San Lorenzo Market and The Uffizi

Thursday, January 2, 2020

We began our day with a lecture on Italian holidays.  There were two points which are interrelated to some degree, but which define a significant difference between Italy and the USA.  The first is that essentially every holiday has a Roman Catholic relationship—either at the core or in some peripheral way.  There is nothing comparable to our Thanksgiving nor to the Fourth of July.  Most holidays are regional holidays based on events or religious characters, and while there is a holiday celebrating the formation of the Italian nation from the city-states, it is of minimal importance and not widely celebrated.  Nothing at all like our July 4.  Marco’s explanation was that Italy is still more a collection of city-states than it is a nation, and he says that even when Italians travel out of the country, when asked where they are from, will say, “Venice” or “Florence” or “Sicily” rather than Italy.

There is one regional purely non-religious holiday (which Marco says has been contaminated with religious symbolism), the Festa dei Ceri in Gubbio which takes place on May 15 each year.  This sounds astonishing, both in theory and in practice.  Our guide buys into the theory of pagan roots, with giant candles representing giant phalluses which in the past were planted top first in the earth, symbolizing the fertilization of the land in the spring.  For lots more see: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_dei_Ceri .

After the lecture we walked to the San Lorenzo Market, passing the Medici Palace on the way.  We stopped in at the courtyard of the palace, which is impressive.  There is a prominent statue of Hercules; we had explained to us the symbolism of Hercules as a representative of the power of the family. 

The walls of the courtyard are covered with shields and carvings:

The market is a enormous covered structure with two floors of vendors.  Here’s one selling all things truffle, including very expensive truffle cream cheese:

Here’s the pasta vendor—any kind you’d like, with any kind of sauce, cooked al dente and ready to eat:

Here’s a cheese and processed meat vendor:

A pig tongue display:

And pig feet for sale:

Here’s a produce vendor:

We had lunch at the market, and after lunch went for our group entry to the Uffizi.  This is one of the most important art museums of the world, and the collection is beyond description.  The lines to get in were enormous:

Fortunately, we had a timed group reservation and had a minimal wait.  The entrance we went into was truly chaotic, with a very large number of people going through one metal detector and everyone setting it off.  True Italian chaos.

We saw a fraction of the museum.  I’ll post photos of works which I found extra special.  Let’s start with this 1423 Fabriano Adoration of the Magi.  Here’s a detail

The famous ~1470 Piero Della Francesca double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino is beautiful and has many stories.  The left portrait of the Duke is because he was missing his right eye and part of the right side of his nose from a lance injury.  The Duchess’ white face may be because she died and the portrait was done from her death mask:

Here’s a detail from a Lippi Madonna and Child and Angels (1462): 

A Botticelli Madonna from 1483:

A close-up of the Madonna’s face:

The museum was very crowded.  Here’s the scrum in front of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (1485):

At this point, we had moved far enough into the Renaissance that there was a selection of non-religious paintings to study, and I began to focus on them.  Here’s Botticelli’s Spring:

Here’s a detail from a Raphael portrait of Agnoto Dani (1505):

Here’s a close-up of Bronzino’s Portrait of Maria de Medici (1550):

The fabulous Gentileschi portrayal of Judith beheading Holofernes from 1610:

Finally, Caravaggio’s take on the Sacrifice of Isaac(1604):

At this point we were exhausted and had seen, perhaps, a quarter of the museum (that is, walked past ¼ of the things on display) and had stopped and really looked at perhaps 30 or so.  We quit. 

On the way back to the hotel, we decided to get a gelato.  Now, a word about gelato.  There are gelaterias everywhere, and despite it being the middle of winter, crowds of people are stopping for gelato, and there are lines at all the places.  We’ve had a large number of recommendations for the best gelato in Florence, and my take on it is that it depends on the flavor.  Well, today’s gelato was the finest chocolate ever!  The shop, called Venchi, has a wall of liquid chocolate pouring over it above the gelato scoopers:

Here’s a brief video of the moving chocolate:

 Tomorrow is our last day on the Road Scholar tour, and we’ll visit the Academia and the original David.