The Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta on the road from Pienza to San Quirico d'Orcia

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo



10. Santa Croce


It's a bitterly cold Monday afternoon and the bells of Santa Croce are calling me to come in and discover some of her hidden secrets...

When we were here last June the Piazza was filled with preparations for 'Calcio Storico' the local, annual historic football match/punch up! I did manage to just get by head in the door as the church was closing and had a peek at the tomb of Michelangelo. Today, however I have a few hours to spare, so time to stop and linger...




Michelangelo isn't the only famous Italian buried here, Santa Croce is also the resting place for Galileo, Machiavelli, Marconi, Rossini, Foscolo and many others and they are buried deep within these elaborate tombs.
The church itself  dates from 1294 and the main building was constructed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the man also responsible for Florence's two most important sites, the main Cathedral, 'Santa Maria del Fiore' and the Palazzo Vecchio. However the neo-Gothic, marble facade was only completed in 1863.
                       


A triumvirate of delectables stood out for me inside. The first being Giotto's very moving frescoes of the life of St. Francis, Cimabue's transfixing crucifix, which was damaged in the 1966 flood and Brunelleschi's harmonious, Pazzi chapel. All early examples of the rennaissance, it's simplicity and very human expression.




(Original journal entry 17/12/01)
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