Statue of David, Cinque Terre and Pisa Adventure

Luigi took mom, dad, myself and another couple on an adventure today however we started our day at  Galleria dell'Accademia to see the statue of David!  Picture this...8:00am, 5th in line, doors open at 8:15, enter the gallery, take an immediate left and then turn right.  At the end of the long corridor you see...

 

Yep, that's right....the statue of David!  You are not suppose to take pictures but if you wait a few minutes, let the crowd build then be inconspicuous, and you can do it.  So what's so significant about David, you ask?  This 14-foot-tall symbol of divine victory over evil represents a new century and a whole new Renaissance outlook.

In 1501, Michelangelo Buonarroti, a 26-year-old Florentine, was commissioned to carve a large-scale work for the Duomo.  He was given a block of marble that other sculptors had rejected as too tall, shallow, and flawed to be any good.

The figure of David comes from a Bible story. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, are surrounded by barbarian warriors led by a brutish giant named Goliath. The giant challenges the Israelites to send out someone to fight him. Everyone is afraid except for one young shepherd boy, David. Armed only with a sling, which he’s thrown over his shoulder, David cradles a stone in the pouch of the sling and faces Goliath.

In this carving, Michelangelo captures David as he’s sizing up his enemy. He stands relaxed but alert, leaning on one leg in a classical pose known as contrapposto. In his powerful right hand, he fondles the stone in the pouch of the sling, ready to fling it at the giant. His gaze is steady and intense but also confidant. 

David is a symbol of Renaissance optimism. He’s no brute. He's a civilized, thinking individual who can grapple with and overcome problems. He needs no armor, only his God-given body and wits. 

Originally, the statue was commissioned to stand on the roof of the Duomo. But during the three years it took to sculpt, they decided instead to place it guarding the entrance of the Town Hall, or Palazzo Vecchio. 

When David was done, the colossus was placed standing up in a cart and dragged across rollers from Michelangelo's workshop through the streets to the Palazzo Vecchio. There David stood — naked and outdoors — for 350 years. In 1873, to conserve the masterpiece, the statue was finally replaced with a copy and moved here. 

David now stands under a wonderful Renaissance-style dome designed just for him.  David is interesting from every angle. 

After our visit you see David, we hopped in the van and headed North to the Cinque Terre, 5 cities.  This area is

Art of the Italian Riviera, and was once watched over by castles.  Tiny communities grew up around them, ready to run away at the fist sign of Turkish Saracen pirate raids.  Marauding pirates from North Africa would kidnap, ransom or sell into slavery any locals the could.  Any remaining locals. Would build fires on the flat-roofed watchtowers to relay warnings of imminent attacks.  This continued through the 1400's with the last major raid taking place in 1545.  Today, this is a traffic-free, slow, quiet area that relies on tourism and the fishing industries to maintain.  You move between the towns either by train, boat or foot.  We arrived in the first city, Riomaggiore-Manarola by train. The walk from the train station to town is littered with beautiful artwork, representing the people that live their and their lives. 

In order to make our fabulous lunch reservation, we hopped on a boat to ride past towns 2 and 3 to get to town 4, Vernazza.

We arrived and if you look just above my day's head/shoulder, you will see a balcony o. The edge of the remaining castle...that's where lunch was!  Ristorante Belforte's...beautiful view, amazing seafood!!!

Hopped on the train to get back to the van the headed to Pisa to see if the tower was still leaning!  Guess what...it was and I couldn't even stand it upright!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa sits on what is called the Field of Miracles with the Baptistery, Camposanto Cemetery, the Duomo Museum and the Museum of the Sinopias (fresco pattern museum).  The tower is 200 feet tall and 55 feet wide, weighing 14,000 tons and currently leaning at a five degree angle (15 feet off the vertical axis).  The tower started to lean almost immediately and was built over two centuries by at least three different architects.  The first tone was laid in 1173 and four stories were completed (with the lean noticeable after just five years of construction).  Construction was stopped until 1272, when the next architect continued while trying to correct the leaning problem.  Finally, after nearly a century of sitting unfinished, Tommaso Pisano put a belfry on the top completing the tower in 1372.  Many have tried to correct the lean, failing many times however in the 1990's the drilled 15-foot-long holes in the ground on the north side and sucked about 60 tons  of soil out from under it, allowing the north side to sink, and straighten out the lean by about six inches!  Yep, that's right, over $30 million dollars were spent for 6 inches!!!!!

In Pisa, all you want/need to see is be tower!!