Perfection and Memories

Yesterday (Thursday), we went to the Gallerie with the sole purpose of seeing Michelangelo's David.  The statue was carved from fifteen feet of marble in the very beginning of the 16th century, and Michelangelo was actually the third artist to be contracted to do the creation.  David became the symbol for Florence, symbolizing the victory of the individual against corrupt leadership.

Regardless of the history, the statue is awe-inspiring and just plain beautiful.  I challenge anyone to stand in front of this chunk of marble perfection and not feel something (or a lot of somethings).  I don't know how Michelangelo accomplished it but he captured the smooth, muscled limbs and innocent  beauty that is so specific to a young man who has not really yet lost the look of youth.  I can't possibly explain it, but I know that it took my breath away. 

This morning, after going to have a cappuccino and pastry, we decided to go into the church in Santa Croce.  And there, the suprise.  Inside the church, first of all, was my favorite of all the ceilings I have seen.  Then, I realized that around the walls were various memorials, some including the actual graves (Enrico Fermi, Gallileo, et al).  But there, in front of me, was a huge memorial to Dante.  Now, I have never read Dante, but my dad was something of an expert on the subject, having earned a Master's degree in Italian from Berkeley.  Suddenly, I wondered: did my dad stand in this spot at some point in his life and look at this memorial?  And I found myself telling Sara that, because of Dante and Petrarc and Boccaccio (all great Italian writers of the early Renaissance and all Tuscan), it was the tuscan dialect that was adopted as the official Italian language.  As it turns out, Tuscan was also the dialect that had remained closest to the mother Latin.  My dad's lesson, learned at some point in my childhood while eating dinner, got passed along to the next generation, and in the most appropriate of all places.  Thanks, Babbo, for the lessons.

And the other goal for today?  Sara has officially decreed this the "Day of Gluttony."  Our last chance to have these pastries, that coffee, fresh mozarella and prosciutto pannini for 2.50... Tomorrow, it's onto a plane and back to reality.