Santa Maria Novella

Mary’s "Wonders of Italy" book (that I photographed and have stored on my iPad, and from which I will quote) came to be a Wonder to hold today as we spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Dominican Church Santa Maria Novella and the Chapter House of the Monastery. The interior of the church is pure Tuscan-Gothic.  The exterior was started in the Gothic style in 1350 and completed in the Renaissance style. It was absolutely marvelous; stunning and powerful. We saw Giotto’s crucifix, frescoes by Filippino Lippi, a worn out Masaccio and a wooden crucifx by Brunelleschi. It went on and on.  The altered perspective of the nave and arches works like a charm to make you think the church is bigger than it is. (Doug, my brother, this is the church we stayed near when you were here.  It was closed when we tried to visit it.  You would enjoy the frescoes.)

Today we also spent 4 hours in the Uffizi Gallery starting at 9:45 AM.  We saw everything!  We had to sit down a lot and take a cappuccino break.  It is now 7:00 PM and we are sitting in the room, resting our legs and drinking red wine.  Musical performers are playing in street below and the music is filling the room. The wireless is still slow so I will spare you pictures from the Uffizi. I am sitting in the hallway as the connection is better in the hallway than in the room.


We have nothing scheduled for tomorrow, which means will walk a few miles and see a tonne of things.  We are thinking about spending some time on the other side of the river; fewer people, things to see and it costs less to eat there.

All for now
D :)