florence: day uno, part due

Did I mention how amazing the outside of the Basilica di Santa Maria Fiore is?! You get a peek of it walking through the tiny streets...

but it isn't until you're standing right in front of it that it confronts you with its glory

The church faces the baptistry and Giotto's campinile is right next door.

The famous "Gates of Paradise" on the outside of the Baptistry are replicas...

but good thing the real ones are right next door in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (museum of the works from the duomo)

This museum was pretty cool - I wouldn't have gone in if I didn't automatically get entrance by virtue of buying a ticket for the duomo, but I'm glad I did! This is the sculpture Michelangelo intended for the altar of his funerary chapel - the figure of Nicodemus (the hooded figure) is a self-portrait of the artist. Can you believe he sculpted this when he was 80?! The guy had some talent...and longevity. He wasn't pleased with it though - apparently a defect in the grain of the marble caused Michelangelo to shatter a bit he didn't mean to...he stopped working on it after that and gave the sculpture to a friend, Francesco Bandini, who left it unfinished. Cosimo de'Medici brought it to Florence after Bandini's death and it remained in the church until moving to the museum in 1982. You can see how Christ's stomach is highly finished but Mary's face and robes clearly are not...its an interesting view into the process of sculpting - pretty neat! 

Also in the museum...some Donatello (this is Mary Magdalene) 

and some Pisano (I thought this was funny...and apparently so did people in 1324)

and the man who orchestrated the raising of the duomo in the 1460s (when nothing of the sort had ever been done before) can be seen in the museum as well...Mr. Brunelleschi's death mask lies here on a velvet cushion.

After this, I headed to a cafe for lunch...espresso and panini with prosciutto and mozzarella...(yum) and sat in the sun for a bit preparing myself for the second half of the day!