Friday Afternoon, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore & Battistero di San Giovanni
From Santa Croce we made our way to the Piazza del Duomo and the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Saint Mary of the Flower.
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore
The clock over the main entrance to the duomo. The clock face has four portraits of prophets byPaolo Uccello (1443.) It has only one hand and is divided into 24 hours. It depicts a time period ending with sunset at the 24th hour.
Inside the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore
Looking up at the fresco inside the dome. This is
The Last Judgementby Giorgio Vasari.
The next two photos show two of the huge piers that hold up the massive cupola.
West North-West North North-East
East South-East South South-West
Eight views of the eight sides of the drum below the cupola.
A bust of Brunelleschi by Buggiano (1447.)
The nave of the duomo.
The basilica was built on the site of a previous cathedral, Santa Reparata. You can go down and view some of the original church, next to a gift shop. We didn't pay to tour the ruins so this is the view we had.
Battistero di San Giovanni
The Florence baptistery.
Believed to be the oldest building in the city, it stands in the Piazza del Duomo in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.
It was believed that the baptistery was built over what used to be a Roman temple dedicated to the god Mars.
However, research has shown that it was built over a guard tower that was part of a Roman wall that ran through the area, or some other Roman building.
An octagonal baptistery was originally built here in the late 4th or early 5th centuries and was replaced in the 6th century.
It predates the church Santa Reparata (see photo above.)
The current building was built around 1059 in Romanesque style and was consecrated by Pope Nicholas II, who was a Florentine, on 6 November, 1059.
The octagonal shape of most baptisteries symbolizes the "eight day" (in Latin : octava dies).
This is the time of the Risen Christ, a time beyond our own time measured in weeks of seven days.
It was considered a symbol for the eternal life given through baptism, when one passes from life in sin to a new life in Christ.
This is the splendid funeral monument of Baldassare Coscia,
the Antipope John XXIII (who died in Florence in 1419),
designed by Donatello and his pupil Michelozzo Michelozzi.
It was completed in the 1420s and is the last Papal tomb which
is outside Rome itself
The apse.
A sarcophagus.
The next set of photos show the eight sides of the baptistery, including the tops of the walls and the inside of the dome which is covered with mosaics.
The three sides of the dome over the apse show the Last Judgement,
a frequent subject.
The rest shows several subjects including Choirs of Angels, Stories from the Book of Genesis, Stories of Joseph, Stories of Mary and Christ and Stories of St. John the Baptist.
West North-West North North-East
East South-East South South-West
Friday Dinner
When we left the baptistery, we started looking for a place to have dinner.
At the north-west corner of the Piazza del Duomo is a street called Borgo San Lorenzo.
There are several restaurants along this street and they all had outdoor tables set up.
We picked one, the Osteria dell'Agnolo, and had a great dinner.
Here are a couple of "chefs" that Karen took photos of.
One was across the street from the restaurant (the one on the right.)
The other one was on another street.
This looks exactly like one that Karen took
a photo of on Thursday, but it's not the same one
Osteria dell'Agnolo (Est. 1580)
Karen snapped this photo of a chef that she saw while she was eating.
After dinner, we walked around for a while and then went back to the hotel for the night.
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