Busting the Line at the Uffizi

Buon Giorno!

Still not over the jet lag, but I determined to make today another art-heavy day and strolled across the Piazza to the Uffizi Gallery, noting the long line of poor saps who didn’t know they should have or didn’t bother to make a reservation.

But these days I am no ordinary traveler.  I am la Principessa Alma de Peregrina dwelling in an actual palazzo.  Lines are for common people.  I showed up and as befits my exalted status I was immediately put through security and let into the museum.  Or it was all due to my Amici degli Uffizi card. You can see the Uffizi minus the crowds above.

Uffizi means “offices” and the building held working spaces for the Medici and their minions.  Their home was next door at the Palazzo Vecchio.  Nevertheless, the Uffizi is one of those museums worth visiting just for the building alone.  The lovely gallery with its views of the Arno on one side and the city and Duomo on the other are alone worth the price of admission, but maybe not the hours long wait.  But in addition the visitor gets inundated with a large and marvelous collection of much of the best of Western Early Modern Art.

Now seeing all of this in one go means a major commitment of time and attention.  I did it, but my readers understand my appetite for art as well as food.  Most of the art is Italian paintings from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries and like all huge collections contains has some works on display merely because they’re old, but the proportion of great works to the whole is truly spectacular.

One room reveals the revolution in art through the display of great altarpieces.  In one corner sits a Virgin and Child Enthroned by Cimabue, and near it you can see the same subject as treated by Giotto with the figures having volume and being placed in naturalistic space.  Across from Giotto, Duccio’s version shows amazing richness of color and exquisite detail.

You can view paintings by Raphael and Leonardo.  Michelangelo, too!  Yes his lone panel painting is on exhibit.  It's almost like getting to see the Sistine Ceiling close up. You won’t want to miss the Botticellis either.  Both The Birth of Venus and his enigmatic Primavera enthrall the eye.  More beauty?  You can always count on Titian.  The Venus of Urbino looks so lovely, one forgets the naughtiness involved.  But with a collection this compelling, the crowds are correspondingly large

The top gallery is also lined with sculptures.  Some are antiquities, others are good copies of antiquities.  You can see two versions of the Doryphorous for example.   More works than ever are on display, several bought or restored by us Amici Degli Uffizi!  Ah, my heart swelled with pride.  I’m contributing!

Downstairs, if you are not yet experiencing art fatigue, you can see the non-Italian collection, which likewise is pretty distinguished—if you like Rubens and Velasquez.  The Uffizi has also taken its tapestries out of storage, done some great restoration work and has a terrific display that explains weaving and dying techniques.  They have so many that they could afford to display the backside of one, so the interested viewer can examine the knots and weaves.

Ok even I get arted out, so when I finished I did not want to go see more, but I never get tired of old houses so I made my way down the street to the Palazzo Davanti recently reopened for those of us who want to see how the non-Medici rich lived.  Now this place is more my style made for comfort rather than grandeur.  One enters into a colonnaded courtyard very typical of Florence.  Often the ground floor was given over to shops while the family occupied the piani nobili in this case the European first and second floors.  Servants and storerooms occupied the floors above.  The walls feature frescos—of course, and don’t forget to look up at the ceilings. The furnishings while sparse are attractive and homey.

Then I went shopping.  It began with an unpleasant encounter.  The major problem being a lone female traveler is that I am frequently accosted.  I don’t mind tourists asking directions and sometimes I can help.  I find beggars annoying and usually avoid solicitors.  A few days ago a guy handed me an advertisement, so I wrongly assumed that the guy today was handing out advertisements, so I took what he held out.  He claimed to be collecting for blind children.  I explained I was a tourist. This was my first mistake.  He spoke English and began to try to engage me.  He pressed me and wanted a donation NOW.  Fine.  I gave him five euros.  Then he became annoyed and said it wasn’t enough.  Really?  I gave him back his card, but he wouldn’t give back my money.  After some back and forth he said five euros would do.  I stomped off feeling had and vowing to elude any more folks passing things out.

The rest of the day turned out more pleasantly.  I’ll tell you about one of my purchases.  Florentines like gelato but not as a desert after dinner.  Instead they dip biscotti into a sweet wine called Vin Santo.  I don’t care for biscotti but I am happy to drink sweet wine.  Very nice it is, too.

Ciao