Wednesday, May 23, 2012

We had a full morning at the hotel. I would have liked to have slept in a bit but we had lectures all morning.

Umberto, our guide from a day or two ago, told us all about the Medici family of Florence. They started out as middle class merchants but, before the end of their line, they had branched off into banking and politics. At that time the church and politics were very closely connected and titles could be bought. By the time their rule ended they had produced four popes and two queens of France.

Over the years the family amassed many pieces of art and when the last of the line died she left it all to the people of Florence. We took a neighborhood walk that took us past the Medicci Chapel where the family members are entombed.

The line ups weren’t too long so we had a guided tour of the Duomo. Umberto told us a little more about how the Bapistry and the Duomo were connected. Baptisms were done only once a year (so it was a big deal) and only adults were baptized. Immediately after being baptized by immersion in the Bapistry they would go out through the Gates of Paradise (which look very plain on the inside) and enter the church.

There are three colors of marble in the Duomo that represent Faith, Hope and Charity.

We toured the Accademia next where we saw several unfinished statues by Michelangelo. But the big draw was to see his David. I had wondered aloud to Pat just the day before at the Uffizi Gallery (there is a David copy there) why all the other David statues show him holding Goliath’s head. Umberto explained that this David is being shown just minutes before he throws the stone. When you know that fact the statue makes perfect sense without the head.

By this time I had reached absolute overload so Pat and I came back to the hotel for some downtime before dinner. We weren’t so tired though that we couldn’t stop for gelato and a replacement bottle of limo cello!

Dinner tonight had a Renaissance theme and was held in the Borghese Palace, the former home of Napoleon’s sister who married into the powerful Borghese family. The dinner was fabulous and we were entertained with music, dancing and several games that many of our group were picked out (on) to participate in.

We had a nice walk home and had to pack up for our next stop.

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