Michelangelo in Florence

ST LUKE'S: Obviously the first play for Michelangelo in Florence is the Galleria d'Academia which is basically a purpose-built display case for the world's most famous sculpture. First glimpsing David is one of those exciting art moments where you round a corner, instantly feel a shock of recognition and then turn away in an instant in an attempt to preserve the 'freshness' of your eyes.

The statue is immense. On my first look I wasn't particularly impressed but I wandered around other parts of the museum, including an extensive and very interesting exhibition of Renaissance-era musical instruments, and then returned for a second go. That's when it got me. Round and round David I went like merry go round. With each new pass another detail would reveal itself. The contours of his calves, flexed but tentative, the cords in his neck rising with the turn of the head, the perfectly sculpted muscles. Even the pose, one of fear and trepidation, of youth on the verge of an immense challenge, is perfectly captured. Later in the week, in Rome, I would see sculptures that far surpassed it, but for the moment it was probably the greatest sculpture I had ever seen.

I also visited several other sculptures hidden in a Medici Chapels and an immense staircase that advanced improbably through a room like a marauding army. What is so amazing about these Renaissance artists is their ability to transfer their aesthetic skills and apply their talents across an array of media.

Anyway this might be shite but I've banged it out at warp speed at work on a Saturday listening to England v. West Indies in the Test match and my mind feels foggy after a few cheeky beers at Flo and Lou's place last night.

My Days in Florence

ST LUKE'S: So what did I do in Florence when I wasn't wandering around buying €9 ice creams or galavanting around Tuscany? Some of the following:

Foodmarkets: After sitting in a coffee shop reading the IHT for an hour and a half waiting for the rain to pass, a pleasureable enough way to idle away the hours in itself, I walked across a piazza and into a giant food market with fresh produce on the second floor and a full range of delis on the bottom. I wandered around trying dried fruits, cheeses and hams before settling on a place for a delicious ham and cheese pannini, made from the ham and cheese of my choice. Sadly my hostel didn't have a kitchen so I couldn't stock up on stuff to take home and cook.

The Uffizi: When I tried to book tickets I was told they were booked out. This condemned me to three hours standing in line despite arriving half an hour after the doors opened at 8:30. And the massive queue meant I missed the finish to the Florence Marathon which was being run on the same day.

Inside the Gallery was a slight disappointment. It's poorly maintained, especially compared to its illustrious Western European rivals. It's art collection is ok but focussed almost entirely on the Renaissance. And it's absolutely packed with tourists wondering which pictures they're supposed to be looking at and for how long.

Despite this the Botticelli Rooms were absolutely stunning. The painter's reputation rests, largely, on the paintings in this gallery and it is a reputation thorougly deserved. There were also some stunning Raphael's, a lovely terrace and sundry other wonderful paintings by the Great Masters. But from a gallery I'd hoped to deliver so much, I was left longing.

The Bargello: I'd never even heard of this little gallery but the Rough Guide said it was Florence's best sculpture musuem so I got up early to beat the crowds, stopping for a cappucinno and croissant at my local breakfast joint (1.70 - the price fluctuations in this country!!!), and braved the rain. When I got there the place was virtually empty. It boasts the best collection of Donatello, some Bernini's, and a couple of Michelangelo's.

It was a small, idiosyncratic gallery built around an open forecourt. It was lovely to be able to wander and enjoy the sculptures and the other objects unmolested by the tourist crowds.

Churches in Florence: I visited a few churches in Florence. Beginning with the Duomo, with its enormous dome and stadium sized interior, then moving on to a church boasting the tombs of Machievelli, Dante, Gallileo and Marconi, the inventor of the radio.

This isn't everything I did in Florence but it's a lot of things. I'll finish the rest of shortly.

Day Trip in Tuscany

FLORENCE: Yesterday was my excursion day. For about two weeks now I've been tossing up between visiting Lucca, north west of the city, or Siena and San Gimignano to the south. I've tried all the usual channels but I still couldn't make up my mind. In the end I left it to fate. Whichever train came first I'd take. In the end the train to Siena was leaving an hour and a half earlier so there was no contest.

San Gimignano isn't on any train lines and to get there you have to get off the Siena train at a small industrial town called Poggibonsi and then take a bus. From there it's a local bus through the Tuscan countryside. Unfortunately I'd just missed the bus, so I was condemned to a lazy hour reading the paper, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. There are worse ways of passing the time.

When the bus finally did arrive, all the passengers got on, the locals moved towards their seats and myself and American couple asked the bus driver for tickets. He told us we needed to go into the shop at the station so in a panic we jumped off the bus, our bags still on board, and bolted to the kiosk for tickets.

San Gimignano enjoys part of its reputation from the twelve tours the fill the city. Perched on a hilltop, it makes for a stunning sight when first glimpsed in the distance as you round a corner. Arriving at the town my first priority was a tourist information desk and a bus timetable so I could plan my escape. With that accomplished I was free to wander the town, refreshing myself with more coffee and pizza. (Did I do anything else in Italy other than eat or drink?)

I walked the town walls, explored the remains of a fort at the top of the hill, craned my neck upwards to observe the towers, wandered up and down forgotten little backstreets and watched the crowds milling around the cafes and the fountain in the piazza. After lunch I waited for them to open a museum that contained some lovely Etruscan art and then climbed a tower for what, I was later told, was the most wonderful view of Tuscany. And then, as the rain pissed down upon me, it was time to leave. I was grateful for the rain actually. It rained when I left Florence, stopped for most of the morning, and then rained briefly, though heavily, as I left. However the weather probably did much to keep the crowds away. After all the town enjoys a reputation as the most visited small town in Italy.

After a bus back to Poggibonsi it was another wait on a train station platform for the onward journey to Siena. I met a fellow tourist, a photographer from Brazil, who had been travelling on her own for six months so we swapped stories on the train and then wandered around Siena. The town itself isn't as impressive as it's smaller cousin. Like Florence the influx of tourism has left quite a stain on the place, something I was surprised wasn't repeated in Rome. We checked out the Duomo, just the outside - it was closing when we got there, the Campo, and its steep winding streets. It is a nice place, it just doesn't have the natural beauty or the relaxed vibe of San Gimignano and even though the smaller town is probably more kitschy it absorbs it better. In a way I wish I'd visited Lucca but then I might have been disappointed there and there wouldn't have been a side trip like SG.

Then it was time for a bus back to the train station, a train back to Florence and another carafe of wine accomplished by a bowl of spaghetti carbonara. Bellissimo!

My Rant

FLORENCE: I'm sitting in an Internet cafe killing time until my 6:30 train to Roma. It's raining outside like it has been since I got here. Rather than post my day-to-day adventures of Florence, which I will do soon, I thought I'd put my general thoughts on the city to paper while they're still fresh.

I've cycled through a number of adjectives to describe Florence. Seedy, but that doesn't work because there's too many middle aged tourists, no armies of touts and no strip clubs. Crass, but even though it heaves with tourists you can't escape the fact that this is THE city of Dante, the Medicis and the Ninja Turtles. No the best adjective for Florence is shoddy.

Shoddy in that the tourist attractions aren't up to European standards. The Uffizi is an absolute wreck. Totally incomparable to anything in Spain, England, Germany or the Netherlands. Shoddy in the fact that the streets are a twisted web of cheap internet places, cut price restaurants, souvenir stalls. Think of it as a Renaissance version of Surfer's Paradise.

And the tourists. Everywhere you look somebody is rushing off to see David, tour groups are following a flag brandishing leader, some middle aged American woman is whinging about pizza. The odd thing is that it there aren't, comparatively speaking, a lot of tourists under thirty. It is the most middle-aged tourist destination I've ever visited.

On the bright side though, the artworks are fantastic. The city looks fantastic when viewed from above. The river is beautiful and the gellati is fantastic. But I don't think I'll be visiting Florence again.