Going in the right direction

I am seeking for the bridge which leans from the visible to the invisible through reality.

Max Beckmann

Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey.

Vera Nazarian

Why do I stand up here?

You feel taller...

NO. [....]

I stand upon my desk to remind yourself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.

Robin Williams - Dead Poets Society

Giardino delle Rose

THE WWF CHALLENGE - L'ORA DELLA TERRA

Saturday, March 28th  from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm the lights will burn out of Florence. The municipality will switch off the lighting of these monuments: Ponte Vecchio, Cupola del Duomo, Piazzale Michelangelo David, Palazzo Vecchio, San Miniato al Monte, Santa Croce, Piazza Annigoni, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Palazzo Sacrati Strozzi.

The Earth Hour City Challenge is a competition among cities to promote renewable energy and prepare for climate change.

OLD BRIDGE ( Ponte Vecchio )

The bridge first appears in a document dated 996. Destroyed by the river Arno when it flooded in 1333, Ponte Vecchio  was rebuilt by Neri di Fioravante ( although according to Vasari, by Taddeo Gaddi ) in 1345. It is flanked by shops on either side which Ferdinand I towards the end of the sixteenth century, granted to the goldsmiths. Butchers initially occupied the shops. Ponte Vecchio has always hosted shops and merchants. The back shops that may be seen from upriver, were added in the seventeenth century. 

During World War II, the Old Bridge was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike all the other bridges in Florence. This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of buildings at both ends.

On the central terrace is a bronze bust of the Florentine goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. The bust was inaugurated in 1901 on the occasion of the fourth centenary of his birth.

Above the upstream row of shops is the Corridoio Vasariano ( Vasari Corridor ) which joins Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti Palace.
The Vasari Corridor was built in five months by order of Grand Duke Cosimo I De' Medici in 1564, to the design of Giorgio Vasari. It was commissioned in connection with the marriage of Cosimo's son, Francesco, with Johanna of Austria. The idea of an enclosed passageway was motivated by Cosimo's desire to move freely between his residence and the government palace. The meat market of Ponte Vecchio was moved to avoid its smells reaching into the passage, and its place taken by the goldsmith shops.

GIOTTO'S BELL TOWER (CAMPANILE DI GIOTTO )

With it's square plan and height of 84,70 m, it is a magnificent example of Florentine Gothic style.

It was designed by Giotto, who began it in 1334 and directed the works up to the first cornice. On his death Andrea Pisano, leaving aside the original project, added another floor, arriving up to the second cornice. Between 1348 and 1359 Francesco Talenti built the upper floors with the beautiful two and three mullioned windows scrupulously following Giotto's design, with the exception of the spire which he substituted with jutting horizontal crowning.

The harmony and elegance of the architecture's plastic forms are emphasised by the geometric plychrome marble facing which makes the tower so slender and graceful.

The base is decorated by sculptures and by to bas-reliefs with hexagonal plaques depicting  Stories from Genesis, the History of Human Labour, the Planets, the Virtues, the Liberal Arts and the Sacraments, all by famous sculptors of that time : Andrea Pisano, Luca della Robbia, Arnoldo Arnoldi and Donatello. The originals are in the Cathedral Museum.

The upper band with four niches on each side contains copies of the staues of Prophets, Sybils and John the Baptist, also housed in the Cathedral Museum.