Olives e formaggio. What else do you need?
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Florence (Firenze)
Today’s pasta offerings!
Dante
His cenotaph is in Florence in Santa Croce, but his body is in Ravenna. But Florence celebrates him, as seen below.
Florence from above
If you decide to climb the medieval Torre di San Niccolo in Florence, you will have a 360 degree view that is hard to believe.
You can see some of the steps criss-crossing the upper part of the tower in the photo below. The steps are houses in that whitish diagonal shape. And in the lower portion of the tower below, you can see additional steep stone steps along the left side of the tower wall. I know, for I climbed all 161 steps to the top 2 days ago!
It was well worth the trouble, even in the 97 degree heat! And that is saying something.
Here are a few more shots of the stairways:
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So, once at the top, let’s see what you can see!
Ciao! Firenze! You are looking mighty fine!
Hello Santa Croce above.
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You can walk all around the top of the tower, taking pictures between the crenellations
Now, let’s look to the east and a bit north of the tower:
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Directly to the west of the tower is this section of the city: San Niccolo.
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Now, let’s have a look to the south from the tower. Piazzale Michelangelo!
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And, why not a few shots straight down?
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And one more look to the west:
The tower is nice at night too:
Signs of the times
It’s agosto and that means many Italians are on vacation. Signs like this are all over Italy and all over Florence:
It tells us that the business is closed from the 5 to the 21st of agosto, “closed for the holiday.”
Other signs of the times are the fashions.
Per i uomini:
And, per le donne:
My daily walk to school
I never, ever tire of my walk to school. At this time of day, the city is waking up, coming to life, and I have the streets more or less to myself, along with all the workers and trucks delivering goods to the stores. It will be a completely different story on my walk home after school. The hordes of tourists will have descended, like a plague of locusts.
I have the distinct privilege of walking past the revered Orsan Michele on a daily basis. I get so accustomed to the delights of Florentine architecture that I often don’t even notice this storied church/granary. That’s a shame!
Today I stopped and enjoyed the facade, against the bright blue sky. It’s a beauty!
Further down the Por Santa Maria, I encountered this straight up and down cherry picker. Apparently some work will be done along the cornice or roof of this palazzo.
You can get dizzy taking pictures like these!
And then I get to school and enjoy (usually) class, and at the break (pausa), while everyone else is running to a local bar for a cappucino or something, I wander the halls of my school’s palazzo. There are fun views from many places.
For example, there is this striking view of il Duomo!
And il duomo is like, hey! look at me! I’m big and I’m here!
And my school’s palazzo is old and full of crazy little spaces. Today I found a new bathroom, and this was the view I was confronted with! Another day, another delight!
Torre di San Niccolo, Florence
See that beautiful Medieval tower with the crenellation? It’s the Torre di San Niccolo and sometimes, in the summer, it is possible to climb to its very top. Today was one of those times!
As I approached the Torre, walking from the center of Florence towards the east on Via San Niccolo, the tall fortification towered above the streets, against a beautiful azure sky filled with cumulus clouds.
Here’s the tower in all its glory:
Walking through the tower, which was one of the major gateways in the walls that once surrounded all of Florence, I noticed the marker showing the height to which the Arno flooded in 1966.
The Arno rose to the level of the white rectangle on the wall below. Standing where I was when I shot this photo, I would have been 15 feet under water.
If this were any time period prior to the mid-19th century, upon approaching Florence from the east, one would encounter this gateway. It projects strength and some beauty, with a few sculptural details:
Belos is a picture of the tower from the south side. This is how you enter the tower today.
Northern (exterior) façade
From Wikipedia we learn: The tower and its gate were elaborated in the designs of Arnolfo di Cambio for circumferential walls around Florence. These walls were, in the main, destroyed in the 19th century as a project of urban renewal, Risanamiento, in part led by Giuseppe Poggi. This tower was spared, in part because of its panoramic view of the city.
There are 160 steps to the summit.
And, away we go.
The views from the top of the tower are spectacular. I’ll be posting them soon.
Early Sunday morning
It isn’t every Sunday that you will find me up with the dawn. But today I was and I happened to capture the sunshine hitting the east side of the golden ball atop il Duomo. For me, it is a fairly rare shot!
La luna sopra il cortile Pitti ieri sera
Remember.
On this date in 1944 the retreating Nazi troops were leaving Florence in advance of the Allies arrival up the Italian peninsula. The retreating Germans did everything they could to wreak havoc for the Allies, destroying communication channels and destroying every bridge over the Arno, with the exception of the Ponte Vecchio.
In this picture below you see the destroyed Ponte Santa Trinita, with the Ponte Vecchio blessedly still in situ.
Here’s a heartbreaking overview of the Lungarno in the Oltrarno, next to Ponte Vecchio.
Naturally many Florentines were displaced from their homes and some were allowed to take shelter inside the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, where temporary beds were set up, as below.
To remember those dark days, La Compagnia delle Seggiole will perform portions of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” tonight in the Piazza outside the Pitti. The Requiem was written to celebrate the reconstruction of the Gothic cathedral of Coventry. Entrance is free.
get back, lauretta! 
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