As I mentioned in other posts about this museum, the Misericordia were a group of individuals who performed charitable works anonymously. This painting is in tribute to them and their charity, although I think it’s quite a disconcerting artwork. It was painted by Cesare Riesch (1906-1982) and was given to the museum by his family after he died. A nice sentiment, but a very direct image.
Category: Florence
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Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (Flowering Cross from the Column of St. Zenobius)
Saint Zenobius was the first bishop of Florence and there is a story passed down the generations that when his body was being moved from the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze to the Cathedral that it touched a dead elm which then burst into flower. A gardening miracle can’t be a bad thing, although the Saint today is better known from being children back to life after they’ve died. There’s a pillar now at the spot where this miracle is said to have taken place, which is often today marked with flowers at its base.
It’s not known when the first pillar was placed there, but it’s known that it was lost during the flood of 1333, but was replaced in the following year. The pillar collapsed in 1501 and was then repaired, still standing today. The details on various web-sites of the pillar suggest that the fourteenth century version is still in situ.
However, this pillar at the Cathedral museum is dated as being from the fourteenth century. So, it’s either the one that was installed in 1334 and there was a new one added in 1501, or this is somehow something else. However, the cross does look like the one which is currently standing and it’s a wonderful tradition. I like to think that this is the fourteenth century cross which fell in 1501, now located just a stone’s throw from the current one. Quite a long stone’s throw, but just about doable.
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Florence – Trams
There were trams in Florence from 1879 until 1958, then it was thought that they were no longer useful and that cars and buses would provide the alternatives. The service has though been brought back from 2010, with the T1 service which runs from Villa Costanza to Careggi. It’s the second line, T1, which openly recently, which is though perhaps the most useful to visitors to Florence, as it runs from the airport to just outside of the city centre.
The trams are easy to find when leaving the airport, with clear signage, and there’s a machine which accepts cards and cash to buy the tickets from. The trams leave on a regular basis and late into the evening, with the validation machines being easily visible and clear to understand. Richard did manage to miss his stop when he went back to the hotel on one, but they’re much easier than the previous option of getting a bus to the airport. And, these trams are just €1.50 for a 90-minute ticket, which allows users to get off onto another tram or bus as long as the journey is completed before the 90 minutes since validation are up.
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Florence – Museo della Misericordia (Saint Tobias by Santi di Tito)
This artwork was painted in oils by Santi di Tito in around 1578 to 1580. He was an influential local painter who was born in Florence in 1536 and died in the city in 1603. I think that Saint Tobias is the patron saint of grave-diggers, along with Saint Anthony and Saint Joseph, it seems quite a competitive role….. Anyway, an interesting artwork, but there’s unfortunately no obvious provenance of where this painting has been over the centuries.
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Florence – Marino Marini Museum
This museum and gallery is located in what was San Pancrazio Church, primarily a fourteenth century structure, although there has been a church on this site since the tenth century. The Rucellai Sepulchre has been retained within the church and this is accessible through the museum, although there’s an extra charge for that. The staff member at the reception area was friendly and he explained what there was to see and how to access it.
The view of the gallery from the entrance desk. The church stopped being used for religious purposes in 1808 during the Napoleonic Suppression and the building was then was used by the city as a tribunal court and then as a tobacco factory. It was a sad fall from grace for such a beautiful building which was used by the Vallombrosan Congregation order of Benedictine monks from 1230 until 1808.
And looking down on the gallery from the first floor.
There are plenty of works, around two hundred, by Marini which are located around the gallery. The majority of works were given to the city by the artist during his lifetime, with many others given by his widow following his death. There’s no admission charge to visit the gallery, just to see the chapel and also the regularly changing exhibition in the crypt.
Although damaged, this fresco on the ceiling retains some beauty and it’s interesting to see how it looks in its unrestored versions. The church has lost much of its interior, although some decorative elements remain, primarily in the crypt.
Some of the sculptures which Marini created and I’ve also posted separately about the sculptures Bagnante, Miracolo and Giocoliere. The sculptures were all interesting to look at and the environment is pleasing, with the light and space being ideal for this project. However, I didn’t really understand anything that I was looking at and although every sculpture was named there was no more information provided. It’s an intriguing museum, but I would have liked more explanation of the messages that the artist sought to convey in these artworks.
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Florence – Marino Marini Museum (Bagnante)
Meaning ‘bather’ in English, this sculpture by Marino Marini was cast in bronze in 1938. I’ve been trying to bring some understanding of what Marini was representing in these sculptures, with limited success. The Museum of Modern Art in Rome has a similar sculpture, although made from stone, and they have managed to write on their web-site five paragraphs describing their version of the artwork and a further four explaining it. I’m still none the wiser……
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Florence – Marino Marini Museum (Miracolo)
This work, meaning ‘Miracle’ in English, was created by Marino Marini in 1952 and was cast in bronze. As with many other works by the artist on this theme, it’s a horse and rider in what looks quite a precarious position. Marini comes back to this throughout his career, and he starts with a horse and rider under control, and throughout time, as the artist despairs with the world, the situation becomes more chaotic. Quite a nice metaphor, it could be argued that we need something similar given the political situation that we face today.
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Florence – Marino Marini Museum (Giocoliere)
This is Giocoliere, a bronze sculpture by Marino Marini in 1939 which is one of just three in the world which the artist cast. Giocoliere means ‘juggler’ in Italian, and although I’m not sure what is being juggled here, there is meant to be a wider message about humanity and the individual struggle. Anyway, another one of these three sculptures sold in 2018 for just under £80,000, not a bad little result.
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Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (Death Mask by Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti)
This is the death mask created (or cast, however he made it….) by Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti, also known as Buggiano, a sculptor who lived in Florence between 1412 and 1462. The element that interested me is that during this period of Florence’s history, it apparently became popular for people to have death masks on display in their homes. So here we are during a great renaissance period of art and the local denizens decide to buy themselves some death masks to display. Buggiano worked on numerous buildings, including Florence Cathedral, with this death mask dating from 1446.
The death mask is of Buggiano’s step-father, Filippo Brunelleschi, who was responsible for much of the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral. Brunelleschi was buried in the Cathedral in 1446 and his tomb was lost for many centuries, only being rediscovered in 1972.
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Florence – Florence Airport (Aeroporti VIP Club Toscana)
I arrived into the lounge at Florence Airport aware that most people were leaving the airport as their flights had been cancelled. I was a few hours early arriving, but the member of lounge staff said that I was welcome to come in, but I should be aware that as things stood my flight was likely to be cancelled. There didn’t seem much point worrying, I checked that Accor had hotels in Florence available should I need them and then concentrated on exploring the lounge.
There were a range of different seating areas, with the lounge being nearly empty when I was there, although it got much busier later on.
I decided that I should pretend to be an executive and so I sat here.
The food selection, with pastries, sandwiches, cakes and the like, but it was the doughnuts that were the most exciting. I checked all of the flavours, there were four, several times. There was briefly some hot food brought out in the form of pasta, but this didn’t last long and wasn’t replaced.
There were sandwiches, salads and fruit boxes in the fridges, with the salad being fresh and the cheese was rather moreish.
There were two different beers, although they tasted the same to me, just generic and nearly tasteless Italian lager. I didn’t explore the wine selection, but I overheard others saying it tasted of a decent quality.
There were also coffees and fruit juices, along with a fridge full of canned drinks such as Coke, Fanta and also some energy drinks.
And some sweets.
The lounge was clean throughout and there were books, newspapers and magazines to read. The staff went around relatively regularly collecting empty plates and glasses, whilst there were also plenty of power sockets available to use. There were numerous screens displaying flight information and there were toilets inside the lounge complex. All told, this was an above average lounge with plenty of choice of food and drink, although it did seem to be nearly full at one stage so it might be more problematic during busier times of the year for the airport.
