November 10, 2015

 

 

 

Hello Papa Francesco!

The sky is full of helicopters this morning when we open our balcony doors.  Pope’s coming.  The annual national convention of the Italian Catholic Church is being held in Florence this week and their keynote speaker is none other than the boss.  No Pope has visited Florence for thirty years so this is a big deal with the locals.  The convention itself is noticeable as there are priests and nuns all over town eating gelatos and taking selfies. 

Florence is a very concentrated city.  There are “only” 400,000 residents which makes it medium sized, but the center of all the action might be a square about a mile and a half on each side.  It you’re in the middle of it as we are you can walk anywhere in 20 minutes.  Throwing the Pope into that with appearances at three different venues in the center means that the city will basically be shut down today.  We saw a lot of barricades going up yesterday to close major streets and squares.  At least we don’t have to drive in it.

Of course this is the day that there is somewhere we have to be.  We have 10:00 AM tickets for the Accademia Gallery which must be reserved well in advance, long before we knew about the Pope.  We can make an end run to avoid the big crowds but we can’t resist getting a peak at the action near the Duomo where he will be later this morning.  Our destination is on the other side of this big square but we think we have time to duck in and duck out if it looks like we will be stuck.  The crowd is huge and you can see the Pope’s route by which streets are barricaded in and out.  We get temporarily trapped and have a bit of a time trying to move past with every intersection lined with multiple cops, local and caribinieri.  We make it through by the skin of our teeth and arrive at our reserved ticket entrance right on time.

The superstar of the Accademia is Michelangelo’s sculpture of David, the Israelite lad who volunteered for the job as Dave the Giant Slayer.  When entering the gallery you make a quick turn left and then look right and hello David.  He occupies a distant end of a hall lined with other Michelangelo sculptures, some finished some not, so he captures the visual center stage.  David is a big guy, 17 feet tall, and the detail on every inch is absolute perfection.  Some have quibbled about the oversized right hand while others claim it was intentional to show the hand of God at work.  We are amazed when looking at the veining in his hands and arms down to the details of the toenails.  How do you do that with a slab of marble? Michelangelo was a local boy who grew up near and went to church at Santa Croce.  He completed this piece when he was 26 years old, already a force in the Italian art world.

We wind up spending a couple hours wandering the gallery.  We’re far from art experts so any clues of our visit will have to come from the related websites.  Back outside we circle around the gallery a little after noon to approach the Annunziata Basilica where the Pope is now feeding the poor.  We’re about a half block away down the street he will take this afternoon on his return to the Duomo.  We can hear an occasional cheer from the end of the street but he isn’t scheduled back this way for an hour and a half.  We have a lot of room right now, but we know as the time nears the crowd will compress around us like a boa constrictor.  Time for us to move along.

We take a little stroll around the center to keep up with all the activities.  It is always busy in the streets but today is crazy.  We pass the Duomo and the big square by the Palace and everywhere is packed with big screen TVs showing constant news updates on the visit.  We finally escape to a little panini sandwich shop down near the river where Mary gets a tomato-mozzarella on a dark seeded bun and John gets a ham, cheese and mushroom sandwich and both are pressed and heated.  Very good and washed down with a couple beers.

After lunch we return to the Piazza Della Signoria (the Palace square).  It is crowded but not pressing.  We sort of know the Pope’s schedule and we think he returns through here before heading out to the big stadium for a late afternoon mass.  It’s after 2:00 and that’s when his last event is scheduled at the Duomo.  Sure enough there is screaming and cheering up the street and in a couple minutes the Pope Mobile is pulling into our square.  The crowd erupts in cheers and he passes probably 50 feet from where we are standing.  He’s moving pretty good so the photos won’t be any good but it is still pretty exciting.  We stand there for another half hour just watching as the people filter out of the square off to whatever else is on their schedule for today.  Everyone is smiling.

Now on to important things, dinner plans for tonight.  All Antico Vinaio has been recommended and is right around the corner from where we are standing.  We pop in to make reservations for tonight and can’t help but notice a little sandwich shop next door and another across the street both with long lines out the door.  They are All Antico Vinaio too, sandwich version.  Wow, this place might be good and we know where we are coming for lunch tomorrow.  We take the walk a little farther to the Piazza di Santa Croce (Michelangelo’s church) where there is another big screen TV set up and they are showing the procession at the stadium for the Pope’s 3:30 mass.  The crowds are smaller but still substantial and we soak it up.  We suddenly realize that we are 20 minutes from our apartment and well into break time.  Well, we’ve had things to do.

We take our two hours and sip a bottle of wine the hosts here left for us.  Going to dinner we have to wear jackets for one of the few times in the last couple weeks as the temps have gone down a little after sunset.  We get to the restaurant right on time for our 7:30 reservation and they are still setting up—this is their opening time.  They have an appetizer of a meat (which is all sliced near the front window) and cheese plate with John’s favorite porchetta as well as hams and sausages and hard cheeses as well as a little bowl of some sort of berry condiment.  We get that with a basket of focaccia, a tuna and tomato pasta for Mary and a fresh porcini risotto for John.  All of it is fantastic and we have a good time with the staff.  Everyone is loose and having a good time.  Another winner.  Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow to have that meat plate turned into a sandwich.

We have to pass through two piazzas to get back home and the usual band of entertainers are out and about along with the well-dressed Florentine locals.  We enjoy the evening paseo.

What did we learn today?  There is nothing quite like a papal visit to a very Catholic Italian city.