Medieval Florence was always in flux, balancing the rough tide of misgivings between Guelphs and Ghibellines, which ultimately devolved into the Black and White Guelphs– the former supporting Pope Boniface, the latter opposing him. Legend has it that Santa Croce was built with blood money, stolen from Ghibelline noblemen after they were tortured and killed by Guelf podesta’s. The take was three-fold: one third to the papacy, one third to the city coffers, one third to the building of the church. This bad blood first began with a princely cad, one Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, who rejected an arranged marriage with an Amidei noblewoman, and instead married the more comely Ciulla Donati; this led to his horrific murder on Easter Sunday at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio, below the statue of Mars, by Mosca, Oderigo, and some other Amedei thugs (think: Montague and Capulets, or Hatfields and McCoys). Thus began the bloody civil strife that engulfed Florence for hundreds of years, a family feud which became conflated with diametrically opposed political and religious ideologies. While Dante was no Ghibelline (he fought successfully against them at Montaperti), his sympathies did not extend to the papacy…it can be said that Boniface’s darkened name owes everything to Dante’s wicked tongue.

Michelangelo was equally surly, and likewise spent his final years in exile for backing the wrong horse. However, his impact on the tumultuous city-state was even more considerable than Mr. Alighieri, as an architect, sculptor, painter, writer, social critic, and planner of the city’s defenses; like Dante, he was prolific outside of his home town in his final years, overseeing the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome until his death.

Come to think of it, Galileo spent his final years in house arrest for indirectly threatening the church with a new cosmology (non-Ptolomeic, of course), and Machiavelli was tortured, then exiled after pro-Medici forces took control of Florence. The odd man out in this group is one Gioacchino Rossini, the famed composer of the Barber of Seville, who died fat and happy.

The last photos in this series are of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, a Dominican church and the first great basilica in Florence.

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At the base of the dome, just above the drum, Baccio d’Agnolo began adding a balcony in 1507. One of the eight sides was finished by 1515, when someone asked Michelangelo — whose artistic opinion was by this time taken as cardinal law — what he thought of it. The master reportedly scoffed, “It looks like a cricket cage.” Work was immediately halted, and to this day the other seven sides remain rough brick.

Across the street, the Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St John) is believed to be the oldest building in Florence, home of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s infamous doors; while these are adequate copies, the originals now reside at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. The 21-year-old Ghiberti claimed he had won the competition for the North doors, even though Brunelleschi shared the honor with him; his prideful competitor left for Rome, allowing Ghiberti to make the doors himself, which then took 21 years to finish. In 1425, the now famous sculptor began a commission on the East doors with the same technique (”rilievo schiacciato” or “flattened relief”), which took 27 years to complete. Michelangelo rightfully proclaimed them the Gates of Paradise. Dante was baptised at the Battistero and was rumored to have broken one of the lower baptismal fonts to rescue a drowning child.

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Rossellino’s contract was terminated, soon thereafter, and the block of marble originally from a quarry in Carrara, a town in the Apuan Alps in northern Italy, remained neglected for twenty-five years, all the while exposed to the elements in the yard of the cathedral workshop. The rain and wind weathered it down to a smaller size than was originally planned. This was of great concern to the Operai authorities, as such a large piece of marble was both costly, and represented a large amount of labor and difficulty in its transportation to Florence. In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as, “a certain figure of marble called David, badly blocked out and supine.” A year later, documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this large piece of marble and turn it into a finished work of art. They ordered the block of stone, which they called The Giant, “raised on its feet” so that a master experienced in this kind of work might examine it and express an opinion. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was young Michelangelo, only twenty-six years old, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission. On August 16, 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to undertake this challenging new task. He began carving the statue early in the morning on Monday, September 13, a month after he was awarded the contract. He would work on the massive biblical hero for a little more than three years

The Bargello houses many famous sculptures, yet none more amazing than Donatello’s David. Unlike Michelangelo’s oddly serene contrapposto pose anticipating the fight with Goliath, this sculpture depicts the aftermath: his haughty swagger suggests he has a bit more sugar in his tank, made all the more apparent by his oversized sword, over-articulated genitals, and the tantalizing feather resting on his thigh. The last David shown here is from Verrocchio, and is also located in the Bargello. While expertly crafted, it lacks the originality and splendor of the previous two. It is is worth mentioning that the model was rumored to have been a handsome pupil in his workshop…Leonardo Da Vinci.

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The photos below were taken on the train to and from Rome.

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The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are a complex of locks that sit in the middle of Salmon Bay, part of Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal. They are known locally as the Ballard Locks, after the neighborhood to their north. (Magnolia lies to the south). The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:

·To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20-22 feet above sea level (Puget Sound’s mean low tide)
·To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).
·To move boats from the water level of the lake to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.

The complex includes two locks, a small and a large. The complex also includes a spillway with six gates to assist in water-level control. A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon. The grounds feature a visitors center, as well as the Carl S. English, Jr. Botanical Gardens. Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the locks were formally opened on July 4, 1917, although the first ship passed on August 3, 1916. They were named after U.S. Army Major Hiram Martin Chittenden, the Seattle District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers from April 1906 to September 1908. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

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