david, palazzo strozzi, and ciao to firenze

On our second and last full day in Florence, we booked tickets to the Galleria dell'Accademia - best known for Michelangelo's David. We thought it would be less crowded if we went in the morning, so we had tickets for entry at something like 8:45am. We were wrong! It was super full. It kind of wasn't worth it for me? Don't get me wrong - it was really interesting to see the unfinished Michelangelo sculptures at the front of the gallery, and the plaster gallery on the side that showed pieces that were reproduced many times over. But pieces like the David and the Mona Lisa and Starry, Starry Night just aren't worth the crowds for me. Whatever weird combination of fate and history that caused certain works of art to become extremely popular usually don't line up with the works of art I like the best. And even if they did - I still probably wouldn't want to wade through a huge sea of tourists to catch a glimpse. There's so much good art out there - I'd rather find a quiet room where I can experience it in peace!













Anyway - we walked all through the museum and enjoyed the parts I mentioned above. Both the unfinished Michelangelo sculptures and the plaster models were cool because you could see the process in the art, which I really like. The rest of it was a little too "Renaissance Disneyland" (as Matt said), but most of Florence seemed like that to us. On the way out, we took a detour to see a building I really liked when I studied it in art history - l'Ospedale degli Innocenti. It was founded as an orphanage 500 years ago, and we learned that it still exists to help children today! It basically marks the beginning of the Renaissance in Florence, so I thought it would be cool to stop by. When we arrived, we found that there was a ceramics fair setting up in the piazza out front!











There were all kinds of cool ceramic artists from all over Italy. We ended up buying the blue and white teapot on the left and are reminded of the market every time we use it! After we dropped off our teapot, we realized we were super hungry so we went over to a sandwich shop I read a review of on an Italian food blog - I Fratellini.







Mine was amazing - tuna and salsa verde. Matt got butter & anchovies and it was also delicious. Once again - if we'd gone here before our last day, we probably would have gone more than once! Next time, I guess. Since we were right by the Palazzo Vecchio and a bunch of other famous buildings, we took our time wandering around before heading to our next stop, Palazzo Strozzi.







Palazzo Strozzi is an exhibition center/art museum that shows art exhibitions throughout the year but doesn't have a permanent collection up. The exhibition that was up when we were visiting was all about the 15th century in Florentine art and the transition from High Renaissance to Mannerism. We thought it sounded pretty interesting so we headed over. It was probably my favorite museum of the whole trip! The exhibition was really well curated - informative signs that explained details of the transition in the art world and how it related to cultural transitions and political changes. It was super interesting because it was actually very similar to the current cultural and political climate, one of social change and upheaval. Also, even though it was a Saturday afternoon, there was hardly anybody there! Compared to the madhouse at the Accademia that morning, it was a really nice change.





The end of our day was spent having a snack on our balcony, going over to this amazing perfume/soap/wonderful scents shop called Aqua Flor, eating yummy gelato, and going to dinner for the last time in Florence. The weather was as perfect that day as it was every day!

















And that was that for Florence! We did a bunch of unforgettable stuff that I loved - but overall, it's not my (or Matt's) kind of city. Way, way too touristy, at least the parts we went to at the time of year we went. Whereas Rome felt like a normal city that has a lot of tourists (like New York), Florence felt like a city that would be empty if tourists stopped coming. I think if I went again, I'd want to go in February or March, when the tourist numbers are lower and we could experience more of regular Florence. And maybe stay in Oltrarno since it's farther from the main tourist sites. And we'd avoid the David and the Duomo and things would probably be a lot different!