Florence, for a few days

A few days in Florence is never enough time in a city so packed with precious art and beauty. But, I did what I could, beginning with a visit to the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and the nearby Spedale degli Innocenti. The museum there was closed, unfortunately, as I wanted to see it - and the square was baking hot.

The Spedale is one of Europe's oldest orphanages and opened in 1445. It allowed women to leave unwanted children anonymously by placing them on a circular stone. After they rang a bell, the stone was rotated 180 degrees, bringing the baby inside the orphanage.

There were some lovely frescos in the loggia around the entrance to the Spedale degli Innocenti including a Visitation that I thought was quite lovely.

There are always interesting works of art around the streets of Florence, like other Italian cities. This plaque looks like it represents a guild, perhaps of wood workers.

And of course, whenever I see a street shrine such as this beautiful Annunciation, I think of my blogging friend Annie who collects shrines of Venice!

One of my favourite spots is the Bargello National Museum of sculpture which is housed in a structure that is more than 750 years old. I find it cool for that fact alone! It is never crowded even though it is just behind the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Vecchio.

This grouping of musicians, by Renaissance artist Benedetto da Maiano, was delightful...

...as was this bronze boy who just caught a fish that is still wriggling in his hands!

Summer in Rome

Rome in August is really really warm but occasionally, I venture out and take a few photos.
The whimsical Villa Torlonia....

I have always loved Via Margutta...

And Palazzo Spada....

My street....

And near my street, Ponte Sant'Angelo....

I love my new apartment even though it does not have air conditioning. I spend a lot of time indoors working with the fan blasting on me. In fall I will perhaps get more use from the rooftop terrace , but for now it is inviting only after sunset....

The War in Rome

"Courage, my love," reads the message carefully stitched inside the old wool sock given by a grieving family to a loved one held inside Rome's dreaded Gestapo prison located mere steps from the city's historic and magnificent church San Giovanni in Laterano.

Today, Via Tasso 145 is no longer the torture chamber of the Second World War but is instead the nondescript Historical Museum of Liberation - a small collection of artifacts, commemorating mostly Italians but also some Allied soldiers who lived and usually died fighting for Italy's liberation from Hitler's forces.

Rooms are lined with newspaper clippings from clandestine journals of the day and posters warning the populace not to harbour members of Resistance or Jews. Some boast numerous photos or letters by the 2,0000 prisoners who passed through Via Tasso, as well as stories of some of the most famous Resistance members, particularly the heroic Colonel Giuseppe Cordero di Montezemolo. An officer in the Italian Army who organized the Roman resistance, it is said that the Nazi SS interrogated and tortured Montezemolo at Via Tasso for 58 days, but he uttered not a word.

Intensely personal messages can be seen scratched into the windowless cells where prisoners were crammed, including many women who were part of the Resistance. Broken pocket watches showed the hour of seizure, while the personalized sock and articles of blood-stained clothing attest to the purpose of the prison.

The story of the Gestapo crackdown in Rome was immortalized in a brilliant 1945 film by Roberto Rossellini called "Roma: citta aperta" (Rome: Open City.) These photos were all from the deeply moving film which Rossellini conceived of and wrote with a partner while the war still raged around them.

The museum particularly focuses on the nine dark months of the Nazi occupation of Rome - from September 11, 1943 to June 4, 1944 - when the apartments on Via Tasso were used as a prison by the command of the German security police headed by Herbert Kappler.

When it was finally liberated on June 4, 1944, the public raced into the palazzo, freed prisoners and plundered the building, the museum says in its official history. Some displaced people lived there for a time until 1950 when the building's owner, the Ruspoli family, donated four of the apartments to the state.

I would highly recommend a visit but warn that almost all information is in Italian (with a bit in German.)

A Rome church filled with ghosts......

When my friend Laura asked me if I wanted to visit a haunted church in central Rome, I did not hesitate. I am not sure I believe in ghosts, or if they believe in me, but it certainly sounded interesting.

The Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio, or the Church of the Sacred Heart of Suffrage, is on the banks of the Tiber, just opposite the historic centre and really just a stone's throw from the Ara Pacis (which isn't that far from Piazza del Popolo.)

It was built in neo-Gothic style between 1894 and 1917 by the architect Giuseppe Gualandi, so by Roman standards, it's extremely modern.

Why, then, the rumours of ghosts and the dead skulking about? It's not so old that it has had time to collect many dead, or old enough that any of Caesar's contemporaries would be hanging around here.

The link is explained by its Museum of Souls in Purgatory and the fact the church was founded in memory of the souls in Purgatory. (Just a reminder, the Catholic Church sees Purgatory as a kind of state or place where souls can be cleansed of sin enroute to heaven.) As a Catholic, I was raised with this concept so I can roll with it quite easily.

(Images are from Wikipedia; the art is illustrating Dante's version of Purgatorio)

Adding to the drama of this particular church, legend has it that on one of the pillars in the church, the shadow of man's head was once seen and this supports the notion that souls in Purgatory are stopping by. Presumably, on their way to Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican, about a kilometre down river from the church.

So, the priest who made the initial discovery began collecting further evidence, including strange fingerprints on a tablet, demonstrating that souls of the dead, now in Purgatory, stopped by.

Included in the one-room museum is a prayer book, where one page bears the handprint of a dead person that a priest swore appeared out of nowhere late one night as he was reading. And several scorched garments where witnesses said a dead soul touched them to get their attention. Why this tended to scorch fabric remains a mystery.

Speaking as a Catholic, and as a woman of the world, I find all of this to be rather farcical and far closer to superstition that faith. But then again, this was far more interesting and less freakish and offensive than the Crypt of the Capuchin monks at Rome's Barberini metro stop. That is just creepy and not worth the 6-euro admission fee.

Rome is full of surprises!

Rome is full of surprises. Take Villa Torlonia, one of the more unusual that I've seen in a while, including a very interesting complex of buildings and a beautiful park with large, shady palm trees not too far from Termini in Rome's centre. Its history includes providing a home and command centre for both the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, from the 1920s through the Second World War, followed by the Allied command.

It also features some very fanciful twists.

I laughed out loud when I saw the unique and playful Casina delle Civette, one of the most whimsical buildings in the complex. Although the House of the Owls (civette) was designed in 1840 as a kind of Swiss chalet, it drew its nickname from the owl motif that is used almost obsessively throughout the house.

The present structure, which is choc-a-bloc with interesting, Liberty/ Art Nouveau style stained glass, is apparently vastly changed from the original chalet style which was built to provide an escape from the main and massive villa.

The Casina delle Civette, which has two sections linked by an overhead walkway, now hosts a small museum and exhibition space.

Nearby, the larger and formal  Villa Torlonia, which was renovated during the 1990s and completed in 2006, now belongs to the city of Rome and is the site of a large museum of contemporary art and changing exhibitions. (Photo from AFP)

But for 18 years the villa, on Via Nomentana, was home to the family of Mussolini who actually built a large air-raid shelter underneath the historic home. Subsequently, in June 1944 the property was taken over by the Allied High Command, which remained there until 1947.

Today, the gardens also include a historic Temple to Saturn, a large theatre, a conservatory, an extensive collection of classical sculptures, fountains, great walking paths. And of course, a lovely bar/cafe!

Some Treasures of Tuscany

I was so fortunate last weekend to spend a few days in the Maremma region of Tuscany, staying with my friends Stefania and Paolo in their beautiful apartment in Manciano. The sun was wonderfully hot on their rooftop terrace, with such stunning views of the medieval town that it felt perfect. The rest of the house is protected by metre-thick stone walls, making it blissfully cool inside.Of course, some of us love the heat!

 Late at night, we saw so many stars from the terrace (to say nothing of the shadows cast by an imposing fortress built around 1424 when the town was briefly occupied by the Republic of Siena.)

Growing up out of the rocky hilltop was the nearby town of Pitigliano, whose history dates to Etruscan times, long before the Romans swept through Italy; long before Christianity.

The Etruscans hollowed caves out of the tufo rock which were later used as bakeries by the Jewish population that gave Pitigliano its second name, "Little Jerusalem". Jews fleeing persecution in other parts of Italy settled in Pitigliano which for several hundred years was a frontier town between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and, to the south, the Papal States.

Sorano is another ancient town carved from the tufo rock of the area and also dates from Etruscan times. Today, it is filled with lovely little shops - some selling fantastic local cheese.

Like many communities in this part of Tuscany, it had been dominated by the Republic of Siena and later, the Orsini family. Both of which left their mark in great towers and fortresses.

I had no idea the coastline of Maremma, running along the Tyrrhenian coast from Grosseto to Capalbio, would be so beautiful, rivaling the far more popular and crowded Amalfi in places. I was fascinated by a thickly wooded promontory named L’Argentario.

Apparently, this has long been a vacation spot for wealthy Romans and includes such towns as the yacht-filled Porto Santo Stefano, and the colorful Porto Ercole, where the Baroque painter Caravaggio died of malaria in July 1610.

From view points, we could easily see across to the infamous island of Giglio (where the Costa Concordia crashed in January 2012, killing at least 30 people and injuring 64 with 4,200 evacuated from the luxury liner.) Stefania told me that on a clear day, the island of Corsica was also visible.

We took a delightful stroll through the nearby fishing port of Orbetello, with its blue-tinged lagoon.

And all this only a 90-minute drive north of Rome! Hmmm, I think I could be tempted to rent Stefania's cozy holiday apartment on the cool ground-floor and stay awhile....

Florence: Great art, great food, great friends, great discoveries

I made a few fabulous discoveries Thursday when I dashed up to Firenze, but I also enjoyed some  old favourites.

I wanted to spend the day with Ottawa friends Marcie and David, and we began with a lovely lunch at one of my favourite restaurants: the ever-reliable Osteria Pepo on Via Rosina, just around the corner from the Mercato Centrale. As always, I had their brilliant pappardelle al cinghiale (I love wild boar!) The sauce had surely been simmered for several hours to become so rich and flavourful.

But first, on my way their apartment, I stumbled across a tiny gem: a museum dedicated entirely to Umbrian master Perugino, the space dominated by a striking and dramatic fresco of the Last Supper. The Cenacle of Fuligno museo is located  in the refectory of the former convent of St. Onofrio on Via Faenza, once home to the Franciscan nuns of Foligno.

After the nuns were evicted in 1803, the Last Supper fresco in its refectory was covered with a layer of plaster. In 1845 the fresco known as "Il Cenacolo di Foligno" was cleaned, and the discovery was published as a work by Raphael. Debate raged for decades over the attribution until more recently, it was deemed to be a Perugino work.

This little spot seems to be open about four hours per week, and entry is free if you can guess when to arrive. I do love stumbling across art unexpectedly.

We were all interested in visiting my old favourite, the Galleria Palatina in the Palazzo Pitti, which also had an underwhelming exhibition on the role of dreams in Renaissance art. To me, the show failed to meet its brilliant premise.

But Santo Spirito more than made up for the lacklustre exhibit. I had never before been able to get inside this great basilica in the Oltrarno section of Florence but on this day, I finally arrived during opening hours and was richly rewarded. The enormous space, based on designs by Filippo Brunelleschi, is crammed with great frescos, paintings, and of course, the wooden crucifix sculpted by a 17-year-old Michelangelo and bearing an equally young, slim, fragile Christ.

Even better, after I made my way back across the Arno to meet people for a drink on the rooftop of the Hotel Continental (great views, shocking prices)  I also was amazed to find I could get inside Santa Trinita. This is another of Florence's stunning churches that closes for most of the midday, making it hard for careless travelers to get inside.

I was gobsmacked by the rich beauty of the Ghirlandaio frescos (Michelangelo was one of Domenico Ghirlandaio's apprentices) in the Sassetti Chapel depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi. (No photos but above is The Resurrection of the Boy from the Web Gallery of Art.)