Torn’ a Firenze
Though I have had the great good fortune of being able to spend significant time in Rome over the past ten years, I had not been to Florence in thirty years.
Finally, two weeks ago, I spent three glorious days there. The weather was ideal, the throngs good-humored, and the food fine.
But rather than line up for the Uffizi, or battle for a glimpse of the “David,” we spent quality time in three places where the art was in its native setting: “in medio ecclesiae.”
So we lingered long and lovingly in San Miniato al Monte, the splendid 12th century basilica overlooking and blessing the city. We also spent hours in Santa Maria Novella, mostly contemplating Masaccio’s great depiction of the Trinity, and the restored crucifix by Giotto, suspended between earth and heaven.
But the place which, for me, was the most impressive of all was the Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, with the great frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino. The ability of the artists to bring the biblical scenes into living engagement with the reality of their present was awe-inspiring; and a direct challenge to preacher and worshiper to do so today.
In illo tempore — in hoc tempore.
Here is Masaccio’s depiction of Peter raising the young man.
You can get timed tickets to the Uffizi, which allow you to bypass the long line. The Accademia is open on Thursday evenings, when there is no line. Just saying, if you wanted to visit those sites without too much hassle, there is a way to do it.
But one of the pleasures of the major Italian cities is finding art in small, native spaces where it was intended to be seen in the first place. The Brancacci Chapel is truly glorious. You can also see a lot of the work of Fra Angelico at the site of his former dormitory.
Just as it’s almost impossible to eat a poor meal in France, so It’s difficult to find an uninteresting site in Florence. Purely by chance we recently happened to stay at a hotel in Florence that was a converted palazzo dating from the middle ages. When we arrived we learned that it had been owned by the Neri family and that St. Philip Neri had been born there. In fact one can stay in the room where he was born.
From one description (I imagine not everything here has been scrupulously validated):
“The Palace was built, in part, before 1300 and it is said to have been a convent or a place of meditation and prayer. The construction continued after that time and in 1439, while it was owned by the Ferrantini Family, during the Ecumenical Council “(the only one held in Florence), Joseph, the Patriarch of Costantinopoli, was quartered in this Palace…He was accompanied by twenty-three Metropolitan Bishops from Greece and a large number of theologians and other scholars. (You can see his portrait on the magnificient Benozzzo Gozzoli ‘masterpiece’ The Procession of the Magi at the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, and visit his sepulchre in the Church of Santa Maria Novella.) In the early years of 1500, the building passed to the Neri Family and here in 1515 was born S. Filippo Neri also known as Pippo il Buono (St. Philip the Merry Man) (probably in room #19 or #21).
His portrait, together with those other four former owners of the Palace, is placed in front of the Bar-Desk.”
http://www.emcoinc.com/travel/html/Europe/Monalisa.htm
I’ve been trying to learn if this Neri family was connected to the contentious Guelph families, the Neri and Bianchi, so familiar to Dante. If your sympathies are with the Ghibellines you may want to stay elsewhere.
Incidentally, the confessional that was long ago a prominent part of the palazzo has now been moved to the bar – - more suitable for deathbed confessions?