Florence and the Pilazzo Vecchio

Our last day in Florence was wonderful. It involved a lot of walking, like all our days, but that was mostly just due to poor planning. Our original time estimate was far longer than we actually spent in the Medici Chapel and Duomo, and the ended up putting off the Vecchio Palace tour until later in the day.
The Pilazzo Vecchio (aka “the Old Palace”) was probably the highlight of my trip. You’ll recognize it in my pictures as the big, square brown stone building with a tower, a copy of the David in front of it, and the Neptune Fountain on the side. It’s the old town hall, more or less. Once the Medici rule fell apart, the local government used it and abused it for a while before building a new one. The museum came in and (luckily) fixed it up a little nicer. In the 15th century Cosimo Medici fixed up the 13th century structure by adding his house and a great hall to the back. The front part (currently covered in scaffolding) was left alone to show that he respected the history and past of his great city. Fredrico, his son, was much more a lover of art. Where Cosimo tended to use it for propaganda, Fredrico genuinely loved it. He was a little odd anyway, though. His desire for privacy seemed to have run as thick as his father’s need for the spotlight, and his fascination for art was also accompanied by an obsession with alchemy.
The tours were great, and cheap (1 Euro on top of museum fee for an hour and a half!). Our guide spent as much time answering questions as he did actually explaining things, but they were mostly valid questions. Our group was small, around 8 people, but I imagine in the summer it gets more crowded. We met another Brazilian, a nice girl named Isabella, who we chatted with during the tour and then ran in to later.
The tour began by going up a tiny, dark stairwell that runs from Cosimo’s apartment to a secret exit on the side of the building. It was small, and better suited for a servant than a lord, but it served its purpose well. Cosimo could slip in and out whenever he wanted. The road is two ways, though, and valuable pieces of art were stolen by people slipping in.
Adjacent to Cosimo’s room was Fredrico’s treasure chest. Literally. This hall is shaped like the inside of a treasure box, and treasures of art hang on every available part of the wall. In the center of the ceiling Nature (personified) gives the imprisoned Prometheus a stone in which he will discover a diamond and with which he will ultimately create man. Such interpretations of classical pagan themes were apparently common for the Medicis, and maybe for Italians as a whole in that time. The four elements are then represented at the corners of that fresco by four more frescos. Under the frescos two element-related gods hold up the corner of the wall (Vulcan and Apollo for fire, etc). Below those the paintings begin to show the harnessing of those elements for various purposes, and then at ground level the harnessing goes from utilitarian purposes to artistic ones. And behind each painting the real surprise comes in. The hall was built so that the doors were hidden behind paintings. One really gets the feeling of being in a box when all the doors are shut. And if you start tugging on the paintings, doors aren’t the only things you’ll find. Shelves hide actual treasures related to their images, like the pearls behind the portrait of Cleopatra and Anthony, which is in turn under the bounty of the sea being harvested while Neptune looks on. Also behind one painting is a stairwell up to Cosimo’s dressing room, in which God passes the arts down through the apostles and into society.
While Fredrico’s treasure box was beautiful, the great hall was magnificent. It’s a lot like the one I described in Venice, with oil paintings hanging from gilded frames in the ceiling and heroic battles taking place in frescos on the walls. What’s different here is the centerpiece, though. In Venice the last judgment is represented on the far wall with the Venetian lords just as involved as everyone else (albeit with a little divine favoritism), but in Florence the centerpiece is Cosimo himself, sitting godlike on his throne and watching over the scene like the Judge of Ages.
Just a little dose of the common Florentine attitude.
Lucky for us, tourists are welcome in this fiercely proud city. Sure, speaking Italian helps, but any other language is fine if the cash still flows. Much of Italy is run this way, it seems. Actually, the mob still runs part of it. They were making the news in Naples. Apparently 6 people were killed in relation to Mafia actions the day before we arrived. We came and went completely oblivious, like thousands of other tourists.
Back in Florence, the tour ended and we wandered the many other rooms of the palace. The map room was quite impressive and included a very old globe along with detailed maps of the world as the 15th century knew it. I found Regensburg on the map, just for kicks.
After that it was getting dark, but we had to collect souvenirs. So we wandered the roads, then ran in to Isabella again and walked with her up to the train station. The streets were strangely empty, and we soon pieced together why. The open market is closed on Mondays because there aren’t as many tourists and it’s too cold for them Oh well. We eventually gathered most of the things anyway, except for the patches I’ve been getting from each city. I’ll get those later.
That was pretty much our trip. We had dinner after shopping, loitered around the train station for a couple of hours, where I took the pictures of the sleeping guy. He was snoring loud enough to drive most everyone to the other side of the room, and occasionally muttering to himself in Italian and making (I kid you not) kissing noises.
The overnight train to Interlocken was the best train we’ve been on in Europe. Tiff and I ended up being the only people in the spacious car. The nice Italian man waited patiently while Tiff laid out exact details of everything for the customs declaration, and brought us tasty croissants and Italian coffee for breakfast. I only got half-shaven because we got to the station earlier than I thought we would, but I think I’ve been ok. I don’t seem to have gotten too many strange looks.