Italy - I've had it up to here! 2025-05-07

We have been to Florence a few times and love the church of Santa Croce and it's encompassing Piazza  Today, we went inside for the first time and holy moly is that a beautiful church steeped in history and art. In 1966, the Arno stormed over it's banks and flooded the city. The church which is a few blocks from the Arno, took on almost 10' of water. The plaque above shows how far up the water went. Below is the plaque in situ.

As you can imagine, many relics and works of art were damaged and there was a concerted effort to repair such a massive weather event. This was done across the city as the flood was quite substantial.

This explains a little bit more about the flood and also the crucifix that has been repaired.

Our old friend, Giorgio Vasari is buried here and he also designed the monument to Michelangelo's grave which is also here in la chiesa di Santa Croce.

Galileo is also entombed here.

 I don't know who this chick is, but she had a an unusual statue in her honor and apparently also her cat?

Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte was and artist and the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Emperor Napoleon I, and Julie Clary. She has a lovely monument also.

This church holds many religious relics

This holds a thorn allegedly from the crown of Jesus.

This is a piece of St. Francis of Assisi's vestment

The courtyard

Vasari's interpretation of the last supper, painted after Da Vinci's fresco in Milan. This is significantly different that his first version that we saw in Arezzo.

An homage to Florence Nightingale who rests in Westminster Abbey

This church is a delight for the eyes and I loved it before I stepped foot in it and I will continue to go visit and enjoy it's splendor.

And of course, no day would be complete without street art.

These tabernacles (frescoes and small sculptures, generally just above the ground floor and usually on or near street corners) are scattered throughout Firenze. Althpugh some date back to Roman times, they showed up in numbers in the 1200's in the fight against heresy.