| Piazza de la Signoria |
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| I took lots of pictures of this piazza because it has a lot of screen time in my script. It was the original display-place of Michelangelo's "David", the local seat of government (the Palazzo Veccio, left) and that porch-looking thing in the lower right is a sculpture garden. Now, all of the sculptures out here are replicas because the real ones are all in museums, but I could take pictures of these... and I did. |
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| The Palazzo Veccio |
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| This, too, is a fake, but this is where all seventeen feet of the real "David" stood for a long time. |
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| In addition to being a life-long fan of Clash of the Titans, this statue of Perseus holding up Medusa's head has some pretty cool arcs in it. That staue in the bottom right was described to me as a symbolism of the triumph of youth, strength and vitality over old age, weakness and infirmity. |
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| "The Rape of the Sabines" was a study in shifting perspective. To follow the action of the piece, the viewer is forced to walk all the way around it, and let their focus spiral up. Again, the older man is beaten and the younger man takes his woman-the older man's chance to perpetuate himself. Only the strong survive. |
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| "Herc-a-lese! Herc-a-lese!" Speaking of the strong surviving, here's the original action hero beating the crap out of a centaur. There are certain things in the sculpture of a famous subject that mark the identity. Although you can't see it in this picture, the lion's skin that denotes Herculese is wrapped around the club-wielder's waist. |
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| Stage left of the Palazzo's front door is the Uffizzi museum. Very cool, I'm told. We didn't have the time to spare to get in. The street, though (along the left, here), is lined with statues of famous Italians-Florentines in particular... |
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| ...like Michelangelo. |
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| The public men's room. Nobody explained it to me, so I'm going to let you figure it out, too. |