Uffizi Gallery | Hotel Lungarno | Michelangelo | statue of David

ART "I did go around the Uffizi Gallery. That was pretty interesting. Just how big it is and seeing Botticellis and the Giottos. The Medici collected great wealth in art, housed in the Uffizi: from Botticelli's Primavera and The Birth of Venus, Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna, Leonardo's Annunciation, Paolo Uccello's The Battle of San Romano, Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch, and Michelangelo's Tondo Doni, to the many grotesques and the painted ceilings of the Gallery - all giving testimony to the splendor of the Italian Renaissance. The art in the Palazzo Vecchio alone could consume several days of viewing. From statues of Donatello, massive murals of Vasari and murals depicting Florence's battle and victory against Pisa. The Pitti Palace, with its splendid gardens, is a centerpiece of art objects, statues, and restored rooms of the family. We visited many a church full of statues, frescoes, and paintings depicting the ideals and facts of the centuries of politics and religion so vital to the Italian Renaissance. Of course, the masterpiece of Michelangelo, the magnificent statue of David at the gallery of the Accademia with his different versions of Pietà is astonishing. I tried to buy Michelangelo's David, but they wouldn't sell it to me."

DINNER "The crew's favorite restaurant was Coco Lezzone, a quick walk from the Hotel Lungarno, a family-style trattoria, with the best steak fiorentina. They make a great fiorentina pappa di pomodòro, thick tomato soup, and pastas with tartuffi. Across from the Hotel Lungarno is another trattoria, Mamma Gina, where the crew ate quite often and where our production team frequently stopped for a quick meal
together. Their grilled veal chops and Tuscan fagiolini [white beans] were the crew's favorites."

SUNDAY