Date with David!

Bright and early, we met once more at the steps of St. Lorenzo which became our regular morning meeting spot. There, Lisa revealed to us the gripping continuation to the cliff-hanger of the Medici family drama, and, like true fans, we ventured over to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi to explore their premises.
This was no ordinary palace; or rather, it looked too ordinary from the outside. Blended in the corner was the fort-like home of the Godfathers of the Renaissance. It certainly fit the modest Medici's motto, which was to "Always keep out of the public eye – and never display any pride."

*picture: Rustification of the palace walls.

Inside the palace walls, however, was a different story. The entrance led to a beautiful courtyard which once contained Michelangelo's David and now overlooks the garden, where half the group waited to take turns to enter the Capella dei Magi, a private chapel inside the Palace.

The beautifully frescoed room revealed a clear message to all those who entered it: if you are our friend, we will protect you and feature you in our paintings. If you are not, you will be hunted down by leopards and left to fend for yourself in the Hobbesian state of nature. The Medici were displayed as the three magi on the private frescoes by Gozzoli, elevating their status to those of Biblical characters and in the process, personalizing the story of Christ.

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On our way to the Academia for our date with David, we stopped by the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents). The hospital was a children's orphanage built by Brunelleschi, who designed an elegant pattern of triangles and semi-circles throughout the piazza.

There is a revolving window near the entrance where babies could be dropped off anonymously to be cared for by the orphanage. We contemplated donating our smallest classmate but the window was unfortunately blocked off:

According to hearsay, there was a strike in the morning which delayed our entrance to the Academia for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the shop in the front struck gold that day with students flocking to get the ten postcards for a euro deal.

Once inside the Academia, the architecture of the place directed us straight to the main attraction. With its powerful hands, the piercing look of determination and the left arm calmly holding the sling, David looked ready to strike a giant. At his feet, we were the ones looking up at a giant: was this the young underdog that slay Goliath, and was to become a powerful symbol of Florence?

The adonis that Michelangelo freed from a slab of marble represented not only a gracious display of the male physique but a symbol for the Florentines in their fight against France and, later, a marker of the triumphant comeback of the Medici, among other meanings it has taken on over the years.

Unfortunately for photography enthusiasts, no pictures were allowed inside. Only our memories would capture the essence of David… (or this David to the left, on the side of the bus)

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The group split up for lunch and some of us picnicked at the footsteps of the Duomo. For the remainder of the day, we were busy completing our next Quest and exploring the city (and exercising our poor Italian skills) on a scavenger hunt.
What was the animal featured on the far side of the Mercato Nuovo? This beaming boar encircled by these lovely ladies:

We were also led to the church of Santa Maria Novella to investigate Masaccio's the Trinity. The patrons were depicted in the fresco praying alongside the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in perfect symmetry. Although a bit faded with time, Masaccio's piece represented a hallmark of Renaissance art with its elegant use of perspective inside the personal atmosphere of the Renaissance home.

To prevent photo bleaching, no pictures were allowed inside once more. Instead, I am about to leave you with a picture of Honors students scribbling away in their journals and taking over the hotel's breakfast room, putting down in words what cameras were not allowed to do in pictures this day… but as we are limited to 4 pictures per entry, this too, I shall leave to your imagination.

You'll just have to trust our word: we're hard at work.