Thursday, Exploring Florence

These first few photos were taken near the door we used to exit the basilica after our climb.

Il Campanile di Giotto (Giotto's Bell Tower)

These sculptures below, by Luigi Pampaloni in 1830, are located across the street in this area of the basilica.

Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the basilica.

Filippo Brunelleschi, the builder of the cupola.
Notice that he is gazing up at his creation.

Another view of the cupola and the cricket cage.

A guild workshop.
This is part of the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the Museum of the Works of the Duomo.

This carving identifies it as a workshop of the Guild of Stone and Wood Masters.

As we walked around we came to a store and stopped in to get something to drink. While we were in there, I took these next three photos below.

A sign in front of a shop.

The tower of the Hotel Brunelleschi.

An architectural detail on a street corner.

The Basilica di San Lorenzo. Portions of this church were designed by Brunelleschi, and portions by Michelangelo.

The unfinished facade of the Basilica di San Lorenzo. Around 1518, Michelangelo designed a facade for this church, but it was never installed. The model for this design can be seen at the Casa Buonarroti, Michelangelo's house.

The street market of San Lorenzo is to the right of this photo.

We walked through the San Lorenzo street market, and visited the indoor, two-level Central Market, a food market. Then we continued walking toward the west, where we passed these sites seen in the photos below.

Santa Maria Novella

Then we came to the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella.

The photos below show some of the views around the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella.

A sign as you enter the church specifically states that no photos are allowed. This is true at only some of the churches in Italy. Some of them allow any photos to be taken, some allow photos with no flash, and some do not allow any photos at all.

I managed to get two photos in here, with no flash, by holding the camera low and aiming as best I could.

We entered through a side door, and Masaccio's The Holy Trinity was directly in front of us.

The Holy Trinity, with the Virgin and Saint John and donors

Painted between 1425 and 1428 by Masaccio (Tommaso Cassai) it is one of the first examples of the single-point perspective which had recently been rediscovered by Filippo Brunelleschi. Masaccio and Donatello were both proteges of Brunelleschi.

This is a carved wooden crucifix by Brunelleschi.

Here are some more sites around the church of Santa Maria Novella.

Unfortunately, the facade of the church was under renovation.

Here are a couple more architectural details we saw as we made our way back toward the Piazza del Duomo.

The Coat-of-Arms of the Medici family

The Coat-of-Arms of the Medici family, a number of red balls on a gold shield, is prominently displayed on buildings all over Florence and Tuscany which have Medicean connections or which were financed with Medici money. It is interesting to note that the number of palle (balls) depicted in it varied. Originally there were 12; in Cosimo dé Medici's time it was seven; the ceiling of San Lorenzo's Sagrestia Vecchi has eight; Cosimo I's tomb in the Cappelle Medicee has five; and Ferdinando I's coat of arms in the Forte di Belvedere, six. All of the ones that I saw has six palle.

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