Florence and David

We woke up bright and early this morning to head back to the mainland by boat and load our things on the bus that would become our second home for the next nine days. Seats were quickly claimed, and the three hour bus ride went surprisingly fast between alternating activities of napping and playing Euchre, the official card game of CCVA.

After a break to admire the beautiful landscape of the highway, we soon found ourselves being dropped off in front of the Academia in Florence, part of Italy’s Tuscany region. I became more and more excited to see Michelangelo’s David as we entered the museum, thinking of how many more AP Art History masterpieces I would finally be seeing in person on this trip. Stefano and Ilaria made a special effort to let us know that many of the statues and paintings would include naked bodies. From their continual emphasis on what I thought was a well known fact, I can only imagine that many American groups must be taken by surprise.

(No photography is allowed in the Academia, the pictures below are stock photos that were easily found on the internet. I include them here, just for effect.)


Be that as it may, the sculpture was so much larger than I had anticipated, absolutely astounding with the skill it must have taken to sculpt such lifelike muscles and veins out of stone.

I also took some time to take in the ‘prisoner’ statues leading the way to the David. Michelangelo’s belief that there was a living spirit inside each block of stone he worked with, and that it was his job to release that spirit was clearly evident in these unfinished works. It truly did look as though the unfinished masses - slaves were climbing out from the stones that held them, a truly inspiring room of art.

After our visit to the Academia, there was free time in Florence. I spent time with my parents walking along the Ponte de Vecchio and looking at jewelry that we could only afford in our wildest dreams. The market there is substantial. Gold, leather and straw are among the treasures found there.

Later, when the heat got to be a little too much for comfort, we took a break by visiting the massive Duomo, the Cathedral of Florence, which among many other wonderful things, included air conditioning - well it certainly felt like it.

We were actually surprised at how beautiful the interior of the Duomo was, considering that our guides seemed to feel that it was "plain" by Italian standards. We found the ceiling and stained glass windows brilliant, and well worth seeing. It did seem however, that most of the adults in the group wanted to visit the large market and jewelry shops that make Philadelphia's diamond district look small.

We met up with the group before heading back to the hotel for dinner and some night time swimming. It was a great day despite another day of near 95 degree heat.