Annette makes sure I have a great day with some cool presents and the usual smoked salmon dinner!
After a great birthday and quiet Christmas the world is reeling from the devastating Tsunami that hits South East Asia...
Villa Borromeo
So to cheer ourselves up we have booked a table at the very elegant Villa Borromeo in San Casciano, where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton apparently came in the 60's... We enjoy a slap up meal in very plush surroundings.
Palazzo Vecchio
We also finally get to check out Florence's town hall, the Palazzo Vecchio. For three years we've been admiring the outside and it's only taken us this long for a cloudy day to force us inside!
It was definitely worth the wait... The monumental first courtyard, designed by Michelozzo is covered in frescoes by Giorgio vasari and depicts scenes from the Austrian Hapsburg estates. In the centre is an bronze angel and dolphin cast by Verocchio, originally this was in the Medici villa in Careggi.
The main room, Salone dei Cinquecento or hall of the five hundred was originally the grand council where the 500 members met and later Duke Cosimo held court. It was in this room also that Leoardo's battle of Anghiari and Michelangelo's battle of Cascina frescoes were carried out but unfortunately were ruined and lost forever. Giorgio Vasari frescoed over them with scenes of victory for Florence over Pisa, but there is a tiny chance that some traces of the original frescoes are hidden underneath... one of those unsolved mysteries that might one day see the light of day, literally!
There are also six statues along the hall that represent the labours of Hercules and the piece de resistance Michelangelo's marble group, the genius of Victory, which is quite sublime...
We have a look around some of the smaller rooms, but nothing quite compares to this! All in all a very nice birthday treat!
(Original journal entry 24-29/12/04)
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