A decade ago, in 2005, I was in Venice for my sixtieth birthday. It was a very pleasant evening involving an excellent restaurant and an operatic recital to follow. This trip we'd be in Italy a bit earlier as I'd intended to spend my next significant birthday in Berlin.
The trip started out as planned. A week in London then a flight to Sicily for a few days followed by the overnight boat to Napoli (Naples). I particularly wanted to visit Pompeii because way back in 1975 my original attempt to see it was thwarted by a series of mishaps, that to avoid distracting from the present tale I won't go into.
But the result was to 'bookmark' Pompeii as a place I had missed seeing and I wanted to get it out of my system.
Pompeii - the one that got away
Wendy on the other hand was an old hand at Pompeii visiting and was dismissive. She contended that it was not extraordinary and that we have been to more interesting places like Machu Picchu or even Rome.
After Naples we'd take the train to Firenze (Florence) which would be a base for day trips to nearby towns and then go back south to Perugia for a couple of days as a secondary base in Umbria. But things didn't quite turn out as planned.
Sicily
Sicily is historically interesting. As the largest island in the Mediterranean it has been highly contested for the entirety of recorded history and probably before there was systematic writing to diarise events. Appropriately to being kicked about, it's that big triangular island that looks like it is being kicked by the boot of Italy. Australians may think of Tasmania but Sicily is a little over a quarter of the size.
Sicily has traces of pre-humans; stone age hunter gatherers; early pottery makers; bronze age civilisations; iron age warriors; and, of course, recent civilisation - two world wars and the Mafia. Because of this, events that took place were essential to the eventual conception of every European alive today. Indeed, every human and every earthly being alive today.
There is a plethora of information about these events and achievements on-line but briefly, so you don't need to spend endless hours on Wikipedia, I'll give you a brief and probably biased snapshot.
What can we know?
Thanks mainly to their religion there remain significant remnants of Greek and Phoenician settlements on Sicily dating back to 750 BCE. In more recent times, after the Battle of Carthage (149 BCE), Sicily became part of the Roman Empire.
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As in magazines today the Romans had no issue with putting a recognisable head on an idealised body
This remained the status quo (as the Romans say) for around six hundred years, into the Common Era, when around 435 CE the Vandals arrived and incorporated Sicily into their new kingdom, along with the Roman province of Africa as well as Corsica, Sardinia and Malta (see my travel notes on Malta). Along with the Vandals were another Germanic tribe: the Goths, comprising Ostrogoths and Visigoths. These northern tribes soon dominated most of Spain and France and Italy.
The northern tribes had been converted to Western Christianity during Roman times but some then followed Arius to reject the Trinity on the grounds that Jesus more than once said he was less than God (eg John 14:28 - I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I). They also spoke Latin, not Greek, and these heresies deserved sanction. Thus in 535, the Byzantine (eastern Christian) Emperor Justinian I conquered Sicily as his first step to defeating the heretical Ostrogothic Kingdom in what became known as the Gothic War.
A century or so later, in 660, Byzantine Emperor Constans II decided to leave Constantinople and move to Syracuse in Sicily with a view to taking those parts of Italy still beyond the Empire's control. Byzantine rule over Sicily and much of the mainland would continue for three centuries. But as time went on local fractiousness led to tensions with Constantinople. And the Byzantine Empire was weakening and under attack on several fronts from the followers of a new religion - Islam.
As if to demonstrate how the personal dealings of a single person sometime have enormous repercussions on the future, around 825 Euphemius, the Byzantine commander in Sicily was involved in love affair with a nun and committed uxoricide.
To save himself from the repercussions of this scandal Euphemius split with Constantinople and offered Sicily to the Saracens (Muslims) as a base. Constantinople counter-attacked but by 965 the Saracens in close association with Moorish Spain gained full control. So that by the turn of the 11th century the island was known as the Emirate of Sicily. Corsica too fell under Saracen control. The history of the world was forever changed. In due course Napoleon would be born in Corsica and the world events he set in train would lead to two world wars, Hitler and to you and me (see my article Adolf Hitler and Me).
Like Moorish Spain under Muslim rule, considerable reforms and technological advances were made and Sicily thrived. But the 11th Century brought Norman (Latin Christian) knights from northern Europe. Most were mercenaries more intent on making money as contract fighters than on returning Muslim territory to Christianity. Initially they exploited power struggles within the existing establishment by signing treaties with one side or another. But progressively they gained control over both the Saracens and Byzantines. By 1130 the Norman Kingdom of Sicily controlled the whole of Southern Italy, south of the Holy Roman Empire and was among the wealthiest states in Europe, surpassing the Kingdom of England (also Norman after 1066).
The Cathedral of Palermo - in Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles
Erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil (or Walter of the Mill), the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo on the site an earlier Byzantine basilica of which some elements remain. After their conquest of the city in the 9th century the Saracens had turned the original into a mosque.
The Norman Kingdom of Sicily continued for nearly seven centuries, until 1816, when the first stages of unification began. Ultimately, in 1860, Sicily became integrated with Roman Italy under Garibaldi.
Progressively under the Normans, the Eastern Christian rite and Greek language was suppressed in favour of Latin Catholicism and the population changed with northern immigrants arriving and Jews and Muslims being expelled.
The Roman Church also came to own much of the land and defended the agricultural traditions of the society of which it had become a central part - ignorant god-fearing peasants and wealthy landowners.
As the industrial revolution modernised northern Italy and the rest of Europe the Church resisted change in Sicily. As a result Sicily remained largely rural and descended into relative economic decline . This led to massive depopulation as peasants left the farms and migrated in search of a better life, mirroring the Irish diaspora where the Church played a similar reactionary role.
Meanwhile among those remaining in Sicily some resorted to brigandage, looting towns and large estates. The local land owners, government and the Church were unable to rely on Rome to maintain law and order and began to rely instead on hired local strongmen to protect their property. Thus was born the Sicilian Mafia, later called the Cosa Nostra (our stuff or our things), who imposed their own self-serving laws and at times fought pitched battles for control with the authorities of the State.
In 1939 a significant war took place but in museums the history of modern Italy seems to leap forward from the 1920's to the 1950's: try not to mention the war. It's much the same in Germany where the Märkisches Museum in Berlin that details the culture and history of the city has more about Stalin than about Hitler. But it does show the destroyed chancellery and contains Hitler's globe of the World that recalls Charlie Chaplin and the "I want to be alone" scene in The Great Dictator (Click Here - it's quite funny).
The globe from Hitler's Chancellery - shown as a backdrop
Back in 1914 the Great War had begun in Europe. Italy was on the side of France and Britain, against the Central Powers, led by Germany. Amongst those supporting the Italian war efforts were the 'Fasci', nationalistic syndicates that sought to eliminate class conflict and restore the glories of the Roman past by forming cooperatives of workers, employers and government. The word Fasci refers to a bundle of sticks, indicating that individually, like sticks, people are weak but a bundle of sticks is is difficult to break. The symbol they used on their banners has Roman origins.
The Flag of Italian Fascism
source: Wikipedia commons
The 'Fasci' distinguished themselves from Communism by eschewing Marxism and class warfare and embracing extreme nationalism and racial pride in place of lip-service to internationalism and brotherhood.
But the Great War failed to give them what they wanted. Although they were among the victorious allies, Italian nationalists claimed that Italy had been disadvantaged by the subsequent treaties that constrained the Italian Empire's power to expand its borders and gain spazio vitale (living space) for colonisation by Italian settlers. A similar claim for lebensraum was subsequently made by Hitler for Germany as grounds for invasions in Poland and Russia.
In 1921 the The National Fascist Party was founded bringing the Fasci together under Benito Mussolini. It quickly took hold as a 'Third Roman Empire'. Il Duce, Mussolini, became dictator, a Roman title, and ruled Italy from 1922 until defeated by the allies in 1945.
It was Mussolini who funded Hitler and after he'd gained dictatorship of Germany they together supported Franco to become the dictator of Spain. This new fascism was opposed to Representative Democracy that it held to be weak, disorganised and indecisive and to Communism that it held to be degenerate and ungodly and dedicated to class warfare and/or part of a Jewish attempt at world domination. Together Mussolini and Hitler inspired other Fascist leaders like Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists in England, as well as elements in Australia such as the New Guard and the United States like Henry Ford.
In Sicily the Fascists imposed their new order and firmly suppressed the Mafia causing more to emigrate, taking with them their culture of 'protection' secrecy and violence, to the United States and even to Australia. The Cosa Nostra in the US is a theme explored in the movie The Godfather that was partly shot in Sicily.
But when the Allies invaded Italy 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' and so the Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra, now designated partisans, was supplied with weapons and engaged to fight for the Allied cause, giving it new strength so that it became a significant feature of post war Sicilian society. As a result there has been considerable bloodshed bringing them under control.
In the 1990's Mafia assignations of judges and others attempting to bring them under control prompted the Government to send in the army with the result that businesses were able to refuse to pay protection money and began to rid themselves of anyone with Mafia associations. Thus squeezed for funds the Mafia seems to have moved on - except for alleged interests in Wind Farms, attracted by lucrative subsidies.
In Palermo there is a large memorial to the victims of the Mafia.
Wind Farms are now seen everywhere on the island but the resulting supply variability has instead led to Sicilians paying 40% more for electricity than the Italian average despite Sicily exporting more power to the Italian grid than it imports.
Palermo
We spent the first couple of days in Palermo during which we explored on foot and took a bus tour of the city. It seemed prosperous. People are well dressed, healthy looking and apparently happy and active. Food in restaurants and cafes is of high quality and relatively inexpensive. Wine in particular is excellent value for money. The city boasts one of the largest Opera Houses in Europe and there are current, well attended, performances.
Teatro Massimo - Palermo Opera House
I was impressed to see that 'smart' electricity meters were installed in apartments adjacent to our Hotel. Tourism is not as big an industry as in the well known towns of the mainland but there are a number of tourist sites - in particular in the old city where we spent considerable time.
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Around Palermo
Agrigento
On day three we picked up the famous Jeep (see the separate story) to drive to Agrigento the site of the most significant Greek ruins. These date back to the fifth century BCE and are perhaps on top of even older constructions.
Temple of Juno - around 450 BCE
Not for the first time I was struck by the persistence of religious structures. They are generally the most solidly built and the longest lasting of buildings. Temples, other places of sacrifice and mausoleums are built to influence or appease his Gods or in a vain attempt to secure a life after death. Thus they are remnants of mankind's attempts to influence the future, in this life or the next. The most ambitious of these is the Great Pyramid of Giza built during the late stone age. But the great cathedrals of Europe also comply.
It's obviously true that the slightest thing we do irrevocably changes the future. So these builders obviously achieved a world that would not have been without their efforts. In the world they created, through their influence on our distant ancestors, I'm writing this and you're reading it. But is this the world that they wanted or imagined? I somehow doubt it. The ancients were concerned with more immediate issues, like the success of next year's harvest; or victory over enemies; or to appease the elements; or to confirm power structures and maintain social elites; or to secure a place in their version of eternity after death.
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Temple of Concordia - 440-430 BCE
Later vandalised when turned into a Christian church but this probably accounted for its high degree of preservation
The bronze angel is a recent addition in 2011
That, in the world that their efforts led to, mankind might leave the planet or discover that our planet an insignificant speck amongst trillions of billions of other worlds, or that their imaginary gods play no role in earthquakes or storms or drought or in their day to day lives was not something the temple builders might have hoped for.
All in all, seeing man's early attempts at asserting a place in the universe the Valle dei Templi was a wonderful experience in the literal meaning of the word.
The day culminated in a very pleasant balmy evening in one of the best B&B's we have ever stayed in. I even got in a swim. I would recommend Villa del Sole to you if you want to visit the ruins in the Valle dei Templi but be aware that it is only suitable for those who are driving their own car (like the Jeep) as it's a bit difficult to access.
Syracuse
After an excellent breakfast we set out for Syracuse, another drive across country. It was on these long drives that we noted the agricultural diversity of the island. It's quite hilly or even mountainous in places. It has similarities with parts of Spain that it seemed to resemble more than Italy. Perhaps it is its peoples' adherence to Siesta?
Sicilian Landscape - it's quite varied - note the prickly pear
The largest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna, dominates the east of the island and the soil is volcanic and rich and highly productive. There are numerous vineyards many covered in agricultural netting and also vast areas of plastic greenhouses, crops range from corn to sugar cane.
A notable thing was the number of abandoned buildings. They dot the landscape, a legacy of the depopulation that the island suffered until recently when the population stabilised. We learned that whole villages lie abandoned but some buildings are now being snapped up by foreigners, particularly the English, for refurbishment as holiday or retirement homes. So now contemporary ruins compete with ancient ones for foreign attention.
Syracuse is another site of ancient ruins, this time both Greek and Roman. The Neapolis Archaeological Park ruins were an easy walk from our hotel, the Mercure. This is one of the largest and most diverse archaeological sites in the Mediterranean.
There is a large Greek amphitheatre. This is also the sight of numerous Roman period tombs, of the kind said to have been owned by Joseph of Arimathea and given to Jesus. These are like caves carved into the rock that were closed with a large stone. All these stones have since rolled away.
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Greek amphitheatre - one of many tombs - sacred water - but don't drink!
Nearby is a remarkable cave that was named the Ear of Dionysius by Caravaggio because of its shape and amazing acoustics that allowed the Tyrant (Greek King) Dionysius I of Syracuse to spy on the conversations of his prisoners held nearby. Listening to prisoners without their knowledge seems a trivial thing these days.
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The Ear of Dionysius
One of the largest sacrificial alters ever discovered is found nearby. Tyrant Hiero II of Syracuse (269 - 216 BCE) built it. It was a huge building in its day: 192 meters long by 23 meters wide within a columned portico. It was designed to facilitate the sacrifice of up to 450 oxen simultaneously to protect Syracuse from the wrath of the gods or to buy them off in blood. The concept reminded me of Herod's Second Temple in Jerusalem where special drains carried the blood of sacrificial lambs, goats and birds away.
As in Jerusalem, only the foundations remain. But in this case it wasn't the Romans who destroyed it, although they probably made off with the Greek statues. All the easily removed blocks, columns, access ramps, and so on were plundered by the Spanish in the 16th century for stone to fortify Ortygia.
The remains of the Altar of Hiero II
It is thought to have resembled the Pergamon Alta (reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin)
The downside to the otherwise comfortable, and recommended, Mercure hotel was that the historic and interesting island of Ortygia is several kilometres away through some pretty seedy suburbs. Walking around near the station was the first time we'd seen people who looked less than prosperous. You can walk all the way to Ortygia but its more time productive to take a cab or public transport - or to drive your Jeep and compete for very limited parking by the waterside as we did.
Ortygia features an upmarket shopping precinct with the usual clothing and luxury item chains selling fashion goods, in addition to the best restaurants, hotels and so on. It is also the site of the largest Greek Temple in Sicily, The Temple of Apollo, but it's not in good condition so you can look but don't touch. For some reason I didn't bother to photograph it probably because there's not much to see. No one in Ortygia looked poor, until we took a shortcut through the back streets to and from the car.
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Around Ortygia
Toarmina to Catania
Again our hotel provided an excellent breakfast and we set out to explore more of the island before catching our boat to Naples. This is how we ended up in the Jeep adventure in Toarmina (click here).
The weather was turning a bit nasty and after our previous close shaves I was looking for something a bit more relaxing so we decided not to go to the top of Mount Etna. We could clearly see that the volcano was not erupting or dong anything exciting, so the shopper prevailed. Off we went to one of the biggest purpose built designer villages I've ever seen. It was much larger than a similar one we went to in California but featured many of the same outlets. There was no sign of poverty here. The prevailing impression was of considerable Sicilian middle class prosperity in addition to a surprising number of tourists from other parts of Europe who may have come to Sicily just to buy clothes. While I might complain about hours waiting around, these places provide a fascinating insight into contemporary society. And this one provided a tasty pizza and excellent coffee to dull the pain of boredom.
In the end I bought something and Wendy didn't because I see shops as places where you get things you might need and part with money in exchange, while she sees them as places where you ponder every garment on display and then pass on to the next. Moreover when they are in a foreign country you can't easily buy them and then take them back the following day. I was done in about 15 minutes. She was not done in two hours.
The boat was to sail from Catania late that evening. We had tickets purchased on-line. We waited to board having arrived with plenty of time so that I could return the car miles away, beyond the airport, and get a cab back. This was fortunate as we hadn't realised that our printout had to be exchanged for the actual tickets at a distant office.
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On the boat to Naples
During our wait we had an interesting time watching tanker after tanker in addition to the usual containers and agricultural products being loaded onto the ship. It was only after I was able to get assess to Wikipedia that I discovered that Sicily is an oil producer and energy exporter to the rest of Italy.
These exports served to reinforce my impression that Sicily is now a cell of prosperity in otherwise depressed Southern Europe, hiding itself under a bushel.
Pompeii
Our next surprise was Naples. But more of that shortly.
My first priority was a day trip to Pompeii by train.
As I suppose everyone knows in 79 CE Mount Vesuvius erupted and in a few hours a pyroclastic flow of hot poisonous gas killed most of the 11,000 inhabitants and then buried the town and sounding areas, including Herculaneum and nearby villas, under 4 to 6 m of ash and pumice.
In the middle ages it was forgotten but was partly rediscovered in 1599 and became of archaeological interest in 1748 when the first systematic excavations revealed an extraordinary level of preservation such that plaster could be poured into the cavities left by bodies to reveal the shape of the dead person where they lay or sat and domestic items were still in place on tables. Many houses retained their original decoration: painted walls, murals and tiled floors. Temples still contained images of the gods. Since the 1800's time has caused some to fade and crumble and many of the most important artefacts have been removed for safe keeping.
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Just two plaster casts remain on display in Pompeii - the rest are in Naples
Obviously the bones of the dead person are inside
Pompeii has remained a site of huge interest to archaeologists and tourists ever since and is still a work in progress with little teams of fossicking archaeologists digging here and brushing there. But nowadays most of the significant finds are in the museum in Naples and have been replaced on site with replicas.
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Home sweet home - but Beware the Dog (cave canem)
Bread (the machine in the foreground is for grinding flour) and Circuses
The town covers a substantial area and its a challenge to visit even those buildings that have been identified as particularly interesting like temples the amphitheatres and the significant villas. There is an audio guide and numbered stops to facilitate this.
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Interior decoration Roman style - a bit faded today
Those paying attention will notice what appears to be an angel in the lower right-hand panel. There are several such depictions from Pompeii. This seemed odd to me since Pompeii was buried before Christianity was adopted and this depiction is certainly not Jewish. Rome was still celebrating finally putting down the Jewish Rebellion and the destruction of Herod's Second Temple. Indeed, some even claimed the Vesuvius eruption was a sign of God's wrath.
It is almost certainly Eros/Cupid/Amore. In classical times the winged son of Venus was a slim boy, not the chubby child with the bow and arrows we have come to recognise today. With Mercury (with wings on his helmet) he was a prototype that evolved into Jewish/Christian/Islamic angels, as messengers from God.
The people of Pompeii seemed preoccupied with love and sex. The public Suburban Baths served both men and women but have only one set of dressing rooms (apodyterium). In the 1980s archaeologists discovered erotic wall paintings in the apodyterium with both lesbian and heterosexual themes.
As in other Roman Baths the apodyterium has facilities, niches or lockers to store clothes and leads to the tepidarium (lukewarm room), followed by the calidarium (hot room). A furnace under the building heats the water and tunnels hot air to the rooms appropriately.
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Taking a Bath - first remove your clothes
One of the biggest crowd pleasers is one of the town's brothels that still retains it's instructive murals. Several tour groups queue to get in at any time but I managed to slip between them.
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One of numerous brothels - this one retaining murals depicting sexual positions
It's hard to see but there's a phallus sticking out of the wall indicating the building's purpose
But these are not the only explicit images found. Private villas often had a garden containing erotic sculptures and similar wall decorations.
Meanwhile Vesuvius is still active and overlooks the site. From time to time it belches fiery larva and smoke but subsequent eruptions have never repeated the destruction or loss of life in 79 CE.
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Vesuvius looms in the distance
Of course geologists monitor it closely and evacuation plans are in place. Like earthquakes and Tsunami we no longer believe volcanoes to be the result of human affairs; or attribute these events to the wrath of the gods; or build temples to the High God of the mountain - Yahweh; or sacrifice goats to prevent reoccurrences.
Naples
We both had rather negative memories of Naples from the 1970's. But it was like a different city. Now Naples seems to be thriving there is no evidence of the crime wave that once brought the city down. Indeed there are tourist friendly police everywhere. The people are friendly, no longer distant and suspicious. The city is clean and interesting.
After returning from Pompeii we spent several hours in the National Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale) in Naples, viewing original items, mosaics and murals, many from Pompeii, although not everything was on display.
Among those that are is a large collection of erotic art from Pompeii and Herculaneum some of it from private homes. It's not clear if this preoccupation with sex was limited to the resort towns or not - like the British seaside love of 'dirty postcards'. No other Roman towns from before the advent of Christianity remain in tact.
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A fraction of the non-erotic collection
Everyday images decorating walls in homes like sculptures in public places frequently illustrated some myth and the characters semi-nude. But nudity is represented in many homes and art galleries today. It doesn't mean that we all run around naked nor do I imagine did they. The unusual difference is that we usually keep what we might term pornography in a bottom draw, whereas they seemed to be happy to display it.
Thus, modesty prohibits me showing you more than a small sample of the Roman erotic images:
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As a change from the museum we dropped in to the cathedral. It was a lonely experience.
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Cathedral interior - repairs are under way to prevent it falling down
Among the other interesting things in Naples is the underground chambers. We took a tour of the city underground including some buried Roman ruins - a theatre at which Nero performed - now partly incorporated into Neapolitan houses.
It is said that in order to construct the city walls a rather unique quarry was found. Blocks of stone were cut from the rock underling the city then hoisted to the surface through shafts. This generated a series of huge interconnected underground chambers that became cisterns for storing water against a possible siege. The trouble was that the shafts used during construction doubled as wells and as garbage disposals. What better place to dispose of a body? Initially there were people charged with keeping the water clean but at some point this service failed and the garbage took over. The stench from underground must have been appalling.
Jump forward to 1940 and Italy under Mussolini and the Fascists had declared war on Britain and invaded Egypt and Greece. In consequence Naples had come under air attack from the RAF based in Malta. Following the German lead, allied bombing during WW2 deliberately targeted economic infrastructure including skilled workers and other key civilians, in other words: cities, as a way of bringing the enemy to its knees.
Although it was not like Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Berlin or even Dresden, Naples would become the most bombed Italian city and suffer between 20 and 25 thousand civilian casualties, about the same as Dresden. By 1943 there was on average a British or American air raid on the city every second day. Air raid shelters were needed but the readymade underground chambers were full of rotting garbage. The solution was to press it down and pour concrete over the whole mess.
The constant raids had the desired effect. As it became apparent that the war had turned against them, the people of Naples would turn on the Fascists and their Nazi allies and hasten the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.
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Naples Underground
Today tourists can wander about in these historic underground chambers, on slightly undulating concrete floors, and not a hint of the entombed garbage remains. Among some wartime memorabilia there are experiments growing different plants under lights and a convent's wine cellar that once occupied one of the underground chambers.
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Naples Above Ground
We left by train for Florence full of enthusiasm for Naples.
Firenze (Florence)
Florence was Florence.
There are already numerous pictures elsewhere on this website. Here are a few more.
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Piazza della Signoria - outside the Palazzo Vecchio
In the distance in the picture above is the Loggia dei Lanzi a galleried public sculpture space containing several famous works. Most notable is Celini's bronze of Perseus holding up the the severed head of Medusa but no less striking is the Rape of the Sabine Women by Jean de Boulogne, known as Giambologna. The originals or copies have stood here since 1583
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Perseus and Medusa and the Rape of the Sabine Women
We were there a decade ago and little had changed except for the crowds of tourists, that seem to have doubled. Some places that we had walked into without restraint last time now had long queues and several that were previously free now charged admission.
Everything seemed to take longer. The line to the Uffizi was obscene. Even the one for prepaid tickets was several hundred metres long as there was some kind of strike going on, separate to the one that was affecting the railways.
Our hotel was two blocks from the Duomo. We could see it down the street and needed to cross the square to go anywhere on that side of the city like the markets - for meals or to go to the station or buses. But the line to get inside the cathedral ran out into the square and our strategy was to see things we'd missed last time so we gave it a miss.
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The Duomo - Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore
Instead we went to the Pitti Palace and to the The Medici Chapels, with Michelangelo's carvings for Giuliano De Medici's tomb, and to the food markets. We also went leather shopping; bought wine and food at the supermarket; crossed and recrossed the Arno; and generally enjoyed the cafés and public spaces.
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Coffee and a snack in the central markets and Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River
On the other side of the River is the Pitti Palace. The Palace was built in the second half of the 15th for Luca Pitti but was purchased in 1550 by Eleonora da Toledo, the wife of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de'Medici to become the Medici home, after which it was substantially enlarged.
In 1743 it was bequeathed to the Tuscan State by Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici when she died, together with the Medici art collection in the Palace itself, the Medicean villas and the Uffizi, on the condition that no part of it could be removed from Florence. The palace houses the Palatine Gallery in addition to the royal apartments and the museum of Modern Art.
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The 18th century interior decoration is far from modest. Almost every ceiling is a work of art.
Hanging works include pieces by Rubens as well as many other well known painters.
There are many hundreds.
With appropriate access one can go along the enclosed walkway seen in the lower right,
all the way over the Arno, through the Uffizi, to the Palazzo Vecchio, that you can see in the distance.
A little train would be good.
Florence was of course once dominated by the Medici family who were often in conflict with the Borgia family who dominated Venice. Both families conspired to have their candidate elected as Pope.
Pope Sixtus IV was an enemy of the Medici and in 1478 gave tacit support to an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano. Giuliano was killed Lorenzo survived. Lorenzo then savagely purged all those involved, including the Bishop of Pisa, becoming one of the most powerful men of the Renaissance - Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Pope Sixtus excommunicated him and attempted to use military force to remove him but failed. Many educated men of the Renaissance were humanists, seeking wisdom from the pre-Christian Greeks and Romans, so excommunication no longer bore the same weight as it once had. In due course Lorenzo's grandson would become Pope Leo X. In the meantime, Giuliano's illegitimate son by his mistress Fioretta Gorini, would become Pope Clement VII.
Lorenzo was a patron of the arts who sponsored both Michelangelo and Botticelli. Both he and Giuliano are interred in the Medici Chapel in Florence their tombs decorated by sculptures by Michelangelo.
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The Medici Chapel
Siena
We had always intended to use Florence as a base and explore the neighbouring towns so we travelled by bus to Siena to get out into the country and to see the old square the cathedral and the city walls. Our initial challenge was to find the station for busses to Siena that is relatively well hidden near the main Firenze Railway Station. There we discovered other Australians (of course) waiting for the same bus.
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On the bus to Siena
Siena is a world heritage site and one of the most popular tourist spots in Italy. It was founded by the Etruscans and legend has it that two sons of Remus (brother of Romulus) came here with a she wolf hence the symbol of the city is similar to that of Rome.
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Symbol of the City
It features a unique bowl-like town square or semi-circle the Piazza del Campo, that's like a shallow Greek amphitheatre without the seats. At its focus not a stage but the Palazzo Pubblico (the town hall), with its iconic high tower. I was interested to learn that here is an annual horse race around this square. While contemplating this I noticed a dead pigeon in the fountain overlooked by a congregation of saints. Symbolic?
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Piazza del Campo
The other major attraction is the cathedral - The Duomo. It's built on a very steep hillside and can be approached from below. An elaborate facade faces the upper square.
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Duomo di Siena - It contains very elaborate floors depicting mainly women - cordoned off to prevent tourist scuffs
But it also contains some most unusual three dimensional sculptures and reliefs.
Presumably the immodest man displaying his wears is Adam, being expelled from Eden with a naked Eve
The ecstatic young woman with her foot on a bowl and provocatively projecting leg is naked to the waist.
She's in a small chapel dedicated to Mary. But which one? Magdalene I suppose. Pure erotica.
And what on earth are three Greek (or Roman) muses doing in a Christian Cathedral?
Much of the town is steep and it is surrounded by impressive fortified walls appropriate to its long history of conflict with other parts of Italy, the Spanish and even the Byzantines.
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A town positioned for defence
Today it's a university town and is making contributions to biotechnology research.
Pisa
The following day we went by train to Pisa. Pisa is on the Arno down stream from Florence and in the middle ages was an important strategic port.
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The Arno at Pisa
Pisa is the birthplace of Galileo Galilei (b 1564) who studied medicine at the University of Pisa and subsequently held the Chair of Mathematics here. This is probably Pisa's greatest claim to fame as most historians trace the scientific revolution back to Galileo's doorstep.
It is often said that he used the Cathedral's belltower, the famous Leaning Tower, to demonstrate uniform acceleration due to gravity by dropping two balls of different mass to show that they reached the ground at the same time. But this may be apocryphal.
However it is documented that while in the Cathedral he noticed that chandeliers of the same length swing with the same period no matter how widely they swing. You can see the same thing in any children's' playground. On swings of the same length adults and children swing at the same speed and except at very high speeds, where air resistance becomes a factor, each swing takes the same time no matter how far you swing. Using this simple observation Galileo was able to deduce the gravitational law and realise that in a vacuum all matter must fall towards the centre of the earth uniformly, contrary to everyday experience in which a feather or a balloon takes longer to fall than a golf ball.
Suddenly a lot of other things that seemed like commonsense, like the Sun going around the Earth, were called into question.
Unfortunately, many of these misunderstandings had become religious truths. So when Galileo showed that Jupiter has moons, and because Venus has phases like our Moon it must be orbiting the Sun, an Earth centred Universe can't be true, Pope Urban VIII called in the Inquisition. In 1633 Galileo was charged with heresy and having been shown the instruments of torture recanted and agreed to house arrest. He was right to take them seriously, thirty three years earlier the Inquisition had burned Giordano Bruno alive at the stake in Rome's Campo de' Fiori for this same heresy, in addition to a list of others like denying the Trinity.
But it was to no avail, the scientific cat was out of the bag.
From the station we crossed the Arno and headed to the cathedral where along with all the other tourists we pretended to hold up the Leaning Tower - a terrible anti-climax as it's so small. So we had lunch in an outdoor restaurant just when the sky opened and we all had to dash indoors. When the storm was over and we had eaten we went to look at the other sights the town has to offer and discovered there is not a lot. Another coffee in the shop with free WiFi was called for before catching the train home to Florence.
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Holding up the tower
But this was when Pisa became interesting. There was a train strike and the train schedules and platform indicators were wrong and changed randomly. After swapping platforms several times as indicators changed, we eventually identified the train back to Firenze and confirmed it from the indicator in the train itself. Then somehow we became the rail gurus, in various languages, to other would be passengers similarly bemused. Eventually the train departed, about an hour late, and fortunately it actually went to Florence.
Leaving Italy
This heading should say Perugia, our next stop for a couple of nights.
Perugia is rather too far for a day trip and so we had intended to spend a couple of nights there before flying out, leaving Italy for places elsewhere.
But this is where our plans came unstuck. Wendy's mother was hospitalised. She's almost 90. An alarming message was received. Airlines were called. How quickly could she return? Perugia was out of the question. I spent an extra night in Florence then flew to Berlin.
Wendy had already left for Sydney.