Today we visited the uffizi gallery. It was exhausting to see miles of renaissance and medieval art all compacted into one space. However, we enjoyed the Botticelli gallery and the Caravaggios. I am drawn to the dichotomies. For Instance, we glorify and display the rape of the Sabine women or Leda and the Swan as high art, yet such an act will land you, justifiably, in prison. What message does it send someone who never learns the classics?

We were surrounded by tourists from non-western countries. If you did not have a Biblical education, how would you interpret these works? These are strange counterpoints for reflection after the peace of Assisi.

 

Tonight we went to mass at Santa Croce which, we discovered, was a Franciscan basilica. We visited the small chapel housing a Giotto tavala. The priest said many words we could discern but others sounded like "gazpacho" and "gelato", so we took it as a holy mission to eat well after mass. Indeed, the symphony played right next to our restaurant in our piazza, a wonderful end to the day.

~ Holly Baumgartner