Firenze… a second excursion

italia20.10 engages the Uffizi Museum… a dialogue of sorts: a necessary introduction to the shift of thought between the 1100s and the 1400s. With the change in perspective of where we are in the Cosmos, comes a dynamic change in how we imagine ourselves and the world. Art comes into focus as an attempt to name this world… to seek our place within it. Laura conducted a rich tour of the Uffizi – a remarkable collection that, at times, spoke directly to us. Giotto… Lippi… Botticelli… the world changes, and with it, ourselves. We pause, before we return to Castiglion Fiorentino.


On the way to a didactic appointment with the Uffizi, italia20.10 steps into Piazza Limbo (named after the cemetery for babies who died prior to baptism) to find the remarkable basilica of SS Apostoli. The piazza afforded a quiet retreat from the busy streets of Florence. We walked the periphery of the piazza, measuring its plan, its orientation, calculating the angles of its walls – to attempt to understand its character, its quality of space, its proportion… And inside, a beautifully preserved basilica dating from 1100s – a preamble to our Uffizi tour to follow.


The Mercado Nuova still offers its loggia to house a thriving leather market. ("Made in Italy" is almost meaningless…)

And the sky! The rains of spring again subside to reveal, in the sharp delineation of shadow, the depth of the wall.