On Wednesday, April 1, our group of Astronomy magazine travelers on the Galileo tour experienced our last day of enjoying Italy’s sights. We concentrated on several more spectacular areas of Florence, setting off in the morning for the famous Uffizi Gallery (pictured at right), one of the greatest art galleries in the world.
Editor's note: We've posted more images from Dave's trip in our Online Reader Gallery's "Trips and Tours" gallery. Click on "Italy: Galileo's Tuscan Sky 2009" to see all his pictures.
Located in former office buildings used by the Medici (thus the name, which means “office”), the museum contains thousands of historic paintings including the finest collection of Florentine works from the Renaissance in existence. Among the many works we saw were:
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Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”
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Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Annunciation” and “The Adoration of the Magi”
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Filippo Lippi’s “Madonna with Child and Two Angels”
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Giotto’s “The Ognissanti Madonna” and “Badia Polyptych”
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Michelangelo’s “The Doni Tondo”
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Raphael’s “Madonna with a Goldfinch”
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Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”
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Carvaggio’s “Medusa”
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And several Rembrandt self-portraits
You get the picture.
Following the Uffizi, we walked across the Ponte Vecchio, the Medieval bridge that survived Nazi destruction in World War II, and made our way to yet another palace: Palazzo Pitti.
Constructed in 1458, the Pitti Palace has served as home for the Medici, center of activity for the ruling Grand Duke of Tuscany, target of a brief excursion by Napoleon, palatial estate for the rulers of the newly united Italy in the 19th century, and now a spectacular art museum. Here the parade of important works of art just kept coming until our heads started spinning.
I then returned to the main building of the city, the Duomo, and thoroughly explored the inside of Florence’s main church. In the crypt I saw ancient ruins, tombs, and the final resting place of Filippo Brunelleschi, the dome’s architect. Across the street, I explored the Opera del Duomo Museum, which contains many artifacts from the Duomo, the Baptistry, and Giotto’s Campanile, including the original segments of the famous Baptistry doors in gilded bronze.
Our tour leader and organizer, Melita Thorpe, bid the group farewell after the Uffizi to fly back to San Francisco. Tonight I gave a lengthy talk with many questions from our participants about how Astronomy magazine works, its staff, and the magazine-making process. We then explored all sorts of questions about astronomy, cosmology, life in the universe, the cosmic distance scale, and lots more. We were especially thankful for our expert and highly interesting local tour organizer, Giuseppe Tarzia, who is a true professional.
Tomorrow we fly back to the United States, and we’ll be home by Friday. It has been a long and sensational trip, and Galileo will now always be a little closer to our hearts.
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Photo credit: David J. Eicher