The art in Florence mustn’t kill you

Florence, Italy, is the birth place of the Renaissance. It is here in the Tuscan capital that the greatest art movement and reinvention known to man was nudged into the tender arms of history.  Even among Italian cities, Florence stands out, like a siren among women, decked in all her finery, squinting in the sun. […]

Florence, Italy, is the birth place of the Renaissance. It is here in the Tuscan capital that the greatest art movement and reinvention known to man was nudged into the tender arms of history.

 Even among Italian cities, Florence stands out, like a siren among women, decked in all her finery, squinting in the sun. So beautiful is Florence and its art that some visitors to the city have been overwhelmed and have suffered “the Florence Syndrome”.

The first time I heard of the syndrome, was after recounting my dizzying experience in the city to Dana Prescott, the director of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, where I was a resident for several weeks.

“I hope you didn’t suffer the Stendhal Syndrome,” she said.

The Florence Syndrome is also known as the Stendhal Syndrome, named after the French writer who first described it in his book, Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio. After seeing the frescoes of Giotto and the Basilica of Santa Croce he wrote;

“I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty… I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations… Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call ‘nerves.’ Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.”

Perhaps if I had known this before visiting the city, I might have prepared my mind for any such eventuality.

I arrived Florence while it was raining. Fearing that seeing the famed city would be ruined for me, I bought an umbrella outside the train station and started walking towards the Santa Maria Novella to see the Frescoes and the architecture. But the rain stopped, and the sun came out so suddenly it was almost startling. I put away the umbrella and continued taking in the city, now opening up before me in glorious light.

The impressive façade of the Santa Maria Novella, the first great basilica in Florence, completed in 1470 with embellished marbles was a taste of things to come. Inside, the genius of Renaissance architect like Filippo Brunelleschi and some famous artists like Domenico Ghirlandaio, who did some of the frescoes are there on display.

I arrive a rather practical-looking building, which revealed itself to be the Basilica di San Lorenzo. An imposing, indomitable structure of stone masonry rising into the Florentine skies. But close up, it did not look as impressive as it actually is.

It’s grandeur is best gleaned from a distance where the impressive gothic-renaissance architecture stands, with its series of slanting red roof tiles. The most interesting part of this building is the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapel) a domed octagonal structure that rises farther into the skiy adorned by white cornices. It is in here that one finds the remains of the most famous Florentine family-the Medicis. About 50 members of the family are laid to rest there in the catacombs of that chapel including Cosimo de Medici, the founder of that historical family.

The San Lorenzo was consecrated between 1422 and 1470, a period that coincided with the Medici family being at its height. It is only when one goes inside that the affluence of the Medici’s and the whole of Florence in that period becomes evident. The interior is decorated with the high art of the Renaissance and intricate gold-leaf design.

It is a testament to the wealth invested in this building that frescoes of Bronzino in the lead up to the high alter remain the most impressive I have ever seen. The colours and texture are so vivid one could envisage the movement of the characters in this paintings. Bronzino’s frescoes dwelled on the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. 

There are other works by other great artists like Desiderio da SettignanoSettignano in the south aisle, and Donatello’s last works, two bronze pulpits, his frieze  and bronze doors in the Sagrestia Vecchia among others.

If anything the San Lorenzo is a testament to the fine taste of the Florentine princes

Perhaps in a bid to immortalise themselves, the Medicis were obsessed with leaving a legacy of impressive art works that would impress and intimidates generations of Italians and now, the thousands of tourists who pour into this city, bringing a stream of income into the city.

One of this impressive monuments situated right in the historic centre of Florence is the imposing statue of Ludovico di Giovanni de’ Medici (also known as Giovanni dale Brande Nere) it was commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici in honour of his father a great mercenary captain. Decked his military attire, and seated on a throne-like chair, the huge marble statue seems to glare over the Piazza San Lorenzo as if silently reasserting the dominance of his lineage over this city. As if that is not enough, the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, who began work on the monument in 1540, decided to carve a huge marble pedestal for the statue to rest on. Impressive as it was, the pedestal was too big and neccesited the installation of the statue in the public square where it now stands. 

The grand duke had commissioned the work to be installed in the San Larenzo and later changed his mind and installed it in the Palazzo Vecchio. But when the pedestal was completed, it became clear to him that the monument is too big to be installed indoors. 

Walking through the narrow street away from San Lorenzo, down the Via dei Martelli one emerges, quite unexpectedly, at arguably one of the most embellished buildings in the world known simply as Il Duomo.

The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, as it is officially called features one of the largest brick domes ever constructed (from where the name The Dome of Florence or Il Duomo di Firenze in Italian comes from). Construction started in 1296, in the gothic style.

It reportedly took over a hundred years to finish, with the stunning dome constructed by Filippo Brunelleschi in what remains an architectural feat of magnificent proportions. The construction of the dome itself and the challenges it presented is much storied, enough for an article of its own. But what is perhaps most obviously impressive, even to a philistine,  is the exterior, which is faced with polychrome marble panels in shades of green and pink and some exquisite statues and reliefs that embellish the façade.

No other building has knocked the wind out of me like Il Duomo has. It is a massive building, the largest church in the whole of Italy and the city’s most impressive heritage. At one point, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome in the world today. But the building consists of another octagonal structure called the Baptistery, with its famed carved bronze doors, and Giotto’s Campanile. All three structures are listed in UNESCO World Heritage site and draw a heavy traffic of tourists who buy tickets to go inside.

At the time I visited, the Baptistery of St. John, whose entrances faces the cathedral was closed for maintenance. Apart from being the major place where the children of Florence are baptised, the Baptistery is famed for its three bronze doors. The south doors were constructed by Andrea Pisano and the north and east doors by Lorenzo Ghirberti.

The ornate gates are carved with beautiful relief sculptures depicting religious scenes. So meticulous did the artist carve these panels that Ghirbeti was reporterd to have taken 20 years to finish working on one door and also impressed was Michelangelo by the artworks that he dubbed the east doors the Gates of Paradise.

After 500 years of exposure, the original doors were replaced with copies in 1990. The idea was to restore the originals for the future but they can still be seen at the museum of the Duomo’s Art and Sculpture. 

But for all its splendour from the outside, the interior of the Duomo proved to be something of a let-down. The bare gothic interior was purposely done to depict austerity that the church preached. And the inner dome above the alter is dominated by a huge fresco of the Last Judgement by Vasari and Zuccaro. They are among the largest paintings in the world. They depict the tourtous scenes that the artists believed would be the events of Jugdgement Day, as depicted by Florence’s most famous writer, Dante. One could spend the whole day looking at the artwork that the Duomo offers.

Christianity is at the heart of the Renaisance, in the same way Islam inspired the Islamic Civilization. This is evident in the arts that drove the Renaissance not only in the basilicas but also in the private residences of the rich and mighty.

In the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, where the Medici family once had their private chambers this is all the more evident. Built between 1444 and 1484, the Palazzo Medici features the same stone masonry as the San Lorenzo. The understated exterior of the building was inspired by the Medici’s desire to keep a low profile after their short stint in exile. But they spared no expense with the interior. 

Today, the Palazzo is a major tourist attraction in Florence because of the gold-leaf decorated ceilings and the rich and luxuriant frescoes that adorn the ceiling walls among other things. From the little private Chapel of the Magi in the building, frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli, who in inserted the members of the Medici family into the scene of the journey of the three magus or the wise men from the east. That fresco is a demonstration of wealth and authority that the Medici commanded. And the Palazzo, though subdued from without was designed to intimidate from within.

It made such an impression on Niccolo de Carissimi, a guest at the Palazzo. He wrote: “Decorated on every side with gold and fine marbles, with carvings and sculptures in relief, with pictures and inlays done in perspective by the most accomplished and perfect of masters even in the very benches and floors of the house; tapestries and household ornaments of gold and silk; silverware and bookcases that are endless… then a garden done in the finest of polished marbles, with diverse plants, which seems a thing not natural but painted.”

It is enough art to stun a discerning mind, as the Medici’s planned it. And if by this time, one is not swooning from the Florence Syndrome, there is still The Uffizi one of the oldest and most famous galleries in the world. The building was started in 1560 and today houses the original works of famous Renaissance artist like Michalengelo, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino and many more.

The Uffizi is a large building but it is overwhelmed by the arts at its disposal that some of its most prized works had to be loaned out to galleries in other places in the world until an expansion plan is completed.

The Uffizi is a kind of place one would spend an entire week in and not see all of its prized collection.

And if by this time the visitor is feeling dizzy, just as the evening sets in, the best place to unwind is the Ponte Vecchio, one of Florence’s most famous bridge, where in the tourist season one is sure to find a live band performing to the delight of lovers, young and old, while the breeze, bearing the scent of the Arno River, washes the fatigue off you.