October 2018 – Page 2

Since I am attacking this by subject let’s start with Churches that are Museums and the other way around.

So all over town you see statues, buildings, churches and monuments dedicated to the House of Medici. They always refer to themselves as Cosmos the Magnificent, or Lorenzo the Magnificent, or Piero the Magnificent. As with any family there was one Piero the Unfortunate. The Medici’s were smart enough to control Florence through banking instead of through assuming roles of Kings an Queens. It seems this led to a longer reign of control and allowed them to accumulate incredible wealth.

So much wealth it made sense to them to add a Church onto the Cathedral of San Lorenzo so they could gather the remains of all of their relatives and bring them to the Medici Chapel (Church) and pay their respects all at one time instead of traveling around Tuscany. This is also a way to share the history of Florence with the common folks to give them a pride that all of this was accomplished by the people without the need to rely on a despot to give them what they needed.

To this very day it is a matter of pride that Florence has always been ruled by the people. This is a larger discussion we might get into later.

These following photos are a reflection of the resource the Medici were able to call forward to honor themselves.

This is starting at ground level and will be working up.

Below is the family Crest of the House of Medici. Six balls. It is a long story and I will be happy to share with anyone interested but for now when ever you see the six balls the Medici either built it or owned it.

Still working our way up…

…and up. Just as an aside Michelangelo designed this for the Medici.

And now a little perspective.

And the altar in the Chapel. None of this is painting – all of it is stone, mosaic or the powdered stone technique I am learning at the studio.

A reminder that the House of Medici did this for the Citizens of Florence.

Now we are moving on to the Basilica of Santa Croce. Records show there was some sort of Church on this site in the 900’s. In the 1200’s St Francis claimed it as an outpost of the Franciscan Order. This is the Basilica in my front yard.

I won’t show you the monuments of all the famous Italians buried in this Church but here are a few. This is the memorial to Danti Alighieri. He also has a large statue on the front steps.

This is the tomb of Galileo.

The list goes on to include Niccolo Machiavelli, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gioachino Rossini, Michelangelo and many, many more.

I always remind my guests if you go to sleep with an open mind you might wake a little wiser. I haven’t seen any evidence this happens but people sleep better.

And speaking of famous people buried in the Basilica, I am pretty sure this is the couple who invented the Sleep Numbers bed.

This was a separate Chapel in the Basilica but I can not figure out what is going on. I am hoping my DIL Zosia or Granddaughter Klara can explain it to me.

In past dispatches you have seen references to Patti. Patti is the Priest of the Parish I belong to. Before I left I asked Patti if there was anything I could bring back for her. She told me to light a candle for her and the Church as I traveled. The following are for Patti.

There are many more I will share when I return.

My friends Kim and Carl and I have made a couple of trips to the market. It is fun to go with Carl (a professional photographer) who has an ability to get anybody to let him photograph them, including getting this pig to hold still.

There is no excuse not to eat healthy in Florence.

The seafood was swimming last night.

Now I will end with a couple of things that do not make sense and some street art.

These are two identification stones you see on all of the old buildings. Not sure how long they have been doing Yoga in Florence but there it is. The bigger surprise is who knew they had culture in Indiana.