An ideal male form combining heroic strength and human uncertainty

Anyone who knows anything about the city of Florence knows that there are many reasons to visit. The ancient heritage left by the ruling Medici family, the abundance of fine markets, glorious renaissance architecture and the plethora of paintings and frescos by the masters. But of all the reasons to visit, there is one overriding reason to come to this city in Italy. It is the Statue of David, undoubtedly the greatest ever sculpture of all time.

However, an artifact such as this commands a great deal of attention. Enough attention that when confronted by the line stretching 2 blocks outside the museum, we initially blanched at the prospect. Fortunately, my sister Anna volunteered to wait in line, to make up for her truancy in Venice, which left me free to wander around Florence. Very obliging of her.

In the 2 hours or so until I received a phone call to come and "cutsie" I first made my way down to the River Arno, to see the Ponte Vecchio. This most famous of bridges was first constructed in Roman times, and has been rebuilt several times - the current bridge dates from 1345 AD. The distinctive feature of this bridge is the fact that it is covered with houses and shops - traditionally it was a market, however today the only thing you can buy there is high quality jewellery. It's definitely what you'd call one of a kind.


The Ponte Vecchio. Shops are on both sides of the bridge, and it's most definitely for pedestrians only. I was amazed to see it, since most bridges you see in Australia are designed with the sole purpose of cramming as many lanes as possible within the confines. You simply wouldn't get this anywhere else.


The jewellery shops on the Ponte Vecchio.


A shot of the bridge downstream from the Ponte Vecchio - I liked the way the reflecting effect came out. I was fortunate in that it was fairly early in the morning when this photo was taken - when I came back later on in the afternoon the wind had picked up. Don't be deceived by the apparent clarity of the water, as it's very green.

After departing the Ponte Vecchio, I made my way to the Santa Maria Del Fiore Cathedral, a truly titanic building - although not as large as what I'll see at Rome no doubt. The dome is massive. The queue was equally massive, although I happened to be walking past a section where the line had stopped, as a tour group in line was getting their photo taken, and a gap had opened up. Being no fool, I stepped in (along with several other people) and was inside in a few minutes. The interior is a fairly standard cathedral, as they go - several thousand paintings of Jesus dying, an altar, plenty of pews, a gigantic fresco on the inside of the dome and various ancient sculptures and relics. It's the size that's amazing. It dwarfs anything we have in Australia.


This isn't Santa Maria's, but it's nearby. This is the Uffizi Museum plaza, on the way to the Cathedral. I decided against going to the Uffizi, as I didn't think the lengthy wait was worthwhile to me, given that I have a fairly rudimentary understanding and appreciation of art. Was nice walking through here though.


The dome of Santa Maria's. Like Salisbury Cathedral in England, this one is also under renovation.


The side wall of Santa Maria's.


The fresco on the inside of the dome. I found this fairly jaw dropping, although not as jaw dropping as a work of art I was to see later.

The final building I managed to see before I got the call from Anna was St Lorenzo's Church, which, although not as large or ostentatious as Santa Maria's, was, to me, far more impressive. Unfortunately photography in this church was forbidden, but it has some fascinating works of art inside. There was a sculpture of Christ on the cross that even moved a hardened agnostic like me. The artist was unknown, but he captured the essence of the pain and suffering of a crucifixion - the expression of agony was truly saddening.


This is St Lorenzo's Church - the original dates from 1000 AD, but was a very small structure, and although parts of the original building are still in place, the exterior and the bulk of the interior dates from 1300 AD.

Of course, after this, I was on my way to the Academic Gallery, to see a statue. It's hard to describe the first sight of it. You walk through the entrance, into rooms of paintings. Turn left, then right into a large corridor, and there it is. A mammoth figure of a man, standing over five metres tall, bathed in sunlight. I had always been under the impression it was life-sized. Circling around the statue it is almost impossible to find flaw in the sculpting. In fact, the only flaw seems to be a missing toe on his left foot, courtesy of a crazed hammer wielding vandal in 1991, hence the presence of metal detectors these days.

Although there were signs everywhere saying photography was not allowed in the museum, it didn't seem to apply to the room in which David was kept, since there were people snapping photos like paparazzi on crack. So, I joined in.




Pick the fake! Actually, this one is a replica, which marks the place where the Statue of David was originally placed in 1503, and remained until the mid 1800's, when it was moved to the Academic Gallery, in order to better protect it against damage from the elements.

After the museum, I retired for lunch, but headed off for a brisk walk up into the hills surrounding Florence. After a few wrong turns I eventually made it back to the hotel, but not before covering quite a few kilometres in the process. Also ran into some goddamn Hare Krishnas. Could've done without that.


I don't know why they bothered putting this up on the wall - the garden behind it could've doubled as a desert, it was that dry. Effective way to keep the thrice damned gypsies out of your yard though.


A typical Italian house up in the hills. Once you get out of the city and the tourist areas, you start to get a slice of real Italy, and realise how poor quite a lot of people are here. Similar to American society really.


Speaking of poor people...


The Florence skyline - the large dome on the left is that of the Santa Maria Cathedral.


Praise Jesus! Rama Lama Ding Dong.

Piss off.

Well, that about does it for Florence - tomorrow we're heading off to Pisa, to see a tower that steadfastly refuses to fall over, staying the night there, then heading down to Amalfi for some time on the shiny Med. It'll be good to kick back and get some sand between my toes - I think I've just about maxed out my cultural quota for the next year in the last few days.