The train ride from Venice to Florence is just two hours. So after checking out of the Palazzo Canova, taking the water bus to Santa Lucia Station, and boarding our train, two hours later we found ourselves in Florence.
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we asked our concierge to see if he could sneak us into the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze to see Michelangelo’s David. We were unsuccessful in trying online, which was a little confusing because there were so few tourists in Venice we didn’t think that Florence would be much different. Unfortunately it was.
Overrun was more like it. If this was winter I’d hate to be here in summer. But apparently the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a big one in Florence, so it sort of all added up.
Nevertheless the concierge was successful in getting tickets for that afternoon to see The David, and so off we ran to see it.
The first statue you see when you enter the gallery is the famous Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna from around 1580.
But the star of the show, the one everyone has come to see is Michelangelo’s David. So as you turn the corner and enter the gallery, this is the first glimpse you see of it.
Then you get closer.
It’s breathtaking, really, and I didn’t expect it to be so large but it’s gigantic.
David was sculpted from 1501 to 1504 and was made from carrara marble quarried in northern Tuscany.
David is a 17 feet tall marble statue of the Biblical hero David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. Because of the hero it represented the statue soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states, and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, are fixated towards Rome.
Along with David, there is another gallery of sculptures from over the centuries.
Each are famous in their own right, we just picked out our favorites among hundreds.
How is it possible that stone can be so expressive?
Another thing that the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze is known for is Russian religious art. There are several rooms filled with priceless examples such as this.
But as you leave, your eyes are drawn right back to the David.
Of course it’s a pain to fight through the crowds but you owe it to yourself to see this masterpiece if you’re anywhere near Florence.
