Italy - Day 11 - Slaying Giants

This morning after breakfast, we headed to the Galleria dell' Accedemia. This is the museum that houses Michaelangelo's David.

Let's deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Yes. The dude is naked and... Yes. Pat is smiling more than she has the whole trip. Now can we just move on?

This is a really cool statue. It's amazing to see Michaelangelo's chisle marks from the early 1500's. There is so much detail to take in. As you walk around the statue, David's face takes on different expressions.

It depicts David mere seconds before he slew Goliath. He has his sling over his shoulder and a rock in his left hand. As you walk around the back, you even see the vein in his neck bulging with tension as he faces the giant.

Michaelangelo carved the statue from a single block of marble with no drawings or models. It was all in his head. This statue came to represent Florence's strength and defiance in the face of its enemies. This statue stood outside in a public square for 300 years before it was moved inside.

We then took a walking tour of Piazza del Signoria. Here we saw some of the fine 18kt gold and supple leather goods Florence is known for. Just like in Venice, the demonstrations quickly turned into sales pitches.

By the way, did you know Tuscany is the birthplace of Pinocchio? As such, he is celebrated everywhere.

Some from our tour group walked to a restaurant for dinner. I dined on wild boar. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, where we were reprimanded for being too loud in the lobby. Pat can fill you in on that later. Off to bed for it's back to Rome tomorrow.