Thursday
1st October
Firenza
On
arrival in Florence, we headed to our hotel recommended, again, by
Andy in Berlin; the Hotel Morandi alla Crocetta. This beautiful old
building began as a Dominican convent/monastry; started by Sister
Dominica of Paradise who had developed a reputation for sanctity The
connection is clear – Jim works for a Dominican school in Sydney
and he's known to be quite sanctimonious as well .
On
arrival we were met by the elderly concierge, Frank. When he looked
at our Australian passports he mentioned that one of his best friends
was a judge from Australia ... of course it was Jane Matthews, a good
friend of our neighbours in Sydney, John and Denis.
Frank
ordered us out immediately to view the David statue at the Academia
as he was sure there would not be too big a line at that time of the
day. The interesting thing about this gallery is the obvious
splendor of the David statue but also the four incomplete statues of
Michelangelo called 'The Slaves'. Another bonus was an exhibition of
Maplethorpe photographs that were spread through the gallery. Fun to
note a comment in the guest book that relegated the combining of
Maplethorpe with Michelangelo as 'a sacrilege'.
We of course loved it and the juxtaposition of the old and new
artists and art forms, given the similarities of both their subject
matter, styles and lifestyles – both raving homos - was
fascinating.
Dinner
at a local trattoria then to bed in the monastery.
