Italy 2022: Tuesday - The Uffuzi and More

May 17, 2022

Did I mention that the weather is beautiful? It is. Cool evening and warm days. Lots of sunshine.

Did I mention that this trip is about culture, art, food and drink? If you’ve been reading these blog posts that should be pretty evident.

Today was a biggie and I could go on quite endlessly about what we saw but I will keep it short and include what, for me, were personal highlights.

We got the day started with breakfast at our new hotel and it was quite good and similar to what we had experienced in Venice. There were croissants, muesli and other cereals, sweet rolls, milk, yogurt, sliced meats and cheeses, as well as coffee and juice.

We met up at the appointed time outside the hotel and walked to the Uffuzi, the Galleria degli Uffizi, which is a large art galley focusing on the works from the Renaissance.

The Uffuzi building is a U-shape and was designed by Giorgio Vasari as the business management center for the Medici family, It makes a very good art museum today. We walked over from the hotel and hung around while Jodi rounded up our tickets. There is plenty to see outside the main building.

There was a bit of waiting but not too bad.

A few of us went to see the Arno River just outside the building.

We got our tickets and headed into the museum. We first went through a temperature check to make sure we were healthy. The route inside took us up and down stairs and included a security check where our bags were x-rayed and we had to walk through a metal detector.

We eventually made our way to that first gallery, a long view down one wing of the building with LOTS of Roman statues and an exquisitely painted ceiling.

The museum is laid out very well and if one follows the arrows it is possible to navigate through the entire place without missing anything. Many of the first rooms contained early Renaissance work like these.

It was interesting to look at some of the details on these works. What kind of toes are these?

And what kind of creature is this?

There were quite a few pieces that were familiar thanks to the art history classes I’ve taken,

We all couldn’t get enough of what were seeing.

More works in no particular order.

Of course, there were paintings that are the Rock Stars of the genre like “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli.

And other great works.

Closeups for the details…

And, in a place dominated by statues and oil paintings, I found a drawing by Bellini about which the didactic indicates “The unusual technique used raises doubts as to the nature of the work: a preparatory drawing destined for a painting, a study model for the workshop, or a finished work in line with a Flemish pictorial tradition.”

It’s also important to not forget to look up occasionally.

This is one of several works where beheading was the subject.

A more traditional subject followed by a detail.

More works….

Back in the main hallway, more sculptures and a view outside.

There is no question that some anatomical anomalies must have existed in the Renaissance.

Another view from the gallery.

Next was the Leonardo da Vinci room.

And then the Raffaello and Michelangelo room.

And some works by Durer.

Now it was time for lunch. Jodi, Aiden, Elizabeth and I sat outside in the cafeteria next to these views.

We returned to the gallery and went down to the second floor.

Having studied this one in class, we were impressed seeing it in person.

The works of Caravaggio are always attention-grabbing.

Works by Rubens…

And Rembrandt…

That wrapped up the Uffuzi. We regrouped outside and got ready for our next stop.

This is the Opera di Santa Croce. It is a church and it features, along with artwork, the burial sites of several notables: Dante, Galileo, Ghiberti, Machiavelli, and Michelangelo among many others.