It is amazing how precise thst cartography is. Makes it evident how ignorant is the myth of Columbus arguing with authorities about the shape of the world. Everybody knew it was round, the discussion was about the actual diameter. Authorities were right about size, it was Columbus who was wrong arguing it was much smaller, he was lucky there was a continent in the middle. (lucky or already knew there was something)
The Plaza del Duomo is a center piece of Florence's architecture.
The Duomo (cathedral) was started in 1296 and finally finished in 1887. The front facade was the last part of the building to be completed. Its massive dome was completed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1436. His design was rooted in his studies of the Pantheon in Rome. To this day the dome has the largest span of any in world built of brick. The Duomo was built over the remains of multiple churches and temples dating back to Roman times. From previous photos up thread you can see how the Duomo dominates the Florence skyline with it dome and green and white marble coloring. The Statue of David was originally supposed to be mounted on the front facade of the cathedral, but was too massive to be included. Nearby is the Baptistry of St. John, famous for its doors and design.
These pictures were taken on a sunny day. On my scheduled day to visit, it rained.
Duomo with the Baptistry on the left front.
The facade.
And with the tower included.
There re 700+ step to the top of the tower.
This short video was taken along the side of the building.
It is amazing how precise thst cartography is. Makes it evident how ignorant is the myth of Columbus arguing with authorities about the shape of the world. Everybody knew it was round, the discussion was about the actual diameter.
A Greek mathematician and geographer proved it by calculating Earth's circumference over 2,000 years ago. His calculation was 99% correct. So yes, people of the Middle Age and Renaissance knew the shape of our world. As did everyone sailing the oceans and navigating by the stars at night.
Nice trip to Tuscany. I did one myself a few years ago and especially Sienna was sooo crowded with tourists I really had trouble to enjoy my time there. We had also three days on a vineyard near to Montepulciano which was really great to relax a bit after the cities.
I can also highly recommend Sicily and visiting Etna volcano. The locals tend to call it the docile volcano because it erupts often but without much harm. Still I am a bit sceptical about that
The interior of the Duomo was closed on my day to visit, but not the basement. The church was built on top of several layers of previous churches and temples. In the "basement" they have excavated some of those layers:
The Baptistry is most famous for its doors. They are cast bronze and gilded with different artists trying to outdo previous ones. the re "confusion" over the construction date of the Baptistry but it seems to date to at least 1080 and over time, like most building in Florence, it was built and changed over the centuries. It is an octagon in shape with a green and white marble exterior like the Duomo. I did not get to go inside. There are three sets of mammoth bronze doors. The south doors were made by Andrea Pisano, begun in 1330 and completed 6 years later. The north doors were made by Lorenzo Ghiberti and were started in 1403, largely finished by 1416, and finally installed in 1424. The East doors were Ghiberti's next project: “Gates of Paradise”. Work started in 1429 and was completed in 1447.
Pisano's south doors, not my picture, showing 20 scenes from the life of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence.
Ghiberti's first doors depict the life of Christ in the top 20 panels, read left to right and bottom to top, and the lower 8 panels show Matthew, Mark, Luke and John plus 4 saints. The 21-year enterprise proved extremely expensive, equivalent to the annual Florentine defense budget and was almost as costly as Florence’s purchase of the entire city of Sansepolcro a few years later.
Ghiberti out did himself with the next set of doors. They were equally as expensive. The ten panels depict Old Testament stories from the creation of Eve to Solomon meeting the Queen of Sheba. More gold was added.
The high relief and larger panels enabled more of each story to be told.
All of the original doors were moved to the nearby museum and replaced by copies.
Before moving on to Naples let me say a bit about money and exchange rates. I prefer to carry cash abroad rather than use a CC since most of the fees and charges with CCs are hidden and not every place accepts CCs. In both China and Africa my CCs were worthless. Before I left home I had my bank get me Euros and the rate was 87.5 euros per $100 at the end of March this year. I carried those plus some US dollars on my trip. I used cash daily meals, groceries, trains, subways, sightseeing where pre-bought tickets were not needed, gelato, etc. In Naples I learned that banks don't do exchanges and one had to go to exchange stores scattered about the cities. My euros held out until I go to Rome. I avoided the exchange booths in train stations and airports. there were two types of exchange stores often nearby one another. One type had sings that said: "We don't charge commission"; the other did not.
In the last week of April stores without the "no commission" signs were paying out 60 euros per $100. Those with the signs were paying 84 euros per $100. Pretty easy choice. This was taken in Rome.
Notice the typical street sign in the upper left: via Gioberti. Hard to find; maybe 1 per intersection, maybe none. Often less travelled streets might have one every few blocks.
The interior of the Duomo was closed on my day to visit, but not the basement. The church was built on top of several layers of previous churches and temples. In the "basement" they have excavated some of those layers:
Always seems more representative of life to me. Less chasing of the Christian ideal, maybe, or I just see less of that in it. Further towards the Renaissance, holier it seems to get.
Pre-Renaissance Europe was very Christian. Renaissance art is all about a revival of Greek and Roman themes and more realistic looking people. Florence is chock full of naked men and women on canvas (or wood or in plaster) and carved in marble. The foundation of secularism was being lain down. Yes, the churches took part and religious art flourished. Florence during much of that era was a "Mecca" for homosexuals where liaisons between unmarried men were common if still illegal. Most of the ceiling art was heavily themed around the Bible, Greek stories and family histories. In Florence Savonarola took control of the city for a few years and exiled the Medici. He burned much of the radical art fostered by the Medici and promoted his very conservative and reactionary religious views. On Feb. 7, 1497 he held a "bonfire of the Vanities" to purge Florence of its secular nature. In May of 1498, the Pope condemned Savonarola and his chief henchmen. They were hanged and their bodies burned. Within two decades the Protestant Reformation was launched by Martin Luther. The 15th and 16th centuries in Europe were not a quiet period. There was turmoil and change across all aspects of European culture as well as the new lands contacted by European explorers and conquerors. Keep in mind that in 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks and many of those who fled brought with then the Greek/Roman heritage of the Eastern Church.
The mosaics of earlier times are certainly lovely. By the 15th C in Italy it seems that mosaics as floor art had been displaced by fancy marble floors that were of complex patterns but less story or picture oriented. The fancy art moved from the floors to the ceilings? So it seems.
Populations:
Florence: ~360,000
Naples: ~900,000
Rome: ~2.7 million
The change is size made a big difference in the experience. Florence ws pretty concentrated for visiting sights. Naples wasn't too bad and was mostly walkable. In Rome everything was pretty spread out of one wanted to take in some of everything.
[On page 1 I added a sight seeing map of Florence for better orientation. Here it is again.]
Spoiler:
My Airbnb was on the left just below the oval text for the Santa Maria Novella Church.
The city is shaded brown. Vesuvius is to the right with its peal light yellow. Pompeii's ruins are noted with 3 dots at about 5:00 from Vesuvius and Herculaneum is noted as Ercolano and is just up the coast from Torre del Greco.
The Campi Flegri on the map just to the left of Naples is an active volcanic hotspot.
The spoiler is more about the hot spot and was not part of my visit to the city.
Spoiler:
The Phlegraean Fields is a large volcanic caldera west of Naples, Italy. The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption produced "just" 50 cubic kilometers. It is, however, one of relatively few volcanoes large enough to form a caldera. It is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, which includes Mount Vesuvius, about 9 km east of Naples. The Phlegraean Fields is monitored by the Vesuvius Observatory. It was declared a regional park in 2003. The Phlegraean Fields' largest known eruptions have an estimated volcanic explosivity index of 7
Topo map of the area showing both Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields.
This satellite image shows just how built up the area is today. If this hot spot has a serious eruption, getting people out will be a serious challenge.
Map of central Naples with the historic district noted in the map key. My Airbnb was about 200 meters west of the Museo Nationale and probably 100 meters higher. Naples is hilly and slopes toward the Bay.
I arrived at the RR station from Florence about noon and had a 4 hour wait for my apartment to be ready. Since I had no idea about getting around in the city and knew walking from the RR station was not going to work. i planned to take one of those city bus tours you find all over Europe. I choose a route to take me west along the coast to see the areas I would not be seeing later. Route B in blue. I took a taxi from Garibaldi Station to the Castel Nuovo where the busses home base was (1) on the map. It was a 2 hour ride on the top of a double decker bus. I had a front row seat. While not a normal kind of touristy experience for me. it was a good introduction the the city and was an effortless time filler until I could get into my apartment.
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