I love Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Last night I met up with a new friend at an art history lecture on Guido Reni and Bernini by Charles Cecil at his school in Florence, Italy. I love these lectures because Charles brings his passion for the art into the room with him. I do not always agree with his conclusions about specific works of art “obviously” being inspired by another artist, but then, I am not in the know enough to argue. Sometimes I just do not see the connections myself, and other times, I think that since I would not make that connection, it may be incorrect to assume that another artist did. Still I enjoy studies of compositions and am rarely bored at these events each Thursday evening.

After the lecture, my friend invited me over to her flat and I was delighted to discover that she has a rooftop terrace! So, you can imagine where we drank our chamomile tea! I took this (unfortunately terrible) photo of the cactus with Florence’s Duomo to say hello to my Texas guy. How unlikely to see Texas and Italy connected in this way.

And look at the Palazzo Vecchio (old palace): The silhouettes of the rooftop hiding my view of him create a lovely and interesting shape indeed. We could even see San Miniato in the distance. Although we are both night owls, I left before midnight because I have so much work to do.


Today, I rode my bike through the Porta Romana and up the main road to Siena. Like many cities in Italia, Florence was once surrounded by a wall. Today the wall is now mostly a viale (wide street/avenue). But at various “corners” one can still pass through one of the several gates or porte. Porta Romana is the gate that serves the road to Rome.

Traffic was not too bad in this afternoon hour, so I stopped just long enough to take a snapshot of this stone carving of one figure cleverly balanced horizontally and precariously off of another figure’s head. It reminded me of a recent video that my niece took of my brother Paul diving head-first like a sea lion up over the rail and off of our brother Steve’s second story river deck. Bravo, Paul, for not belly-flopping or dying! (And you will NEVER see me doing that!)

I rode up this hill in the direction of Siena to see a sculpture studio that is for rent. But I cannot afford it, so . . . after an Open Studio of short poses, I rode my bike home and saw a sliver of the moon in a smile under a bright planet. Does anyone know which one? I have watched this star for so long and I should know which one it is. Anyway, this is a view of my brief stop on the Ponte San Niccolò. The moon and planet are on the left with their reflections in the famous Arno River. And the Palazzo Vecchio can be seen on the right. I wish you had seen this vision in person.