My 3 day Italy trip - Firenze, St. Trinità church - The 20th of September 2015

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I didn't have the time I would have liked to have had to explore the church of Santa Trinità, which I was impressed by, once more because of the frescoes, namely Girlandaio's.

 

Said to have been built in the second half of the 11th century by the Vallombrosan order, it was very plain so as to reflect the austerity and simplicity of the order. It would later become gradually more ornate, with a Barroque façade added in 1593.

 

 

Bas-relief over the central door sculpted by Pietro Bernini and Giovanni Caccini.

The Adoration of the shepperds (1485) by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Frescoes by Ghirlandaio  (1433).

Altar piece by Marioflodi Nardo - 1416.

Wooden statue of Mary Magdalene by Desiderio da Settignamo -1450 (left).

 

My 3 day Italy trip - Firenze, On the way to Saint Trinità; Piazza S. Croce, strolling along the Arno river - Santa Trinità bridge - The 20th of September 2015

We left very early in the morning on what would be our last morning in Firenze before getting on the train to take us back to Milano, where we would later fly from. We had hesitated as to what we might have been able to fit in till it was time to catch the train, so between visiting the church of Santa Croce Santa Trinità and or eventually cross over to the other side of the river and risk visiting the church of Saint Espirito, we opted for the church of Santa Croce.

 

We soon found out it would only open by eleven, which was out of the question for us, as we would be gone by then. I photographed some of the church façade's details, as well as Dante's sculpture, which I had fallen in love with.

From there we walked along the river Arno towards Saint Trinità church, which we realised would be the only one we would have time to visit during the amount of time left. Furthermore, we were carrying our back packs and they did make a difference in regards to our walking pace.

 

 

 

 

 

We finally reached Ponte Santa Trinità, considered the most beautiful bridge in Florence. Said to have been originally built in wood in 1252 it was later rebuilt by Ammannati as a monument to Cosimo I's defeat of Siena. Michelangelo is credited as having been behind its elegant design. The statues of the four seasons, two of which we managed to photograph, were added in 1608 for Cosimo II's marriage to Maria of Austria.

(To be continued)

 

My 3 day Italy trip - Firenze, around Santa Maria Novella; Santi Michele e Caetano church, Santa Maria Magiori church - The 19th of September 2015

Once we left Santa Maria Novella church we sat at the park right in front of its main entrance where a street musician singing and playing some old songs from the 60s had everyone silently hooked onto his ratther melancholic voice. The sun was shining bright and we were quite happy. We soon made our way towards the Duomo with a tasty ice cream cone in our hands.

We couldn't help walking into Santi Michele e Caetano church, as if we hadn't seen enough of churches and their religious artefacts throughout our two day visit  to Firenze.

 

Its building is said to have taken place between 1604 and 1648 and its façade rather atypical for Florentine chuches which clearly had a predilection for geometrically ornamented churches rather than sculptural decorated ones.

 

I quite liked its grayish interior atmosphere aith its rich collection of  17th century sculptures.

From it we soon walked into another one located further along  the same area, Santa Maria Maggiori.  With a rather undecorated exterior this Romanesque and Gothic-style church said to have been originally constructed in the 11th century impressed me particularly because of the vaulted frescoes.

 

 

 

We decided to head towards the central Market via San Lourenzo church whose visits had just finished to finally sit at local restaurant where we had a copious meal that finished with a local dessert we both appreciated.

 

 

 

 

On the way back to the hotel we still took three more photos, one of Dante's painting on a movable caravan and two of a street painting we came across il Borgo La Croce.