Sunday, August 24, 2008

Two churches

Since Kristen is in the US again, and I'm in Florence alone for another few days, I went to visit two churches I hadn't been to that she went to see during her explorations in June and July. Being another beautiful day, I biked through Cascine park to the city and to the Church of Ognissanti (All Saints). This is one of the few baroque buildings in this otherwise Renaissance architecture-dominated city. Even so, the baroque facade and interior were added later, the church itself being quite a bit older. Inside, the highlights were frescoes by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, though one of the Ghirlandaio frescoes was not there. From there, I walked across the river past the dozens of tourists on the Ponte Vecchio to the Church of Santo Spirito. This was quite the contrast to Ognissanti, since it was designed by Brunelleschi, the master of Florentine Renaissance architecture, himself and was built (mostly) true to his design. Where Ognissanti was overdecorated, Santo Spirito seemed almost bare, although it, too, contains an overabundance of religious art, but it's much less in-your-face, which I appreciated.
On the way back, I stopped at a gelateria and spoiled my appetite for dinner with a portion of pistacchio and ricotta-fig gelato.

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