) Breakfast could be eaten in the Dining Room or on an aft deck (always my choice).
There were two options for the day. Visit the scenic and historic towns of Lucca and Villa Torrigiani or spend the day on a walking tour in Florence. It was an 80 minute bus ride to Florence. At each destination we had a tour director from the ship and a local guide. We also were given a device called a Personal PA. The local guide wore a microphone and a small transmitter. Our receiver and earpiece picked up what he or she said. It was excellent. The guide didn't have to shout; we didn't have to stay next to the guide; and we could hear clearly even in areas with other tour groups.
Florence may be best known for its art and architecture and for the Medici family during the Renaissance. Our first stop was the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts). Here the most interesting things for me were four unfinished Michelangelo statues. Pope Julius II had requested 40 marble statues for his tomb. Then the Pope changed his mind. Michelangelo had already picked out the marble and begun work. It was very interesting. You could already see the torso, the tops of the legs, portions of the arms, part of the head, the face, and yet large portions of the block of marble remained. On one, you could see an upper arm and a forearm. Where the elbow would be there was still a lot of stone. But I could 'see' the elbow in there; just obscured by unremoved stone. Quite remarkable! Then we saw Michelangelo's famous sculpture David.
The next stop was three structures right next to each other. Here's a picture from Wikipedia that is in the public domain. You can see the white top (just barely) of the octagonal Bapistry, Giotto's Bell Tower, and the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (known as the Duomo, meaning cathedral, not dome).
Inside the Duomo is this very unusual, very old working clock. Of interest, the clock has one hand, uses Roman numerals, IIII for four, has hours one through 24, and starts at one at sundown (which means that the clock has to be adjusted every few days). (Click to enlarge it.)
But the really spectacular story concerns the dome. The church was built but construction of the dome had not been well thought out. The dome was to cover an almost 140 foot wide space. There was not enough wood near Florence to build a scaffolding to support such a structure. Filippo Brunelleschi designed and built an octagonal brick dome with an inner structural and an outer layer. He also had to invent a hoist to raise bricks from the ground to the dome and to provide lunch to the workers so that they didn't have to climb down. Work on the dome took from 1420 to 1436. Here is my picture of the inside the dome. Three people left our group to climb the stairway between the two layers and then to the cupola on top of the dome.
We went to the Piazza della Signoria, a central open area. Next to it is the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace), a city hall with several statues outside. One is a copy of Michelangelo's David. The famous Uffizi Gallery is right next door.
Then we had some free time. I bought some postcards in the Piazza della Signoria. I walked to the nearby Ponte Vecchio. A bridge over the Fiume Arno (Arno River). There are shops, many with gold jewelry, along both sides of the bridge. It was the only bridge over the Arno not destroyed by the Germans during World War II. They thoroughly bombed the area on one side so the bridge would not be usable.
The group met and we walked to Restaurant Paoli for lunch. The meal was typically Italian. It began with a plate full of two types of pasta, bow tie with pesto and penne with tomato sauce. The next course was a salad with assorted greens. The next course was veal scaloppine. (It was kind of a small portion by American standards. Presumably we should have filled up on the less expensive pasta.) Finally assorted fruit things for desert. I chose strawberries.
Next stop, the Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross). The largest Franciscan church. Inside are the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini, Marconi, and other notables. The original church had a somewhat plain front. A decision was made add a new marble facade. The architect, who was Jewish, wanted to include a Star of David. He pointed out that Jesus was Jewish. I couldn't get a picture from directly in front of the church because of one of the Italian religions, soccer. Regional soccer finals were being held and temporary soccer stands filled the plaza in front of the church.
Here are pictures of the tombs of Michelangelo (1475-1564) (with the muses of painting, sculpture, and architecture) and of Galileo (1564-1642) in the public domain from Wikipedia. They are better than my pictures. For a period of time the Franciscan friars supported themselves by doing leather work. Connected to the church are shops where leather work is taught and can be purchased. Adjacent is a museum of artifacts the church possesses and also a statue of Florence Nightingale who was born in Florence. Here our guide Riccardo took us to a gift shop. He stated that there are many guide books about the city of Florence. But, if we wanted to buy the one he had written we could buy it there. At which point the salesperson called out and told him they were out of the English language version.
Then it was back to the bus for the return trip to the ship. One thing I noticed, all the cars were small. They were mostly Fiats. But there were plenty of cars made by other European and Japanese manufacturers. I did see one small Ford, but no GM cars. And another thing; the Italian drivers! In the morning I saw a woman exiting a parking area through an entrance, and forcing our bus almost to a stop. There may have been a reason for it. But a policeman yelled at her and made a hand gesture. She stopped. Later a woman rode a scooter across the Piazza di Santa Croce, a pedestrian area. A policeman yelled to her. She didn't stop, but he got her license plate number. There were a lot of scooters. On the highways they seemed to take their place in the traffic lanes. In the cities, anywhere they fit seemed to be okay.
We had one final photo opportunity where I took the picture at the top of this blog entry. You can see some of the highlights. From left to right: the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace), the Santa Maria del Fiore with its Brunelleschi dome, and the Franciscan Basilica di Santa Croce.
