Day 118

--Final day in Florence –quite the scary concept. Nikki and I made our last trip to the Uffizi. In this trip, I finally got around to drawing my favorite (or at least one of my favorite paintings) in the Uffizi. The painting is called La Fortuna and I believe the artist is unknown, as the credit is given to artista vicino a Jacopo Ligozzi ("artist near to Jacopo Ligozzi). This painting has a curiosity to it, stood out from all the others in context and seems to be far ahead of its time (when everyone else was painting religious figures or mythology), and reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. In making our rounds through the Uffizi, we stood in the room amongst Boticelli's paintings, being inspired and overwhelmed by their beauty. After staring at a few of his works, especially The Birth of Venus and Primavera, taking them in as much as we could, we left. 

the painting La Fortuna 

by artista vicino Jacopo Ligozzi

photograph by Nikki

my sketch of La Fortuna

The majority of the afternoon consisted of wandering, a little shopping, and primarily packing my many bags in within weight limits. For cena (dinner), we went to the same restaurant as the night before. Yep, folks, it is that good! We split homemade spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil and the pappa al pomodoro (again). My goodness, that food is divine. During dinner, we had an adorable, young, French couple sitting next to us. I am going to miss constantly hearing the beautiful languages that I cannot understand.

 fresh made chitarra spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil

yum!

photograph by Nikki

pappa al pomodoro

photograph by Nikki

 Piazza Santo Spirito at night

photograph by Nikki

And, even though we were quite full, there is always room for gelato on the last night! 

no such thing as too much gelato!

 photograph by Nikki

Nikki con i gelati

last view of the Arno at night

sketchbook page; tribute to Amelie

thank you, serious stranger, for leaving your photos in that booth

Nikki and I went on a long walk back from dinner. We had a recommendation from our friend, Meredith, to go see this graffiti tunnel. Now, Nikki and my own expectations were quite different from the treasure that we found and saw. The graffiti tunnel is actually a very large pedestrian tunnel that goes underground (and beneath lots of train tracks, I believe). The entirety of the walls --and even some of the ceiling-- is covered in graffiti of varying artists with varying styles. Nikki and I went crazy with taking photos and admiring (sorry, I'm still waiting to develop my film).

Down in the tunnel, there was some great folk music being played, that made it very hard for me to not dance around as I looked at the art. There was a maintenance man down there who was playing this music on his cd player. He looked a bit desheveled, but the man must be working hard and I loved his music. As Nikki and I were taking photographs near him, he asked us, "Stati Uniti?", asking us if we were from the United States. This was probably pretty evident seeing as we were not regulars to this tunnel (e.g. taking photographs, staring at the art, and walking slowly through). We started talking to him (in broken Italian, of course), and he told us that there are about seven exits to the tunnel. He also told us that he knows some of the artists, and the art in the tunnel is constantly changing. I asked him if he is an artist, and he told me not the graffiti, but his is a musician. After meeting his friend, "Gepetto", our little friend paused the folk music on the cd player, and busted out his harmonica. What? Fantastic. He was extremely good, using his hands to amplify sound, mute sound, and add vabrato to certain parts of the song. He began by playing a song that I had never heard, and it eventually turned into the song "Oh Susanna." And you know what? It was the damned best version of that song I had ever hear, and it was played with such enthusiasm. I love those random, unexpected interactions with strangers that have good turnouts. 

ciao Lennon!

 photograph by Nikki

one of the entrances; "mind your head"

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

looking through another entrance

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

are you really?

photograph by Nikki

Nikki's contribution

photograph by Nikki

photograph by Nikki

on a pencil in the tunnel

my contribution to the graffiti 

photograph by Nikki

We made the rest of our way through the tunnel, and then headed back to our hostel. We sat in Piazza Independenza for a while, enjoying the night. What a great last evening in Florence. I don't think I could have asked for more!