Amazing May Part 3

Hey we have a little sunshine this evening, its a welcome change.

A day in Florence. 

Our first stop is the Duomo. Florence’s most distinctive landmark, sits  in the heart of the city and towers over the neighboring roof tops.  Laws prevent anyone building  higher than the Dome.

The Duomo is built from white, red and green marble, it had been cleaned recently so it looked very beautiful.

The construction began in 1296,  it took about 400 years to finish building it.  The biggest problem was building the dome.  It took several builders to figure out how to do it .  The builder built two domes one inside the other.

Inside the Duomo I was impressed with the beautiful tiled floor.

The inside of the dome was covered with beautiful paintings.  What a trick that must be to paint those frescos. 

Look at that blue sky.  We did have sun in Italy.  Our next stop was at the San Lorenzo Accademia.  Here we saw several sculptures by Michelangelo many of these were unfinished. Some one was always finding a new job for him.  Then we saw Michelangelo’s “David”  he seemed so real and full of life. The accademia  had many other sculptures.  No pictures again.

We had the afternoon free to do as we pleased.  Arlene and I decided to climb the 463 steps between the two domes of the Duomo.  When we bought our tickets, the ticket taker took one look at my grey hair and  asked if I was sure I wanted to take on the task. I was thinking I was at Disney Land and had to have the right height to go for the ride. Up we went, at times it was a little claustrophobic, especially while we were huffing and puffing our way up and met people very close to us making their way down.  But we made it. 

 

What a view,  I was surprised at how small Florence is.  

Dad and Tony took a little nap while Arlene and I climbed the dome and went wandering around the narrow streets looking for another museum we wanted to see.   At times we thought we were lost but we found our way.

A few motor scooters lined up.  Most everyone walks, rides a a motor bike, or a small car.  The town of Florence was filled with tourists.  It was hard to move in some places.  They warned us about pick picketers, some of whom are gypsies.  We saw a few gypsies dressed in velvet and satin, most were just begging.  We keep our money and passports safe in out money belts underneath our shirts.

We were so tired after being on our feet all day.  Dad and I ate a sandwich we had packed in our bag and fell into bed. 

RAVENNA                                                                        

Early the next morning  we are on the bus driving through the lush green mountains enjoying seeing the farms and villas in the beautiful country side.   Soon the land become flat as we drove towards Bologna and Ravenna.  We passed many vineyards and fruit orchards, canals and the wide Po river.      

Classe was our first stop.  We came up to a a plain little church. It is landlocked now but when it was built it stood in the center of a busy shipping port used by the Romans.  What a surprise we met inside.  I wish my camera could have captured how stunning the interior is.  Rather than the usual paintings in the Dome, the illustrations are made from mosaics. they glowed in the light.   

Here is the bishop,the Sheppard of Ravenna and his flock. The church was built to remember the bishop Sant’Apollinare who brought the Christian religion to the area in Roman times.

We drove into the old city of Ravenna, again old and narrow streets. but here the streets were flat.  We walked to see the main domed church and to a little tiny church built by a Roman woman who ruled the city until her son was of age and ready to rule. 

What a jewel this little church was. The interior did not have any light except for the light which came in through the alabaster windows.  Again the pictures were made from mosaic tiles.  Notice the stars in the sky.  The picture is of Abraham making a sacrifice.

The ceiling and sides were covered in these glowing pictures.

We visited the main church and found the same beautiful mosaics.  This area was influenced by the Byzantine empire.  They used mosaics  also.  

This depiction of Christ is most unusual.  He is very youthful, clean shaven and wearing purple robes and carrying  items that show he is the triumphant ruler.  Notice the markings on his assistants clothes.

   

On the bus and on our way to Verona.    Look for my next installment.