CATHEDRAL QUEST
Our quest to experience the great cathedrals and churches of Europe
Day 7
Tuesday
– May 13
FLORENCE
We have now been away one week.
We got up early. Mike and Mary came over for breakfast.
All four of us went to Fiesole and caught the bus for Florence. We
had decided to put off the dentist for my wife until the next day as we had a
10:45 reservation for the Uffizi. Again
I want to emphasize how important it is to plan well in advance the day and time
you want to visit very popular sites such as museums.
Months before this trip, we already had reserved tickets, to Arena Chapel
in Padua, to the Uffizi and the Academia in Florence, a concert and the Doge
Palace in Venice plus dinner reservations for several restauran
ts in Venice.
Without advanced tickets there are very, very long waiting lines often
resulting in still not being able to go in.
THE UFFIZI MUSEUM
The waiting line at the Uffizi Museum was extremely long.
We got in the advance ticket line which only took at few minutes and got
our tickets, but had to go through a lot of security.
In preparation for our Uffizi visit, we had enjoyed the
Teaching Company lecture series on Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance by
Professor William Kloss as well as two different art lecture series at the
Smithsonian Resident Associates program – one by Dr. Judith Feldman and the
other by Dr. Karen Alexis. We
had made a list of all the paintings that we wanted to see and in which gallery
of the Uffizi in which they were locate
d as well as famous paintings in various
churches. Among the paintings on our list which we enjoyed in the Uffizi were Ognissanti
Madonna by Giotto (gallery 5), Fra Angelico’s Madonna and Child with Angels, Adoration of Child with Joseph
(gallery 7), St Lucy’s Altarpiece by
Venetians (left) (gallery 8),
Francesca’s
Duke Federico da Montefeltro
(right) and the
Duchess 
of Urbino (gallery 10),
Pollaiunolo’s
Hercules and the Hydra (gallery 13),
many great works by Botticelli including The
Discovery of Holofernes, The Adoration
of the Magi, Primavera and The Birth
of Venus
(left below) (galleries 15 and 16),
Filippa Lippi’s Adoration of the Child and the
Adoration of the Magi (gallery 17) , Landscape and the Adoration of
the Magi by da Vinci (gallery 18), Michelangelo’s Holy Family (gallery 20)
Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch
and Self Portrait (galleries 23 &
25), and Madonna of the Long Neck by
Parmigianino (gallery 36). It was
wonderful to take our time and spend as long as we wanted with each painting.
That is not possible as a tour. We
had coffee in the Uffizi’s café
which was on the roof. I got
some great pictures of the dome of the Duomo. From there we could also see the
cathedral bell tower at the bus stop
in Fiesole.
We came across a great café for lunch.
I had a chicken and mushroom in sauce and my wife had gnocchi.
Mike and Mary went to find an internet café.
We walked across the Ponte Vecchio Bridge on our way to Santa Marie del
Carmine where the Branca
cci Chapel is located.
It was a long walk, but it was a nice day so we enjoyed it.
Crossing the Ponte Vecchio Bridge was an interesting experience with all
of the little shops selling gold jewelry.
We very much wanted to see the Brancacci Chapel
We had studied the great
frescos by Panicale and Masaccioe and finished by Filippino Lippi which depicted
incidents in the life of the apostle Peter.
The exterior of the church was very plain with only the fire brick for a
the façade. Much to our great
disappointment, the church was closed on Tuesdays. Several blocks away we found another
church…St. Federia but it was also closed because of a funeral.
We walked back
along the Arno River which provided a beautiful panoramic view of Florence
across the river. We found
St. Spirito Church which was on our list to visit,
but it was closed until 4:00…it was then 3:00.
We were getting a little discouraged, so we got a gelato and walked
across a nearby bridge. This bridge
was parallel to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We
found a silver store and bought a wine coaster and two silver picture frames.
ST. SPIRITO CHURCH
We went back to St. Spirito which was designed by Brunelleschi in 1435.
It was finished after his death in the late 15th century. The
church was now open. It was very
beautiful. 
It had 38 chapels with
paintings by Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi.
It was a light airy church. Photographs were permitted. The
exterior was finished in yellow stucco. We
had a good visit there.
ST.TRINITA CHURCH
We walked back
across the bridge and found the St. Trinita Church which was also on our list.
The exterior had been finished but was rather plain. 
It
was rather dark on the inside but
had a famous chapel ….Sassetti chapel which had the life of St. Francis by
Ghirlandaio. We had learned about it in the Teaching Company lectures. There
was a coin operated lighting system that allowed a few minutes light in the
chapel for a few coins. Photographs
were permitted here also.
