Florence with friends and art

Florence, what a place. What an inspirational trip I have just made with seven friends – a group of us who were at Art college together. Seven women and one (brave) man who, by the end of the trip was declared and honorary girl.
We had never been away together before though the time we spent at college together had been amazing and incredibly important for us all with many a tear, a mass of revelations and much personal growth. We all knew that being together for two days a week is a different thing to spending ‘living’ time together in another country.
It was fantastic, the city is wonderful. As artists the light was awe-inspiring. As business-people the break, away from office/work life was a real jolt.

The Duomo which we saw on our first bright day, glows red and white stone, the carved and polished doors amazed us and the Golden Door opposite shone in the unexpected sunshine. It being late January there were few tourists providing plenty of spaces to just sit and think. The frescoes in the dome of this cathedral are very beautiful and very odd too, one figure appears to be climbing out of the roof, his leg dangling from a great height. The colours are vibrant and the effect is that you want to just lie on the floor and stare – of course I may have been trampled had I done this! People walking around the edge of the dome having climbed the 400 or so steps look like ants circling the fresco.

Santa Maria Novella a huge church (Florence has many) is wonderful and we were all struck by its beauty and calm. The colours in the wall paintings and the carvings which adorn the font and the altar are so intricate, it is so hard to imagine that man made these pieces without CAD programmes, without much more than crude machinery and with years of patience.

On this first wander I chose to leave my camera in the hotel and just took sketchbook and pens, even if you feel you can’t draw (and we all can) I would urge you to try this if you visit a significant place. The effect of looking at something to draw rather than pointing and shooting a camera is that you are forced to look with your eyes wide open. During my time in cities I see many tourists engage very briefly with the sight, that they feel they ‘must see’, they take a picture and then leave – in fact I drew people with cameras as I felt this action so significantly shows how we forget to look properly.

The second day was spent wandering – this time with a camera and we must have walked miles. After splitting into two groups four of us went to photograph the food in the market – piles of funghi, amazing meats and herbs. Of course lunch of fresh bread, big tomatoes, cheese and ham was bought and with a lack of green space in the vicinity eaten amongst the pigeons and tramps on a traffic island opposite the Accademia!

Curiousity took us into the studios of the Accademia. We spoke to students who, in creative tradition have been sitting-in in protest at the government’s proposals to privatise the universities. The students say this will result in censorship of their work, I tend to agree, this can happen when big businesses become involved in art. They have partly won in that they have been granted a return to four years’ of study with an accent on practical art-making rather than the proposed three with more theory.

Next, just 100m along the street to see Michelangelo’s David, he is huge, he is amazing, the veins stand out on his arms as if his long-held pose is becoming a strain. When asked by a friend what I thought, I had to say “very clever”. And this I mean in the most respectful way, how on earth was this achieved? The immaculate work sculpting those muscles, the smooth and convincing body contours and again, all without a computer! The other work in this particular gallery at the Accademia is profound; religious icons showing faces with deep expression; backgrounds so heavily gilded that they appear to sparkle and patterns etched into to thick gold leaf so precise and carefully made.

The highlight of my day was the scramble to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo to see another David (he is everywhere), perched on top of the hill. We arrived running almost chased by one of our number to “not miss the sunset” over Florence. This time the cameras were out and the shots are beautiful, with all the fantastic monuments in the distance it was a wonderful way to nearly finish our day. Bizarrely my favourite image is of a little red Fiat 500 rounding the corner with all Florence as a backdrop!

All this art was exhausting. I did say that the hill-climb was 'nearly' the finish to our day…the finale was a chance to eat good Italian food, drink good Italian wine and be with good friends whilst watching the world go by.

We flew for £20 return with Ryan Air, a real bargain. I can heartily recommend the lovely Trattoria Enzo & Piero (meals for under £15). Mia Cara was a great central cheap hotel (rooms around £30 a night with breakfast). If you would like to see my pictures please follow the Flickr link.

Carla Boulton
www.naughtymutt.com

Links
www.flickr.com/naughtymutt
www.hotelmiacara.it
www.trattoriaenzoepiero.it