{"id":9343,"date":"2018-06-26T14:56:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T13:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/?p=9343"},"modified":"2025-12-07T05:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T04:35:15","slug":"a-few-days-in-italy-in-fall-2017-part-5-florence-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/a-few-days-in-italy-in-fall-2017-part-5-florence-1\/","title":{"rendered":"A few Days in Italy in Fall 2017 \u2013 Part 5 \u2013 Florence 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Camping Firenze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After our breakfast at the Villa Noce in Brescia, we put our luggage in the car and took the small side streets down to Florence. The last few kilometers were really down some really small streets. In the late afternoon, we arrived at Camping Firenze. A few others had the same time frame, so I had to wait a while till we had the card to open our house for the next few nights. We were lucky and got one in the last row where the campground ends, and only a fence and some green separated us from the Arno River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Our <\/picture>
Our home for the next 3 nights<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comes <\/picture>
Comes with a shower and a toilet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Enough <\/picture>
Enough space and at the far end of the place. The Arno River is behind the fence, so it was quiet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Welcome <\/picture>
The evening sun warms our patio. Perfect for our sundowner and welcome beer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Got some Italian sweets for breakfast. Had our coffee and took a bus shuttle from Camping Firenze<\/a> to the center of Florence. Not really in the center, but ver,y very close to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Porta <\/picture>
The bus stopped across the Porta San Niccol\u00f2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ponte <\/picture>
Since we had no clue where to go first, we followed the crowd along the Arno River towards the Ponte alle Grazie. A nice bridge that was rebuilt after the last World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\"National <\/picture>
The National Central Library of Florence, or Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze is the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe. The library owns approximately 6,000,000 printed volumes, 2,689,672 pamphlets, 25,000 manuscripts, 4,000 incunabula, 29,000 editions from the sixteenth century, and over 1,000,000 autographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dante <\/picture>
Dante statue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Galileo <\/picture>
Galileo Galilei Statue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decided to turn right into the city after the library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Old <\/picture>
Old “doorbell” – why is he looking to the left?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Torre <\/picture>
Torre di Arnolfo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Club <\/picture>
Club del Gusto in the Via dei Neri<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lots <\/picture>
Lots of meat in this place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In <\/picture>
In the good old times, only Maria was looking down at you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Small <\/picture>
Small side street<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A <\/picture>
A clean sidewalk is important – it greets the visitors even before they enter your shop. Good thinking from the Italian businesswoman!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Quite <\/picture>
Quite a busy place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This <\/picture>
This is where the locals go shopping for breakfast – and the tourists for a second snack as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Torre <\/picture>
Torre di Arnolfo – we’re getting closer to the main piazza of Florence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fountain <\/picture>
Fountain at the Piazza del Grano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piazza della Signoria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Piazza della Signoria is a big square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The L-shaped square was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, which is also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the center of the Florentine Republic and the center of town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palazzo Vecchio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\"Palazzo <\/picture>
The Palazzo Vecchio, or Old Palace, is the town hall of Florence. Plans for the construction were formed in 1299, and the construction began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. Above the main door is a marble frontispiece from 1528. In the middle, you can see the rounded monogram of Christ. Flanked by two lions and with the inscription “Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium” – King of Kings and Lord of Lords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A <\/picture><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A copy of Michelangelo\u2019s David is to the left of the entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Courtyard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\"First <\/picture>
The first courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio with Putto with Dolphin by Verrocchio in the middle, and frescoes of Austrian cities on the wall by Vasari. The courtyard was designed in 1453 by Michelozzo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"So <\/picture>
So many nice details<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frescoes on the walls are quite detailed paintings of some cities of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. Painted in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I de’ Medici and Archduchess Johanna of Austria, sister of Emperor Maximilian II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The city of Graz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The city of Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"So <\/picture>
So much violence – Samson repressing one of the materialistic philistines by Leonardo\u2019s younger brother Pierino da Vinci<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Another <\/picture>
Another fountain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The Loggia dei Lanzi is coming up next<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loggia dei Lanzi<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The name Loggia dei Lanzi dates back to the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo I. The Loggia was used to house his Landsknechts – in Italian: “Lanzichenecchi” and shortened to Lanzi. The Landsknechts were German mercenary pikemen. The construction started in 1376. Now it serves as an open-air sculpture gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Temperance <\/picture>
Temperance – one of the Four Virtues on the fa\u00e7ade of the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Renaissance sculptors of the 15th century found that free-standing nudes had been missing in Europe since the Roman Empire. So they went and developed the figures of classical antiquity in new and more realistic poses. The statues around Piazza della Signoria twist and turn their heads and shoulders, hips and legs are unaligned to illustrate shifting weights. They gave figures in paintings and statues an overall dynamic and life-like appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benvenuto <\/picture>
Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Underneath <\/picture>
The bas-relief on the pedestal, representing Perseus freeing Andromeda, is a copy of the one in Bargell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi from 1865<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vacca's <\/picture>
Vacca’s Medici lion in the front and Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus on the right<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hercules <\/picture>
Giambologna’s marble sculpture Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus from 1599. It was placed here in 1841 from the Canto de’ Carnesecchi. It is sculpted from one solid block of white marble with the help of Pietro Francavilla<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
This work was made from the largest single marble block ever transported to Florence. It is the first group representing more than a single figure in European sculptural history to be conceived without a dominant viewpoint. It can be equally admired from all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the piazza again to take a look at the last marble statue
\"Baccio <\/picture>
Baccio Bandinelli\u2019s Hercules from 1533. Impressive muscles on Hercules – the demi-god is pulling the hair of Cacus. The poor man will be clubbed and strangled in a minute. But for now, Hercules\u2019 attention is diverted by someone passing by his left. You can see the eyes of Cacus have already started to bulge, and the thick lips might as well quiver. Too much violence at this square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statue Cosimo I de ‘Medici<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Equestrian Monument of Cosimo I was erected in 1594 in the piazza. It is from the sculptor Giambologna, who also completed the Rape of the Sabines in the Loggia dei Lanzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hello <\/picture>
Hello horse – in the back, the Old Palace or Palazzo Vecchio<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Statue <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The base of the statue features reliefs with scenes from the life of Cosimo. Here you can see his entrance into Siena as a ruler after his victory over that republic in 1557<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
And here his coronation in Rome as Grand-Duke in 1570<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donatello's <\/picture>
Donatello’s statue Judith and Holofernes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Art <\/picture>
Art in the square<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The piazza with the tower of Badia Fiorentina and Monastero on the left<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camping Firenze After our breakfast at the Villa Noce in Brescia, we put our luggage in the car and took the small side streets down to Florence. The last few kilometers were really down some really small streets. In the late afternoon, we arrived at Camping Firenze. A few others had the same time frame,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":9354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kb_optimizer_status":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[740,224,37],"tags":[463,741,369],"class_list":["post-9343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florence","category-europe","category-italy","tag-europe","tag-florence","tag-italy"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/hhh.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Marc Hastenteufel","author_link":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/author\/marc\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/hhh.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14288,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343\/revisions\/14288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}