There's actually little to say that most art history people don't already know - Florence was ground zero for the Italian Renaissance and their museums are FILLED with all the art I'd read about in books. There's nothing quite like seeing THE David, THE Gates of Paradise, or THE "Venus on the Half Shell", and the books just don't compare, especially with sculpture - the real objects must be seen to be fully appreciated.
Perhaps the most exciting was going inside the Duomo's cupola. It was over 400 steps but for me that wasn't the adventurous part - both heights and tight spaces make me nervous and there were plenty of both! But the simple fact of seeing the herringbone brickwork and interior construction of Brunelleschi's 15th century masterpiece (I can't believe something made that long ago is still standing! And that I could go up inside it!) made it worth the discomfort and nerves, and the view from the top is amazing to behold :)
The conference took us to just about every costume collection in the city. Everyone was hushed as we visited the original Medici burial garments at the Pitti Palace - these were among the best known of Janet Arnold's restorations and again - even in the dim light you see details up close that you don't see in books. I also got to chat with
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belfebe and an Italian researcher about doublets and nuances of their tailoring :)
The best conference-museum collaboration was definitely the Medici Chapel: all morning was a review of the recent archaeological/anthropological research, and the Chapel visit was over lunch, so we understood the significance of what we were about to see. The researchers held out the tantalizing possibility that all of the recent research (including a fairly complete set of doublet/breeches worn by a recently discovered Medici child) will be published at some point!
The oddest and possibly most cluttered was the Stibbert Museum. Stibbert was a 19th century eccentric/collector who one attendee described as a proto-SCAdian with money - his house was filled with textiles, costumes, and weaponry, both eastern and western (I took probably my most photos of the latter, as none of the catalogs covered it). Who really needs 2 walls of smallswords, or a case of rapiers? Clearly Stibbert did, and I wondered aloud what his philosophy of collecting was - did he just grab everything that crossed his path? How did he organize it? Did anyone during his lifetime help him sort through the collection, if only to display it properly? I still don't know, and I'm still not sure I saw everything in there....
It was fortunate that so many of the museums were part of the conference - even at the low season many of the museums are booked solid and hard to get into. I had been under the impression that D. was not much interested in museums at my speed so I had expected to get "cultured-out" during the conference and go on his schedule afterwards, so when he told me he wanted to go to the Uffizi and Accademia I was in a bit of a quandary. The online ticket sites weren't helpful, so I went to Jean, who rented us our apartment. He pulled out some last minute phone calling heroics and got us into both, one day after another :)
There's more to say (and I probably will), but I can sum up - I saw some amazing art, not just in the sense of beauty and craftsmanship but in the feeling of historical landmarks - what other city had Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli and other masters all working in the same place, at the same time?
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