Last Night in Florence

I never thought I would get emotionally attached to a city, but I truly will miss Florence.  I had a pretty good and full last full day.

I started by heading back down to the Central Market looking for an Italian silk tie, but mostly just checking prices.  It seems all the little shops have virtually the same things for the same prices.

I moved on to the Medici Chapels.  The major room is top by a dome that is a mini copy of the Duomo.  Inside is dark and garish.  A second chapel was designed by Michelangelo, and much better.  It holds the tombs of four of the "great" Medicis, including Lorenzo.  The tombs are adorned with sculptures referencing day and night, the beginning and ending of our time on Earth.  Behind the altar they have displayed some sketches from Michelangelo and his people, some of them quite cartoonish, like they were doodling on their breaks.  Overall it is much more simple, and better, chapel.

Next was the Science Museum, now called the Galileo Museum since renovations earlier this year (it has been completely changed, so unfortunately my Rick Steves tour was little to no help).  It is interesting because it holds numerous old scientific measuring devices from all branches of science.  It is called the Galileo Museum because they have on display some of the only serving tools once used by him, as well as reliquaries made by his disciples, one with the middle finger of his right hand, one with the index and thumb of his left hand as well as a tooth.  So even science has its saints.

Before lunch, I quickly walked throught the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, which is free to the public and includes a few pieces of art.  After lunch I made my way over to Dante's House and Dante's Chapel.  The house is mostly about the incredibly complex politics in Florence of his day that lead to his exile.  The chapel is probably where he attended Mass, as well as the resting place of Beatrice, his first love and muse who married another man and died young.

I also took some time to see the Michelangelo house, which probably was not his house though he did own it.  Outside of a few small pieces and some sketches, it mostly holds some art by his followers and paintings of Michelangelo.  It is a decent little museum, emphasis on little (ditto for Dante's House).  I did take the quick detour to see the door a few houses down that actually did lead to Michelangelo's house, which now is the door to an apartment.

Since I was in the area, I finally made my way down to Santa Croce Church.  The outside is impressive, with shades of Santa Maria Novella and the Duomo.  Inside they are doing extensive work on the altar and one of the main side altars, so qutie a bit was covered up.  The church is most notable for the almost 300 tombs, and the main ones could still be seen.  The three biggest names there are probably Galileo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli.  I also found it interesting to see Enrico Fermi and Guglielmo Marconi, two big names in the history of science and technology.  It also includes a memorial for Dante who is buried elsewhere due to his exile.  Interestingly a leather school is attached since the monks had started a boys town of sorts with the leather school to teach them a trade.  I wanted to purchase something, perhaps a journal or new wallet, but the prices were a bit high for me.

I then decided to walk around and try to find a souvenir finally.  I was hoping to find a pencil sketch of the skyline of Florenice, since I had seen many of Venice while there.  Outside of one by one of the street artists, I came up short.  I did not even ask him the price for fear of the answer, plus I did not want to risk damaging it in the next week or so that I am in Rome and on the plane.  I made it to the silk market, and purchased a nice solid yellow tie made of Italian silk for only 6 Euro.  I looked around for a green tie, especially one with the Florence symbol, but no luck.  I also ducked into a basement football shop and purchased an official scarf of Fiorentina from Serie A Fiorentina, which is purple and white stripped.  I decided that, as a lasting memory of Florence, they will be my football club.

For dinner I thought about returning to the best restaurant I had been to before, a local joint south of the Arno we had dined at Saturday night.  Instead I decided to try one more new place.  Unfortunately the restaurant I wanted to eat at, which is supposed to be run by an exceptionally good chef but still low priced, was closed tonight.  I walked around the area, near the Central Market, and more or less got tired of looking and stopped at one that had pretty good prices.  The one thing I had been wanting to try since I got here was the local specialty, Bissteca Fiorentina (essentially a huge T-bone).  Most places serve it as a huge serving, a kilo, meant for many multiple people and with a price to prove it.  This restaurant, however, had a smaller sized portion for a single person.  Well, of course I had to try it!  I also ordered sauteed spinach in garlic and oil, which sounded interesting.  The steak was quite good, worth the price and the wait.  The spinach was remarkably lacking in taste until I finally tried some balsmic vinaigrette on it about halfway through to help me force it down.  Since it was my last dinner in Florence, I decided to spoil myself just a little and had some tiramisu to end the meal.  It was a little thick with the coffee powder, but overall very good.  It was not my best meal in Florence, but still very good.

After dinner I had to take one more stroll down to the Duomo.  As I said goodbye to Florence, I unexpectantly became slightly choked up.  Again, I never thought I would get emotionally attached to a city I did not live in, but Florence I think has that effect on people.  I could not help but smile when I overheard an American couple, obviously taking in their first night in Florence and talking about everything they want to do in see.  Again this may sound weird, but it made me feel a little better to know that every day someone is experiencing Florence for the first time and has the potential to enjoy it as I did.  I now know why my contact in Paris told me she was jealous of me, being able to experience Florence for the first time as she had years ago.

Tomorrow I head to Rome, the city that I thought at the beginning of this trip would be my highlight (it still may be, but it will have to pack a mighty wallop for that).  If Rome is just half of Florence, I think it will be a very good next 5 or so days.