Just an ordinary Saturday in spring in Florence

Grandfather and granddaughter? Father and daughter? What do you think?

Above and below, the Lutheran Church of Florence.

Below: I outta be able to paint this kind of version of the duomo!

Below, the horse appears everywhere throughout Florence. Times gone by, still remembered.

My kind of street art!

Many fine homes in Italy have these elaborate grates over the windows. Usually there is a big oval space created towards the bottom, but this building had rather unique round spaces. Have never seen this before.

All over the city, wisteria reigns!

Below, on the fabric of the old walls that once encircled Florence, we find a plaque that moves me very much. In English is says: In this square on the eve of the liberation of Florence, July 17, 1944, defeated fascismn cowardly murdered five innocent citizens: Ivo Poli, aged 8, Igino Bercigli, Corrado Frittelli, Aldo Arditi, and Umberto Peri. Their memory in the climate of the new democracy gives certainty of the advent of civilization of Freedom and Justice. The citizens of the Oltrarno, July 17, 1945.

Wow. Horrendous history. It’s a remarkable testament that the citizens got this plaque up in place in exactly a year when you stop and consider how awful the circumstances of life were immediately following the war. Bravissimo!

A villino (little villa) in the Oltrarno built with a decidedly art nouveau appearance. Surely built between the 2 world wars.

More wisteria. Look at the closeup, with that background!

Lots of interesting shops in Florence. This a a Japanese language bookstore, not something you’d automatically expect!

I spotted some lilac growing above the wall around this palazzo. I adore lilac and there isn’t a big use of it here. It made me think of the bunch of lilac I bought on the street in Paris in April of 2022. Sweet memories of that perfect month in Paris. You don’t see bunches of lilac for sale here.

And, last but most certainly not least, the whole reason I was out in Florence on this gorgeous morning was to attend a lecture on the new scholarly art history discoveries on Florence’s 1000 year old baptistry. It was held in a great space, seen below. The lecture hall had wonderful views! But the talk itself was great and fired my mind! I’m so fortunate to be living here, where this kind of interplay is possible.