tuscany # 24 ~ they are, quite literally, everywhere

The venerable Adirondack Chair ~ Cortona, Tuscany • click to embiggenIt was kind of weirdly comforting or something like that to stumble upon, all the way across an ocean and so far from home, a familiar image from home.

tuscany ~ the wife strikes back

Picturing Italy • click to embiggenIntentionally or not, it would seem that the wife decided to pursue a picturing theme of her own while we were in Italy.

tuscany # 23 ~ Italian weather # 4 (and a superb picture surprise)

David has no umbrella ~ Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggenWithout a doubt, the single most disappointing thing that I experienced in Tuscany was my time spent with Mr. David.

As dutiful tourists should, we made ticket reservations for our visit with Mr. David - the real Mr. David, not the life-size replica pictured here - at the Galleria dell’Accademia months before our actual visit. We were advised to do so in order to avoid the long ticket queues that are a daily feature of waiting to see The Man.

Unfortunately, avoiding the queues is the least of the problem when spending time with the big guy because all of those people in the queues end up being a mob inside the exhibit hall where Mr. David hangs out (just standing around). And, like all mobs, they are noisy, pushy, and generally unsympathetic to the notion of quiet contemplation. In other words, whatever it was that Mr. David was trying to tell me, I just couldn't hear it over the din and clamor.

But ... surprise of all unexpected surprise - I was struck dumb by a display (literally and figuratively) of pure genius:

The naked bodies in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, home to Michelangelo's David, strain and contort and flex their muscles. Athletic flesh is posed in spectacular acts of prowess, the body constrained and tested in ways that have been part of the tradition of the nude since ancient times. But the flesh that shines in these images is not the work of Michelangelo. I am looking, in these proud surroundings, at photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. ~ Jonathan Jones On Art

Genius. Pure genius.

Yep, right there, displayed right next to David and a variety of other Michelangelo pieces were large (30×40-ish?) beautiful prints of Robert Mapplethorpe nudes - part of the exhibit, Robert Mapplethorpe ~ Perfection in Form.

What an utterly marvelous display of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with a sum that is much greater than its parts. There were more Mapplethorpe nudes and non-nudes pictures on exhibit in a small gallery adjoining the David gallery which was nice touch and very notable by the fact that it is the first ever exhibition of a modern artist in the Galleria dell’Accademia.

For me, the effect of this pairing was twofold - simply stated (Art-wise), 1.) Mapplethorpe's nudes helped vulgarize / humanize Michelangelo's David, and 2.) Michelangelo's David helped legitimize / elevate Mapplethorpe's nudes.

Or, put another way (personhood-wise) - 1.) more than a bit of Mapplethorpe's regular-guy "personhood" rubbed off on Michelangelo, and, 2.) more than a bit of Michelangelo's iconic artistic stature robbed off on Mapplethorpe.

Either way (or any way) one might one choose to view it, the primary benefit for me, in situ, was to let me in on (above the din and clamor) at least a bit of the conversation that Mr. Michelangelo and Mr. Mapplethorpe were engaged in.

Quite a delightful surprise, indeed.

tuscany # 20-22 ~ Italian weather # 3

Bridge on River Arno ~ Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggen
2 views from Ponte Vecchio on River Arno ~ Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggenA light mid-afternoon rain in Firenze (Florence) made for some nice light on the River Arno.

And, guess what? It rained twice on the day we were in Firenze and, sure as rain water's wet, the umbrella guys showed up - this time there were so many it resembled a plague of swarming locust.

FYI, the padlocks on the iron fence around the monument - according to an old Italian legend, if a couple of lovers write their names on a padlock, chain it to the Ponte Vecchio and throw the key down into the River Arno, their love will be everlasting.

PS to wife - Now that I know this, I guess we'll just have to go back.

tuscany # 19 ~ Italian weather # 2

Piazza Grande ~ Arezzo, Tuscany • click to embiggenWhile the wives were back at the ranch taking an Italian cooking class from our il Bacio hostess, my brother and I hung out at Piazza Grande in Arezzo. We were enjoying a light late morning breakfast - for me, a flat torta peach thing with a Compari soda - and watching a thunderstorm roll in.

Roll in it did and within nano-seconds of the first falling raindrop, a bevy of vendors, theretofore invisible, appeared toting baskets full of umbrellas for sale. It seemed that they had just dropped out of the sky along with the rain.

tuscany # 18 ~ Italian weather

View of morning fog from the door at il Bacio ~ Tuscany • click to embiggenWe had weather while we were in Tuscany.

paris # 1-3 ~ hitting the highlights

Paris • click to embiggen
Notre Dame ~ Paris
The Louvre & Eiffel Tower ~ ParisAs mentioned previously, the wife's snafu with our flight connections resulted in an unscheduled but very pleasant day in Paris.

tuscany # 17 ~ on the road to find out

The north end of Greve ~ Chianti region of Tuscany • click to embiggenRelative to the following entry, tuscany # 16, this picture depicts a very typical Tuscan landscape. A landscape that is not all that dissimilar to those found here in the Finger Lakes region of NY State or, for that matter, in the nearby (to me) Champlain Valley of the Adirondacks.

I mean, other than all those Italians, Italian cars and Italian drivers, Italian houses with Italian laundry on the line, Italian piazzas with Italian sidewalk cafes with fine Italian food and fine Italian wine, the Italian language, everything measured in metrics, Italian hilltop Renaissance-era villages, what's the difference? At this point, I was still looking for Tuscany.