Florence I

Sometimes people talk about spiritual experiences. The connection between God and Man, when people feel the “spirit moving through them”. Sometimes this happens during a moving song; sometimes this happens at a significant point in one’s life; and sometimes this happens when one encounters beauty.

Today, in Florence, Italy, we discovered man’s search for this connection between God and man, between the physical and metaphysical. During Classical times, people saw God and man together, simultaneous. The church was where both the physical and spiritual were united. In the Middle Ages, however, people thought man and God were separated. They saw life as a journey to get to God, and the church represented that journey. You enter and you travel to a destination, to meet God at his altar. Then, during the Renaissance, people began to go back toward the Classical idea, to rationalize God, to “bring Him down to size” in order to fit Him into a container that man could understand. Everything built was planned with a set idea, using proportion and order, instead of just building hands on without a set image in mind as in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, man saw the world as what already was; in the Renaissance, the world was how man made it.

We began our own exploration at San Miniato, a Classical church with some aspects of the Middle Ages. It sits on top of a hill with a view over the city. The view itself seemed like an encounter with God. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like years ago when San Miniato was first built and the city below was scarcely built. It was a view of nature, of valleys and planes, of God’s precious painting. The church sat on top of it all. It was a journey just to reach the entrance. Inside, as the first church we entered, it took my breath away. The height was impressive, the ceiling ornate, the artwork so detailed and elaborate. The paintings were the textbook of its century, a magnificent teaching tool for the people. The trussed ceiling was painted elaborately in blue and gold, in tiny detail that I wished I could examine up close. It made me realize how much the people valued their faith (or perhaps how much influence the Church had) to see the gold, marble, and other precious items detailing their vessel to God.

We moved on, passing the river snaking through the colorful city and then through the winding, narrow streets lined with tiny shops beneath tall apartments. Finally, we made it to Santa Croce, whose façade took my breath away. It faced a piazza, which once again spoke to me about the importance of the church. In a city like Florence, this could be valuable building space, and yet, it was preserved for the purpose of the church. Inside, the interior moved me even more than San Miniato. The sheer height of the church was incredible. Builders were beginning to use pointed arches, which moves toward Gothic (and toward the sky), and speaks about their desire to reach Heaven. The stained glass windows were what got to me. They were so detailed, so colorful, and perfectly balanced the rest of the dimly lit building. The bays of the church were wide and, though ornate, seemed simple compared to so many other churches. They framed various sculptures and paintings above the side altars, as well as the stained glass windows. Between two of these arches at the back of the church were the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. After examining this, we moved out to the Franciscan cloister next to the church and then into a building that housed one of the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen. It was a depiction of Jesus being taken down from the cross, with Mary beneath him with open arms. Many other figures surrounded the two, creating a very dynamic, lively scene. The colors in the painting were vibrant and myriad, and the range from dark to light was incredible. The paint was so smooth, it was as if no brush had ever touched the canvas. I could have stared at the image for hours.

But we were in a hurry to get to lunch, so we had to move on, and before I knew it, our tour was finished. We ate a fabulous meal at a restaurant in town and spent the rest of the day learning how to decipher the true authentic medieval architecture of Florence from the buildings merely made to look like it. Finally, I window shopped. We are definitely going back on Friday.