Monday, January 24, 2022

On Safari In Florence

Annamaria on Monday

I am determined to say something today and do it without cursing.  Using Blogger is so very painful, I want to scream.  No matter what I do, it will not let me open the page where I can write something new.  All I can do is search and open old posts--like this one.  So at least today I can offer this--from five years ago.

Until this past Wednesday, I could comment on other's fascinating posts as myself, but ONLY on my iPad.  Now I can only comment anonymously, still using only the iPad and then only if moon is full. 

 #$(*&?><%&&**^^!!




I returned from South Africa and, the very next day welcomed my friends Jean-Claude and Francoise visiting from Nice.  We launched into a marvellous week of art exhibitions, a studio visit, museums, and churches around this, the greatest art treasury in the world.  Our first stop was the Gozzoli chapel in the Palazzo Medici-Ricardi to view the splendid frescoes.


A strange compulsion overcame me there.   In all the richness of the images before me, my eyes began to do what they had been doing for the previous week when I was sitting behind Stan in the Land Rover, rolling and bumping our way through the South African bush:  Without intending to, I found myself scanning the terrain for birds and animals.  And so began my next great adventure--a safari in Florence.  Hence:

A Field Guide to Wildlife in Florence



Introduction

Travellers accustomed to African safaris will find some expected similarities, but also some marked differences between the African bush and game spotting in Florence.  
  • Birds will, obviously, most likely be found by looking up.  Not all, however.  Birds of prey, especially, can quite often be found at eye level.
  • Animals elusive and difficult to find in the sub-Saharan wilderness are often quite plentiful in the chapels and piazzas, as this guide will demonstrate.
  • Though their African cousins often flee when approached, all but two or three of the creatures you encounter in Florence will remain stationary and pose to show themselves to their best advantage.  You will find this positively delightful.
  • For convenience, this manual is organised in similar fashion to other Florentine guidebooks, by location, rather than by species.
My Terrace

Swallows and pigeons are quite common in Florentine outdoor spaces.  Only a bit rarer is the European goldfinch or cardellino. (True to the arcane nomenclature of birds worldwide, this bird shows very little of the colour of its given name, but never mind.)  See also Galleria degli Uffizi.





Palazzo Medici-Ricardi

Go first to the Chapel where Benozzo Gozzoli's The Journey of the Magi (1459) offers a wide array of birds and animals.








Stan will recognise this as a typical safari scene of a waterhole at which
one can spot several different varieties of bird life.
Although the chapel is the most interesting to wildlife seekers in this palazzo's fortress-like structure, the determined visitor will not want to miss the state apartments, the ceilings of which offer wildlife difficult to spot elsewhere.

Extremely rare elephant.  Those on safari in
Italy determined to see elephants are better
 served in Rome.


Rare indeed, a lioness.  The macho Medici world,
it seems, much preferred the male of the species.

The Duomo, the Baptistry of San Giovanni, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

Bird-lovers will want to concentrate on the Baptistry.  The Museo, on the other hand, offers thrilling sightings of felines.











Galleria degli Uffizi

The Uffizi is a paradise for birdwatchers.








Rafaello's Madonna del Cardellino
Detail of the above

The Church of San Lorenzo, The Laurentian Library, The Medici Chapels

All three of these locations abound with rare and exciting sightings.


















Although, in the author's opinion, this image does not compare with the African
firmament, it has the added advantage of pleasing animal lovers as well as
stargazers.





Michelangelo's owl, unique in this genus.  Habitat: Medici Chapels

Piazza Signoria

Visitors with a sense of the dramatic will want to save this  locale for last.  Lions abound.  Here, along with the above golden cover art of this manual, is but a small sampling of the scores if kingly creatures on which to feast one's eyes.






The Signoria is also the precinct of the wild boar.



Florentines have a special affection (and taste for) the wild boar or cinghiale.    
Myth says that if visitors rub the nose of this porcellino, they will return to visit
Florence again.  The richness of wildlife viewing here requires several
visits, of considerable length.

26 comments:

  1. How our life, and out art is enriched by those we share our planet with. We must preserve them and their habitats as life without them would be so much poorer. Except for cat that is now lying on my keyboard preventing me from typing as fast as I should be.... this cat could be an endangered species. She just does not take a telling!

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    1. Thank you, Caro. Once I started to look for and examine the wildlife in Florence, I found particularly the birds so interesting and moving. There are so many species pictured, and they are so accurately portrayed by the artists. One of the things my friends here and I have been talking about is the diversity of birdlife that the artists were so familiar with. It's just beautiful to see.

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  2. What a wonderful expedition! You've inspired me, Sis, to seek out all the birds I can find on Waikiki Beach...to which we're headed this morning for Left Coast Crime. Enjoy your return to NYC...and the impending winter wonderland.

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  3. Bro, I hope you take pictures of the Waikiki wildlife. I am apprehensive about my trip home. It is spring here in Firenze. Temps in the mid 60's; trees in bloom. And it looks as if I may be stuck in the Dusseldorf Airport tomorrow while the blizzard freezes the Apple. We shall see. I am sorry to be missing LCC. Bring my best to my buddies there.

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    1. I shall. Do not even think of getting into NYC if the weather forecast is anywhere close to accurate. One to two feet of snow, plus gusts to 60MPH from 10PM Monday through end of day Tuesday. A real Nor'easter blizzard. :(

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    2. And temperatures down into the teens though the weekend. :(((((

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    3. I am supposed to land in JFK at 5PM tomorrow. :(((

      I am figuring I may be in Düsseldorf all day, Maybe for the night. I go armed with a manuscript that needs a lot of work. Will be longing for messages from my friends.

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  4. I'm not sure I'd want elephants and birds and other animals on my ceiling. Just think of all the ...er... uh... stuff... um... dropping... on us below...

    Beautiful pictures, nonetheless, AmA. So sorry about your environmental stress. FINALLY, we're STARTING to move out of a long, cold, wet winter, here in the Pacific Northwest.

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  5. EvKa, having seen a lot of actual elephant poop in the bush, I am extremely real happy to say that frescoes of elephants neither eat nor excrete. I am biting my nails, no-- actually pretty resigned about what might happen to my flight to NYC tomorrow. I must say I am sad to be leaving sunny, gorgeous Italia.

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  6. I would be sad to leave sunny, beautiful and art-filled Italy. How wonderful that you spend so much time there.

    I love the goldfinch photo. And the statues and paintings of animals.

    Agree with the sentiment about protecting wildlife and art.

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    1. No surprise to me that we are in agreement again, Kathy. As it turns out, I have two bonus days here in sunny, springtime Florence, thanks to the winter storm on the East Coast. My flight from Düsseldorf to JFK was canceled, and lucky me, I have to wait an extra two days here before I can get another flight back home. I'll make good use of the sunshine. I wish I could bring this weather back with me to my friends in NYC.

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  7. We would love the weather -- and a few frescoes and sculptures, too.

    Lucky you -- two more days in Italy.

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  8. What a wonderful idea, Annamaria! I'm challenging all the other MIE bloggers to go on safari in their "home" countries!

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    1. Thank you, Michael. I can't wait to see what the others will find on there Safaris. I stuck to birds of any sort, since many migrate anyway. And to wildlife that I would have seen in the African bush (or the close equivalent). I did notice that a tiger and several domesticated animals photo bombed a few of my shots.

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  10. I love this idea of a safari through art and architecture!

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    1. Thank you, Jenni! This is version of a game I have played with children to make visits to museums like treasure hunts. What shall we look for today? “Doggies,” said the four year old. We found them in paintings from almost every century! I am still playing that game, even when I am all by myself!!

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  11. Sis, feel free to run this post as often as you like. It's magnificent--and the reason behind your reposting is far more creative than "the dog ate my Internet connection." :)

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  12. Fabulous pictures, Annamaria. I feel your pain at recalcitrant computers!

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  13. I've had some trouble, too, on occasion, lately, posting comments. I'll write it up, it PUBLISH, and I get an error message. Re-type it (and copy to clipboard this time) and still an error. Come back hours later, and do the same, and then it works. No idea. So, now, I always try to remember to copy the comment to the clipboard first, just in case...

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    1. I occasionally have the same issue with Safari. If I switch to another browser it works fine or if I close Safari and re-open it, it works fine. I tend to think it is more a browser issue, but who knows. It is definitely a good suggestion to copy the comment before trying to post.

      With respect to poor Annamaria's problems, I unfortunately haven't been able to replicate them. Software can be so frustrating!

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    2. Eureka!! I have an old iPad here that I use mostly for the music that on it. I decided to try logging in with and and it WORKS with Blogger!!! Stan and EvKa, my super(techie)men- does this sort of confirm that the problems are software upgrades? Anyway, I will have to take this old beast back to NYC! I warn you. Now it will be hard to stop me weighing in on everything!!

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  14. I don't think it is software upgrades because I tried what you did and it worked perfectly. One question I didn't ask is which version of Safari are you using both on your desktop and iPad.

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    1. I use Chrome on Win 10. A week or two ago, when I was experiencing the problem, I tried switching to Edge, and it gave the error, too. I've not zeroed in on anything, yet, from my end, it just seems to be a "time of day" problem that goes away some time later.

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  15. My only question is: Why am I here and not there, surrounded by breathtaking art?

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  16. I would love to show you around in person, Kathy. I am happy, at least, to be able share virtually. More is to come.

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