Wednesday 21 June 2006
Highlights: Galleria degli Uffizi Museum

Having survived the night (both hot and cold and a lot of noise) I set out late in the morning to explore for Florence by myself.   I headed straight for the Galleria degli Uffizi which is has very famous works of art.   Unfortunately I had to wait 2 hours to get in (which is unusual, it normally takes longer). The Museum was awesome.

The Louvre in Paris tries to overwhelm you with some many works of art, Uffizi just goes for the best.   Some of the works I saw included:  Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Annunciation’, Michelangelo’s ‘Holy Family’, Titian’s ‘Venus of Urbino’, Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ – everyone as seen a copy of this one, it’s magnificent, and works by Raphael.

The museum had a special exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci, the guy was brilliant.   Using computer they are starting to understand his paintings, including just how precise they are and how he overlayed pictures on top of points or references and these references are very interesting.   I learnt a lot; maybe I should have paid attention in class 🙂