Day THIRTEEN: Lazy day in Florence

Day THIRTEEN-Wednesday: Lazy day in Florence

Mama Mia we were tired today, and so we skipped the excursion to Pisa to see the 12th century Leaning Tower, and slept in. Willie really wanted to go visit Pisa, but even he could not drag himself out of his cozy bed until around noon! (the folks who did rally and go on the Pisa tour came back saying after the long drive you get out - look at the tower - and then that's it...I mean I would still have liked to have seen it... but next trip!)

Bill and I took the opportunity to stroll leisurely around Florence stopping for coffee now and then, for a gelato now and then, and for lunch ...all before noon! We passed by what I thought was a cool new public art installation, but turned out it was just a location set up for a magazine photo shoot the next day for housewares designer Mario Luca Giusti (apparently Neiman Marcus carries his fanciful works in the U.S.) Still, it was bright and cheery in the midst of all the ancient buildings and artifacts surrounding us.

We stopped into the small Museum of Salvatore Ferragamo. Opened to the public by the Ferragamo family in 1995, it showcases the important role he played in the history of shoe design and international fashion.

Salvatore Ferragamo was born in 1898 in Bonito, near Naples, the eleventh of 14 children. After making his first pair of shoes at age nine, for his sisters to wear on their confirmation, young Salvatore decided that he had found his calling. He always had a passion for shoes. After studying shoemaking in Naples for a year, Ferragamo opened a small store based in his parent's home. In 1914, he immigrated to Boston, where one of his brothers worked in a cowboy boot factory. After a brief stint at the factory, Ferragamo convinced his brothers to move to California, first Santa Barbara then Hollywood. It was here that Ferragamo found success, initially opening a shop for repair and made-to-measure shoes, which soon became prized items among celebrities of the day, leading to a long period of designing footwear for the cinema. However, his thriving reputation as 'Shoemaker to the Stars' only partially satisfied him. He could not fathom why his shoes pleased the eye yet hurt the foot, so he proceeded to study anatomy at the University of Southern California. After spending thirteen years in the United States, Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1927, this time settling in Florence. In Florence, he began to fashion shoes for the wealthiest and most powerful women of the century.

Honestly, Bill was excited to visit this museum !

Bill bought tickets for the fast pass into the Uffizi Gallery and showed me some of the standouts which he had seen the evening before. Honestly it was overwhelming and we really needed a lot more time than the one hour we spent there to take it all in (remember, this is the same couple who did the Louvre in 20 minutes!)

After wandering around from one room to another, I must admit all these paintings started looking alike! I mean give me a bunch of colorful water pitchers (above) and I get excited, but these masterpieces start blending all together!! (I am picturing John Morrissey rolling his eyes). Bill got obsessed with finding a painting by Caravaggio, and we finally did.

Nervous by temperament, often violent, revolutionary in his way of painting, Caravaggio personifies in every aspect of his eventful life the romantic figure of the damned artist.

Born in Milan, he worked mainly in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily. His training was strongly influenced by Lombard and Venetian painting: from the first, he learned the use of the color, from the second, he learned the deep realism and the preference for humble and popular subjects.

This last feature is observable in the famous Bacchus conserved at the Uffizi, commissioned by his patron Cardinal del Monte as a gift for the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I and painted between 1596 and 1597.Whether intentional or not, there is humour in this painting. The pink-faced Bacchus is an accurate portrayal of a half-drunk teenager dressed in a sheet and leaning on a mattress in the Cardinal's Rome palazzo, but far less convincing as a Graeco-Roman god.

Willie called and said he was awake and was looking to grab lunch with us, so Bill walked back to the hotel and I went to see what all the fuss was with the Ponte Vecchio. Everyone was talking about how it was a "must see", and I will admit the "Old Bridge" was an absolutely beautiful sight to behold. The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone arch bridge spanning over the Arno River which has jewelry shop after jewelry shop lining either side of the walkway. I'm told originally butchers occupied the street, but now it's all jewelry, and souvenir shops. It was crowded and bustling, but mostly with tourists taking photos - I didn't see a lot of commerce going on. The view over the Arno River was lovely, as crew teams were practicing and zipping by one after another.

I can't blame these disinterested kids - a city like Florence is hard for a kid
who would rather be at Disneyland!

There was a beautiful children's clothing store on the Ponte Vecchio ...
if only Cary and Lulu were still little girls!

We all took naps that afternoon. Bill and I went to do a little shopping on the streets surrounding the Duomo, and kept checking in on Willie to see how he was doing. He didn't answer his cell phone several times and we got a little worried, wondering if he had left the hotel and was lost in the big city of Florence???

Next thing we know, he calls us and says he is also at the Duomo and has big news to share. We met up (at a gelato shop) and he said, "Come over here, I must show you something".
So we follow him to the Campanile (bell tower). He stood in front of it and points, "I climbed all the way to the top! When you called me the first time I was half way up. When you called me the second time I was at the top looking out all over the city!" WOWOWOWO Willie! That is an amazing accomplishment - 414 steps up a narrow stairway twisting and turning...with no turning back!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS Willie - you deserve a gelato...and we will celebrate with you!