FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 8

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

The greatest blown up image of the book comes from Filippino Lippi's Madonna with Saints altarpiece from Santo Spirito.

On one page, the full painting is printed with the Madonna, child and saints taking up the vast majority of the image -- with some ancient buildings and Tuscan hills in the background.

The entire facing pace is dedicated to an enlarged full detail of only the background scenery seen in a small portion of the full painting.

All of a sudden, Florence itself comes alive with Lippi's depiction of the San Frediano gate and other buildings as they appeared in 15th century Firenze.

Better still, about a dozen depictions of daily life in late 1400s Florence come to life in the detail shot -- including a father hugging his daughter good bye and a pair of dogs growling at each other in the street.

Such treats await every turn of the page in H.F. Ullmann's brilliant Florence Art and Architecture.

There are many different versions and updated editions -- in several languages -- of Florence Art and Architecture.

The hardcover book retails for as little as $30.

For more details, consult:

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 7

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

The deliciously ghastly "Last Judgment" mosaic decoration on the vault of the Baptistery of St. John gives one reason to venture beyond the famed bronze doors -- south done by Andrea Pisano and the north and east by Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose magnificent east pair of doors were dubbed by Michelangelo as "the Gates of Paradise."

The enlarged detail of Christ's face and bleeding torso, from Giotto's Crucifix in the church of Santa Maria Novella gives much more insight into the human-like depiction of Christ than one could ever see while gazing at the crucifix from inside the old church.

The detail of Andrea Orcagna's Triumph of Death portrays the imperfect townspeople's faces more vividly than one sees when visiting the detached fresco in the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce.

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 12

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 6

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

If you are thirsting for the stories behind art and architecture in the cradle of the Renaissance, read the excellent essays by the dream team of art critics assembled for this book.

You will learn a great deal about the painted, sculpted, frescoed and otherwise ornamented Florence -- much of it by the patronage or force of will of the Medici family.

And though Florence will always be known for the Renaissance, the Art and Architecture publication sets the scene by first exploring Medieval Florence and Gothic styles leading up to the Renaissance.

The book triumphs most when its large format allows the armchair art historian to enter a magical world of heighten knowledge through detail shots.

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 11

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 5

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

"The Idea of Florence still fascinates the world, because no city in Europe is the showcase of art more than Florence," Paolucci writes. 

"Nowhere else does the voice of a glorious past appear so visible and still so eloquent. It is not possible to look at Florence with the eyes of an archeologist; you do not walk the streets of a dead city."

Florence Art and Architecture can be enjoyed on many levels.

If you are feeling purely visual, thumb through the many facing pages that represent a single piece of art displayed in nearly poster-sized 12x20 format.

If you are feeling curious, but not super engaged, gaze at the art of Donatello, Giotto, Cimabue, Bronzino, Vasari, Pisano, Ghiberti, Della Robia, Da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Raphael, Masaccio, Lippi, Michelozzo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Brunelleschi while reading only the detailed photo captions.

 www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 10

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 4

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

The book's more than 500 high quality photos are almost exclusively taken from the world-famous Alinari photographic studio.

Founded in Florence in 1852, Fratelli Alinari is the oldest firm in the world working in the field of photography.

The birth of photography and the story of Alinari go hand in hand in their development and growth and the firm owns more than four million classic images.

The Alinari touch and Ullmann's dedication to fine quality print stock shows in haunting architectural images of 

Brunelleschi's dome on the Duomo, Michelangelo's Medici chapels in San Lorenzo and dozens of other images of piazzas, cathedrals and sculptures.

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 9

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 3

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

Florence Art and Architecture -- edited by Antonio Paolucci, the famed art historian and director of the Vatican Museums -- features more than two dozen chapters authored by some of the foremost architecture and art authorities in all of Italy.

Other contributors include luminaries such as Carlo Cresti, Angelo Tartuferi, Mario Scalini, Marco Chiarini, Elena Capretti, Annamaria Giusti, Clarissa Morandi and Silvestra Bietoletti.

Paolucci's chapter "Art and history in Florence: an overview of five centuries" opens the book with some astounding facts.

"In 1342, with 100,000 inhabitants, Florence was more populous than Paris. It had double the population of London and five times that of Rome,'' Paolucci writes.

"The gold florin (Dante's `lega suggellata dal Battistta' (the metal with the Baptist's form imprest  -- Inferno, Canto XXX) was the currency of the world's markets from Barcelona to Constantinople, from Bruges to Milan. Florentine finance, industry and commerce spearheaded the European economy..."

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 8

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 2

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

Photos of classic art leap off the page in vivid detail.

You be tempted to carefully tear out a full-page reproduction of a Botticelli classic and frame it for your office wall.

But don't deface this treasure.

Florence Art and Architecture Florence is why we sincerely hope that printed books are never killed by digital downloads.

Because nothing can compare to the sheer joy of thumbing through this monster of visual delight.

Although the book features hundreds of photos of priceless pieces of art from the Uffizi, Bargello, Ornimichele, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Strozi and other world class repositories of Florentine creativity, it is far from being a simple coffee table publication.

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 7

FLORENCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE -- PART 1

THE MOST VIVID PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING EVER PUBLISHED ON THE RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND

Whether you have visited Florence just once, or stay in the fabled Italian Renaissance city annually, you remain overwhelmed by the amount of art and architecture.

Florence is not that big of a city, but its museums, cathedrals and ancient streets are repositories of hundreds of thousands of significant pieces of art and architecture.

No matter how many notes you took, no matter how many images you brought home on a digital storage card -- you return with a thirst for more information.

Florence Art and Architecture, an astounding 500-plus-page book published by H.F. Ullmann, truly is the only body capable of quenching your thirst for knowledge.

The book is huge -- nearly 10 inches by 12 inches in size and about five pounds in weight.

Its stock is beyond luxurious.

The pages feel almost like photo paper.

And the reproduction on that high grade stock is astounding.

www.ullmann-publishing.com/en/homepage

FLORENCE Art and Architecture review 

continues tomorrow -- September 6

FLORENCE WITHOUT BARRIERS

WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE FIRENZE

Overall, we are very impressed with the amount of ramps and elevators for help with getting inside and around such ancient treasures in the historic city of Florence.

The biggest difficulty is the bumpy stones on the sidewalks and pedestrian parts of the Piazzas. 

It is a difficult merger of historic preservation that makes the wheelchair ride very bumpy and painful for Heidi's arthritic bones.

But the good access far outweighs the bad and one can use taxis and accessible city buses to cut down on the distance bumped over stones from point A to point B.

The City of Florence's website says it best, when it explains access and challenges this way:

"Like all historical places, also Florence, at first glance, presents objective difficulties for visitors with mobility challenges: narrow sidewalks, the old “sampietrini” pavements on many of the small streets in the centre, stairways and steps, all certainly picturesque but not very practicable."

The City's website, in pretty decent English translations, has "practical suggestions to help travelers with disabilities enjoy their vacation in safety and comfort, including hotels and restaurants, parking lots with reserved spaces, the museums and churches with easy access, as well as suggestions for visits in the city and in the surrounding territory."

Check out the website (and be sure to click on the "Getting Around in Florence" tab - it has a wealth of information):

http://www.firenzeturismo.it/en/florence-accessible/florence-without-barriers.html

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS ITINERARY IN FABLED FIRENZE

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS ITINERARY IN FABLED FIRENZE

The famous Ponte Vecchio (old bridge, pictured above lined with shops) is wheelchair-accessible.

But it is crowded, so watch out for window shoppers bumping into you as you bump along less than smooth sidewalks, or the less than smooth roadway (it's safe, no vehicles are allowed on the road.)

The Ponte alle Grazie bridge is less picturesque, but more wheelchair-friendly for commuting between the Oltrarno and Santa Croce's wealth of restaurants, markets, shops and art.

While the Ponte alle Grazie is east of the famed Ponte Vecchio, the Ponte Santa Trinita is a plain vanilla bridge west of the old bridge. 

It provides perfect barrier-free transport over the River Arno between the Oltrarno and central city attractions such as the Via Tornabuoni luxury shopping street, San Lorenzo church and Palazzo Strozi museum.

The fine folks at Turismo Toscana have put together a great one-day itinerary of  barrier-free exploring.

In their words"

"Some of Florence’s most beautiful areas and monuments that can be visited each day: here are the monuments and the beauties of the city that are accessible to disabled visitors.

Places that are accessible to the disabled:Palazzo Vecchio – Ponte Vecchio – Palazzo Davanzati - Duomo – Museo dell’Opera del Duomo - Palazzo Medici Riccardi – Museo di San Marco – Orto Botanico - Giardino dei Semplici - Galleria dell’Accademia."

For the full itinerary, step-by-step, visit their website at:

 

http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/intoscana2/export/TurismoRTen/sito-TurismoRTen/Contenuti/Itinerari/visualizza_asset.html_1107602141.html

LET ME TELL YOU A FLORENTINE SECRET

BARRIER-FREE BARGAINS IN FLORENCE

Here's a secret for disabled travelers in Florence.

Well, maybe it's not a secret, but it sure took us a long time to find out about this great deal.

The secret?  Just about every major museum allows disabled visitors and one guest to enter free.

Not only does this save you hundreds of euros over the course of a two-week visit, it also helps you cut the line.

Remember, in the busy summer, lines to get into the Uffizi can wrap around the gallery.

If you don't have a reservation, you might wait for three to four ours to get in.

But staff members have eagle eyes when it comes to wheelchair-using guests.  

Not only do they point you to ramps and accessible entrances, but they also bring you a pair of complimentary tickets in no time.

It's the greatest deal going. 

We used it at the Uffizi, Duomo, Acadamia, Duomo, Basilica Santa Croce, Pitti Palace and several smaller museums and historic churches.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY IN FLORENCE

THANK GOODNESS WE DIDN'T 

HAVE TO USE THESE CONTACTS

BUT IF YOU ARE A WHEELCHAIR USER, IT'S GOOD TO KNOW THAT YOU CAN GET A WHEELCHAIR REPAIR 

OR SEE A DOCTOR WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH

Unlike some other trips, when stupid ground crews have tossed Heidi's lightweight wheelchair around like a loaf of bread -- and we've landed in an exotic local with a broken wheel, footrest or seat support -- our two weeks in Tuscany were uneventful.

But we did our research before flying overseas and here are some crucial contacts:

FOR WHEELCHAIR REPAIRS:

Ortopedia Dei Giovanni
Via Pisana, 71/r  50100 - FIRENZE  (in the Oltrarno)

They are open Monday-Friday 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturdays they are open 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
 

The phone is +39 055 224090 and the website is: www.ortopediadei.it

The email (and someone will answer you in English if you write to them in English) is:

ortopediadei@virgilio.it

FOR AN ENGLISH SPEAKING DOCTOR IN THE CENTRAL CITY:

Dr. Stephen Kerr
Office:    Piazza Mercato Nuovo 1, 50123 Florence; Tel and Fax: 055/288055
Cell: 335/836-1682
E-mail at website www.dr-kerr.com 

 
Office hours: Clinic by appointment: weekday mornings and afternoons
Without appointment: weekday afternoons 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Specialization: General practioner/Family physician trained in Britain.