Whether it is traveling back in time to the later part of the 16th century or keeping with the current time, Florence, Italy has changed very little since Michelangelo Buonorroti grew up. Michelangelo is a humble man and wishes to start the day with showing me other artists’ accomplishments for which Florence is famous. We grab a loaf of bread, some fruit, and a small jug of wine from a street vendor as we briskly walk the narrow winding streets toward Santa Maria del Fiore, whose massive dome we can see As we walk and eat, Michelangelo tells me the history of this great cathedral The Duomo. In 1294 Arnolfo di Cambio was commissioned to construct a new cathedral. When he died in 1302, his job was taken over by subsequent architects. The cathedral was completed in 1420 except for the dome, whose construction proved to be more difficult to build than thought. The dome was finished and the cathedral was consecrated in 1436, 140 years after it was started. I am awed by the architecture and enormity of the Duomo as we approach it. The cupola at the top of the Duomo is a vantage point from which all of Florence is laid out before us.
Michelangelo points out below us the Baptistero di San Giovanni, its octagonal shape is evident from this height. We descend the Duomo and cross the cobblestone piazza to the Baptistero, whose three sets of bronze doors are particularly important, both artistically and biblically, and Michelangelo points them out as we stand before them.
The east door took twenty-one years to sculpt and cast. Michelangelo tells me he named the east door The Gates of Paradise. These are the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti and it is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of 15th century, taking him twenty-seven years to complete. Ghiberti included a relief of his and his son’s head in the door frame. Michelangelo said that was vanity because religious works are done for the glory of God and not for self-promotion.
We walk to the Piazza Vecchio where Michelangelo’s David is standing. He tells me about the day it was brought to the piazza. Imagine a sixteen-foot tall stone man with the imposing stare being jostled down a winding narrow cobblestone street, hoisted into place by a crude wooden crane. Michelangelo told me the original piece of marble, over nineteen feet, laid in the basement of a nearby building for years. He could envision the figure of David within the stone and it was up to him, a simple stone cutter, to free David.
We again are on the move. This time to Santa Croce, the final resting place of many notable Florentines--Niccolo Machiavelli, Gioacchino Rossini, Galileo Galilei, and our own Florentine guide, Michelangelo. It is here we say grazia and ciao to our friend who has shown us a slice of life in Florence, Italy.
