While Carol worked on her class and rested, I played Grand Lady of the Piazza.\u00a0 I walked over to the Basilica and went in.\u00a0 What splendor! If course, the building is vast, and one enters by going thought a courtyard, one of the several cloisters attached to the building.\u00a0 As with so many old cathedrals, this one seemed empty because of the distances between chapels and between the entrance and the altar, which itself is massive.<\/p>\n
The outside of the Basilica is swathed in geometrically-patterned marble, a background of white, with designs mainly in shades of green (not as much pink as the Duomo).\u00a0 Inside, it is cool and dark, though sun through stained glass allowed plenty of light to view the art works.\u00a0 I slowly made a circuit of the walls, amazed at the paintings and frescos (and even carved statues) covering the walls.\u00a0 The altar is magnificent, made again of the patterned marble Florence seems to have in abundance, but also plenty of gilt.\u00a0 Behind the altar is a wonderful set of stained glass windows flanked by amazing frescos by Ghirlandaio (1485-90).\u00a0 While depicting the life of the Virgin Mary (after all, this is the Santa Maria Novella Basilica), but what is amazing is the detail showing life in 15th-century Florence, the people rendered so realistically in the clothing of the day and with faces you could recognize on the street.\u00a0 [add photos sent to Carol]<\/p>\n
Other highlights:\u00a0 A sculpture of St. Catherine of Medici behind glass, three newly-discovered fresco panels (my Italian is almost non-existent so I could not read where the panels were discovered or much else about them), and more vivid depictions of blended Biblical and Florentine life.\u00a0 I was walking around the Green Cloister enjoying how it cooled the air, when the attendants announced the Basilica was closing at 2 pm.\u00a0 I had not seen the Spanish Cloister (Hmmm — Browning?).\u00a0 There is always more to see, reasons to come back.\u00a0 [add photos]<\/p>\n
I crossed the Piazza again, back to JK for a wonderful caprese salad for a late lunch, and wrote in my journal, feeling very continental.\u00a0 I could get used to this way of traveling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Carol worked on her class and rested, I played Grand Lady of the Piazza.\u00a0 I walked over to the Basilica and went in.\u00a0 What splendor! If course, the building is vast, and one enters by going thought a courtyard, … Continue reading