Sant Maria Del Fiore...The Duomo in Florence

The basilica of Santa Maria Del Fiore has been for centuries, and remains, one of the top tourist attractions in Florence. It took more than a century and a half to complete, but until modern times, with technological advances in materials, this cathedral had the largest dome ever built. To this day it still has the largest brick constructed dome in the world. One would have to say that there had been quite a feat of engineering that went into producing the octagonal dome.

The Carrara marble facade with bands of pink and green marble is purely ornamental and quite distinctive on this cathedral that remains one of the largest religious edifices in all of Italy. It was resurfaced in the late 19th century, but it mimicked the campanile that had been completed for some time. The list of artists involved in the construction reads like a who's who in Renaissance Art with names such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Giotto, Pisano and Donatello. But no matter what their contributions, the main attention has always been on the dome itself, hence the nickname "duomo".

The dome was not even commissioned until after the first century of work had been completed. During the final phase of construction, it came down to only two artists that were vying for the commission, Fillippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti. It is quite amazing that both were goldsmiths, men used to working on very small objects in minute detail. Where were the architects and engineers? Ghiberti had already won the commission for the baptistery doors, so Brunelleschi, a Medici favorite, won the commission but had to share the honor, though not much of the work with Ghiberti. When what has been considered a feigned illness by Brunelleschi left Ghiberti alone on the project, he backed out and Brunelleschi was able to finish the project alone and with full credit. Neither ever received the commission money. One other incredible detail, the dome was built without a wooden supporting frame; designed by a goldsmith working with brick.

These photos of the dome were taken during an ascent to the top of the campanile and are courtesy of my fearless traveling companion. I climbed the dome on my very first trip to Florence and discovered then that I have acrophobia. My knees were shaking and I felt light headed, but once you start up, you have to complete the journey, because the ascent is one way up narrow stairs, around the interior of the dome, along what seemed to me at the time like the shortest railing in all Christendom, then up and over the space between the interior frescoed dome and the exterior tiled dome. After looking at the frescoes of demons and hell I felt that falling over the railing was a distinct possibility, since it seemed much shorter than waist high, so after freezing in my tracks, I literally hugged the wall, as I slowly inched toward the small door into the interior of the dome. As I recall I stayed on top more to avoid the descent, than to absorb the stunning views of the city that spread before me in all directions.

Be certain to look at the Vasari frescoes of the Last judgement in the dome, and if you can, make the climb. It is truly the most interesting thing about the interior, as the rest is rather plain and unadorned, so much so that it came as a rather unpleasant surprise. I don't think it was always so, because I've attended mass there several times and on this last visit it seemed stark, a word I would not imagine I would use in describing any part of this cathedral.

I've always appreciated how the baptistery emulated the octagonal of the great dome, but Ghiberti's doors grab most of the attention, as well they should. They are truly magnificent. The use of perspective is more than masterful, it's magical considering how shallow the doors really are. I think a trained goldsmith and sculptor was the perfect person to attend to such detail.

While Pisano worked with Ghiberti on the baptistery doors (he made the south facing doors), Donatello was responsible for some of the exterior sculptures. It was Giotto who took over the project who is credited with the campanile (bell tower), although it was Pisano who completed it after Giotto's death. The encroaching city does not give one an optimal vantage point for photographs of Santa Maria Del Fiore, but on each trip I work on a better angle. I plan to enlist the aid of my niece for climbing the dome to take some more photos for me on our upcoming trip. I hope acrophobia doesn't run in the family.

Il Forno The Oven, Il Fornaio The Baker

 

Very few tourists to Italy understand the historical importance the bakery had to the community surrounding it. It amuses me to hear complaints about Italian apartment rentals not having large ovens. Historically, most Italians had no ovens at all. Women would take their bread and meat to communal ovens of their town or village for baking and roasting, then return to pick them up, the way we walk into a restaurant for take out food. So this made the forno a major player in every Italian community. In Liguria focaccia was developed in order to test the communal oven to see if it was hot enough to bake bread. Whether it’s called a Panificio, Focaccieria or Il Forno, the bakers are integral to their communities. The bread culture in Italy is pervasive with regional festivals and many towns whose reputation rest on claims of making the best bread in the country.

 

Forno Antico Santa Chiara is in one such town, Altamura in Puglia. As we left Matera, one of the desk clerks from Hotel San Martino suggested that if we wanted the bread with the D.O.P. designation, we should try this very old bakery. She forgot to tell us about the focaccia that we discovered was the very best we have ever eaten.

Specific shape doesn’t seem to matter, what does matter is that this bread is said to last for 8 – 15 days. That would be a small miracle, because it would be impossible to keep it in the house that long. Our small loaf was shared with friends and we polished it off at one sitting. The crust was crisp and it had a firm crumb with a very nice flavor.

 

The texture of the bread looked similar to the loaf in the photo on the left, baked by a friend of the family we were visiting. The Pane di Altamura loaf was a bit darker, with a yellow cast, but the crumb was identical. Admittedly, for us the real star of the show was the focaccia that came in many variations and was delicious beyond our expectations. Besides the tomato, it came in onion, zucchini and the zucchini and eggplant combination that you see in the photo on the right.

More photos are better, right? I’m only sorry I didn’t take a photo if the onion focaccia before we inhaled it.

 

I did however manage to control myself long enough to snap this photo of it sitting atop the map on my lap, as we drove away from Altamura. Truly, I would not even consider going to Southern Italy on another trip without a stop in Altamura for more focaccia. It is mind boggling how simple ingredients like bread, onion, olive oil, oregano and salt, when combined can become a euphoric distraction. Our next itinerary is already planned; one of each wrapped to go (porta via) to place in the car trunk for safekeeping until we arrive at the next hotel, and another for the trip to that hotel, or to eat at the small table outside the forno. The to and from destinations are not as important as returning to Altamura.

 

The bakery also sells biscotti as you can see on the far left of the photo on the left or in the photo on the right. Antico Forno di Santa Chiara has been in business for generations, since before Columbus discovered America! With products like these, it is no wonder. I’d like to share one more photo with you.

As a former potter, the two small breads above the door did not go unnoticed by me. I had seen many tributes paid to and images made of “kiln gods” as “insurance” for a successful “firing”. I suspect this was the baker’s way of asking for a blessing on his forno and the successful baking of his daily bread. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Via Ambrogio del Giudice 2, Altamura, Provincia di Bari, Puglia

Il Fornaio is a very popular sign seen on bakeries all over Italy, but does not necessarily indicate the name of the bakery. Il Fornaio in this photo is located just off Campo di Fiori in Rome’s Centro Storico neighborhood and that is indeed the name. A very popular bakery with tourists who just stumble across it on their visit to the Campo, Il Fornaio also attracts locals who know that it is a great spot for a quick lunch.

As you might be able to tell by the photos I took through the display cases above, zucchini focaccia as well as tomato is available, but more importantly, this bakery has a very good reputation for pizza bianca, the white focaccia so typical of Rome. They also display the largest mortadella I have ever seen. It must be 5 feet long and the width is bigger than a man’s head, and I have photographs to prove it. As an ongoing joke, two generations of my family have posed with what we refer to as “Big Mort”. Besides the foccacia, Il Fornaio also sells panini and suppli (rice croquettes filled with mozzarella) for it’s customers needing a quick purchase, and I’m told the cannoli and other pastries are good too. More often than not, locals will go in and order a slice of mortadella layered onto a piece of pizza bianca.

Via dei Baullari, 5
00186 Rome
Tel: 06 68803947‎

In Florence, Il Fornaio Galli has several locations, but we visited the one on Via Sant Augostino in the Oltrarno neighborhood of Santo Spirito. Once again focaccia was quite prominently featured and it got us in the door. It made for a great snack, but but don’t forget to take a look at the pastries.

Don’t those tuna pockets on the top shelf look like a light lunch in the making or perhaps the spinach and ricotta version next to them? Looks like Il Fornaio is giving patrons some nice vegetarian options with the zucchini or porcini pizze in the center of the case. the sausage focaccia or pizza also look like a nice way to keep mid afternoon hunger at bay, but the pizza bianca with prosciutto cotto is probably what most locals eat, if they are anything like their Roman counterparts.

All that bread and those rolls look like a good addition to any pantry if you are renting an apartment. It would be easy enough to make your own panini if you also visited a salumeria or small grocery store. Cookies and pastries looked very classic here and would had been hard to resist, if it were not for the fact that we already had reservations for a late lunch with friends. That didn’t however, deter someone I know from ordering a slice of potato and rosemary focaccia.

Firenze: Via S.Agostino 8/r

Piazza delle Cure 15

Via Pacinotti 43/r

Via dei Neri 18

http://www.giovannigalli.net/galli-panificio.asp

Where to Stay in Florence?

Our experience with accommodations in Florence has been limited. For years we stayed at Tony’s Locanda on Via Faenza, but those days ended when the family sold it and it became “gentrified” (i.e. doubled in price). As with most cities, the cheaper hotels can be found near the train station and I suspect Via Faenza is still riddled with 3rd floor walkups at reasonable prices, but one star hotels are not going to work for us.

One year we had the bright idea to rent a large apartment that slept 8 and invite friends and family to join us. Even for free, our friends left early to avoid sofabeds, so we nixed that idea in the future. Still it was a lovely apartment and it was great fun to be able to shop the markets in both Florence and Bologna to make dinner for our guests. I failed to photograph the master bedroom and a single bedroom, but did manage a photo of 3rd bedroom with its "wet bath", the old fashioned type of Italian bath that allowed the shower to spray the entire room and drain into the middle of the floor. My cousin and her husband were great sports about accepting that room and allowing other guests to trapse through in the middle of the night to use the toilet. It makes for an amusing travel story, though not very amusing at the time.

Our next rental experience was superior and worked out well. A colleague at work told us about a one bedroom apartment that he and his wife were very pleased with and offered me a link to the property. I contacted the owner, Rossella Ristore, and we have since become personal friends. Even when her apartment is not available we get together for lunch. Next year it will be available during our required dates and we are looking forward to renting it again.

On the one occasion when her apartment was not available, I made a reservation on LateRooms.com for Il Cestello, a small hotel in the Oltrarno area of Florence and were it not for an allergy to mold, I could have enjoyed my stay there. It had been booked on a nonrefundable basis for the low rate of 118 euros per night. The bathroom shower had mold in the grout between the tiles, therefore I had to make a complaint and asked for bleach. The young man at the desk wanted to accommodate me, but could find none. I bought some for myself and scrubbed down the shower, but it did not remove the mold (although I did not get my allergy so it could have killed it). In the morning the manager offered to give us an alternate room, even one he could rent for a higher price, but every room he showed me had the same problem. When we explained that I couldn’t afford to get sick and were leaving early, he kindly offered to give me a free room on another occasion, but if the mold were a continuing problem, which it appeared to be, that would not work either. He tried, but keeping healthy on vacation was worth losing one night’s lodging. Still for anyone not allergic to “muffa” and who can tolerate it aesthetically, it was a good value.