19. Mum! - Our 1st house guest.

We've settled in nicely and after four months we're finally getting our first visitor. My mum is the first to break! She's booked a ten day trip and although she's half Italian and has been to Naples many times this is her first time in Tuscany. Obviously we're both still working, but with our unconventional timetables there will still be plenty of spaces to fit in some nice excursions... After catching a raucous 2-2 draw between Juventus and Inter at the Irish pub in Santa Maria Novella, I dash out to nearby Peretola airport for the 22.40 pick up, emotional welcome and the 1 hour drive back to Greve.



 Piazzale Michelangelo

Sunday and we're in the city, so our first port of call is Piazzale Michelangelo. This is the big square above Florence, it's one of my favourite spots and where you can see the whole city. It's the perfect place to start your tour of Florence, as you can point out all the landmarks and get an idea where everything is before you tackle it.
It's a nice sunny afternoon and the nearby ice cream parlour proves too much of a temptation!

Monday we're both working all day, so Mum gets a chance to relax in our olive grove and take in a bit of that glorious Tuscan sun!

Florence
Tuesday it's down to business. I drop Mum at the Cascine market, a seemingly 10 mile-long outdoor market in the Cascine park which sells absolutely everything. I pick her up after work and we enjoy a leisurely stroll through the historic centre of Florence and we take in some of the main sights, the Cathedral, bell tower and baptistry and Piazza Signoria. We walk over the Ponte Vecchio and finally end up at the Galleria del Accademia, where after a very short queue we are in to see Michelangelo's David, arguably the world's most famous statue. It's my second time here, but a chance to get re-acquainted with the big naked guy again!

David                                                Of course David is the crowning glory of one of the world's greatest artists. Sculpted from a piece of damaged marble that nobody thought was possible to recover. A 26 year-old Michelangelo crafted this 17 ft  masterpiece in only 3 years. Originally it was outside in Piazza Signoria, but in 1860 it was brought inside and can be seen alongside some of Michelangelo's other sculptures, the dying slaves and Madonna.

Wednesday and we've booked tickets for the Uffizi art gallery, yes Mum's going for the whole cultural experience!  We meet up with Annette and buy some sunglasses, as the sun's becoming unbearable.

I'm quite excited as this is only my second time here.

The Uffizi
The Uffizi is the kind of art gallery you can come back to many times... and today the Caravaggio room is open! Our pre-booked ticket allows us to jump the queue and we spend about 3 hours journeying through Renaissance Florence...

There are so many masterpieces here it's quite overwhelming , and so many different styles and personalities and wonderful stories behind the paintings. You can witness the progression and developement of the Renaisance style from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Obviously too many to mention here in one go, but I'll highlight a few of my favourites.

Two of the most famous and beautiful are 'the birth of Venus' and 'Primavera' painted in about 1482  by Sandro Botticelli.

The two paintings depict pagan and mythological themes influenced by a love of Greek ideologies.

Venus emerges from the sea upon a shell that is pushed to the shore from the winds produced by the Zephyr wind-gods amid a shower of roses. As the goddess is about to step on the shore, one of the Nymphs reaches out to cover her with a purple cloke. The model for Venus, Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci was the niece of Amerigo di Vepucci, the discoverer of America and was a popular 'muse' at the time and a favourite of Boticelli. She died very young and Boticelli requested that he be buried at her feet.

Botticelli was a craftsman in his own right. His “Venus” was the first large-scale canvas created in Renaissance Florence. He prepared his own tempera pigments with very little fat and covered them with a layer of pure egg white in a process unusual for his time. He had fantastic results. His painting resembles a fresco in its freshness and brightness. It is preserved exceptionally well: the painting today remains firm and elastic with very little cracks.

The Primavera is a painting filled with mythological and symbolic meaning and has been the subject of much debate. Venus is standing in the center of the picture, set slightly back from the other figures. Above her, Cupid is aiming one of his arrows of love at the Three Graces, who are elegantly dancing. The Grace on the right side has the face of Caterina Sforza, also painted by Botticelli in a famous portrait. The garden of Venus, the goddess of love, is guarded on the left by Mercury, who stretches out his hand to touch the fruit. Mercury, who is lightly clad in a red cloak covered with flames, is wearing a helmet and carrying a sword, clearly characterizing him as the guardian of the garden. The messenger of the gods is also identified by means of his winged shoes and the staff which he used to drive two snakes apart and make peace; Botticelli has depicted the snakes as winged dragons. From the right, Zephyrus, the god of the winds, is forcefully pushing his way in, in pursuit of the nymph Chloris. Next to her walks Flora (said to be a portrait of Giuliano de Medici's mistress Simonetta Vespucci), the goddess of spring, who is scattering flowers.

Leonardo da Vinci is well represented in the Uffizi with three pieces and probably my favourite painting in the whole gallery is his annunciation. It's a very early painting by Leonardo, originally thought to be by Ghirlandaio, x-rays have shown it to be the work of two artists, Leonardo and his master, Verrochio. Leonardo's attention to detail in the landscape and flowers in the foreground show an incredible understanding in his extensive studies of nature. His extremely light brush stroke is just breathtaking!

One of the gallery's most erotic paintings is this gem by Titian. I remember seeing his rather portly ladies in the National gallery in London, when I was a child. However the Venus of Urbino is a more slender young woman with very pleasant curves! In this very suggestive pose the naked Venus is looking straight at the viewer. The painting was comissioned and painted in 1538, probably as a wedding present and we can see the maids rummaging around for clothes to cover her up. Dogs were usually a symbol of faithfulness, so the fact it's sleeping suggests she may have been 'unfaithful'.

My last homage is to Caravaggio. I love Caravaggio's paintings. They kind of go against the grain, he was a rebel artist and painted dark canvases with low life people as the subjects. There are several Caravaggio paintings in the Uffizi, one of which is this Bacchus, god of wine. It was a favourite theme of Caravaggio, he could probably relate to his dark and mischevious nature. He generally painted him as an adolescent, using as a model his young assistant (and probable lover!), Mario Minniti. His pose is almost languid, with the over ripe fruit signifying the transient nature of pleasure. If you look closely you can see Caravaggio's portrait in the carafe of wine. 

There is also a special temporary exhibition dedicated to Massaccio, on the re-discovery of perspection, which I whizz round at the end! 

San Gimignano

After a day to recover from our cultural extravaganza, which mum spends relaxing in our local town Greve, we're off on our travels again. Todays destination is San Gimignano, with a stop at Castellina. It's a bit foggy this morning, but we head out anyway. 1st stop is Castellina, where we have a chance to taste some local Chianti Classico wine and a 4o year-old Brandy! By the time we reach San Gimignano the sun has reappeared and we are able to enjoy a pleasant afternoon. We stumble upon an underground grotto Cafè/Deli run by a Neapolitan family. We tuck into big bruschetta with truffles and porcini, some home made lasagne and ribolitta (a local vegetable soup) We wash it down with a very nice local white wine called 'Vernaccia'. I spot a bottle of limoncello liquer on the way out and we get chatting with the owner. When he finds out we have family from Naples he offers us a free taste along with some chocolate truffles!  We enjoy a pleasant stroll in this beautifully preserved medieval town with the big towers and Mum enjoys all the leather shops!

Fiesole and Baldovino

Saturday morning and Annette and I are working so we arrange to meet up with mum in Florence and head up to Fiesole. She's brought a picnic and we walk through the woods at Mt. Ceceri to that spot we only found a few weeks ago! In the evening Mum has invited us out to dinner and we have chosen a restaurant in the Santa Croce area of Florence called 'Baldovino'. Although we haven't booked, the waiter just manages to squeeze us in on a table near the entrance. During the evening countless people are turned away, so a very popular place! The food is amazing. Mum has an incredible salad with pesto, pine nuts and mozerella. Annette chooses a carpaccio of swordfish with juniper berries and I go for a chunky wild boar papardelle. For main course mum has a creamy linguine, Annette a chicken, pesto and sundried tomato affair and I have a swordfish, scallop and prawn kebab and we share some yummy pumpkin cooked with sage and black olives. No room for dessert... and all for a great price.

Pisa                                           For mum's last full day, Pisa is the chosen destination. It's only an hour's drive away and the temperature's up to 23°C.  We find some free parking 100 metres from the 'Campo dei Miracoli' it's a symphony of white marble, with the Cathedral, the Baptistry and of course, the Leaning Tower. We enjoy our picnic on the lawn and Mum buys some souvenirs from the many stalls lining the streets.

Annette and I are working all day on Monday, but we meet up in Florence for a farewell ice cream. An appropriate end to a very pleasant 10 days, Mum has been a very good house guest, we are all totally exhausted, but I think she had a good time!  

(Original journal entry 9/3/02)