Florence

We spent an entire week in Florence while I attended my seminar on "The Romantics in Italy: Dante, Italian Culture, and Romantic Literature." This event was hosted by the Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco in Florence. There were daily sessions of academic papers, keynote lectures, meals, and visits to museums: a unique and richly rewarding time.

Saturday morning we returned our little red GM Aveo and walked back to our hotel through the narrow streets of Florence. Suddenly, like a vision, the Duomo, Bell Tower, and Baptistry came into view:

My favorite panel from Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise on the Baptistry--the espousal of Mary and Joseph.

The banks of the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio

and the view from our 4th floor hotel room...

The Florence Synagogue

We attended an amazing concert of Mozart and Schubert in the Galleria dell'Accademia: a string duet, trio, and quintet, played on period instruments from the 1700's belonging to the museum's La Collezione del Conservatorio "Cherubini". The concert took place beneath the imposing figure of Michelangelo's David and the four Prisoners, fighting their way out of the solid marble: what a setting! This was a rare opportunity to photograph the sculptures, which is forbidden during the museum's normal opening hours.

The group walked to a very cold afternoon excursion at the Pitti Palace, with this view of Tuscan hills beyond the Boboli Gardens:

Beautiful porcelain from a museum in the Bob0li Gardens

The Duomo from the Gardens

Casa Guidi, home of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The conference-goers attended a poetry reading here.

Palazzo Strozzi, where a conference session was held in the Gabinetto Vieusseux.

Ponte Vecchio

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale

The private library of the Uffizi Gallery, where our conference met for another session.

Delightful musical children--in the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Courtyard of the Bargello Museum

Beautiful nudes

and lovers

Scenes of the city and river: