Art on Oltranro

I woke up this morning thinking I was going take today slow. Maybe spend the afternoon hanging out in a café drinking the tiny coffees they serve here. Maybe get an early start with some wine at lunch. But then I started moving down my list and it hit me - I’m running out of time! I only have another week and I still have a dozen things to see here plus go to Pisa, plus go to Rome - how am I going to get it all in!

So, today was an early morning at the famous Brancacci Chapel by Masaccio. Why is it famous? Well it’s the first time an artist figures out how to paint showing a single source of light. All the figures have little shadows – the first time ever.

Then it was over to a small church that was actually around the corner from our cute apartment so see probably the most famous mannerist painting by Pontormo. I don’t know how the church has managed to hang on to this priceless painting that you would expect to see hanging in the Uffizi. But there it is in the same little chapel it was painted for. The best news is there aren’t a lot of tourists hanging around so you get the masterpiece all to yourself.

With two more things crossed off the list I did relax enough to some wine at lunch and coffee on the Plazzo Veccio Square. And then it was off to Santa Croce for the Giotto frescos and the Chimabue Cross that was destroyed in the 1966 flood. (More on that later.)

Finally, another late afternoon stroll through the Uffizi finished the day and my feet with it. Tomorrow will really have to be a slow day.