Amici degli Uffizi

With a move to Assisi coming up next week, I've been revisiting some of Florence's museums. The Friends of the Uffizi card is an excellent resource for those spending more than a few days in Florence. It allows unlimited and usually fast entry for a full calendar year to several of the best museums. One can even enjoy frequent visits to the Boboli Gardens, where are miles of walkways to explore.

Finally seeing signs of Spring.

Looking forward to an abundance of flowers in Umbria.
The Uffizi Gallery, being one of the finest art collections in the world, tends to become very crowded with long waiting lines. Inside, the rooms are arranged chronologically, so that the crowds move slowly from the early works, to pre-Renaissance, to Renaissance and so on. With that in mind, I went early this morning, used the Friends pass to enter, then moved quickly through the first rooms. This strategy worked well, as there were few people about the Botticelli, da Vinci and Michelangelo rooms; no need to navigate for a view, move quickly or otherwise adjust to a crowd. Also had time to enjoy some fine Filippino Lippi and Allori works. It's interesting how subjective art appreciation can be. I've read that in the Nineteenth Century assessment of who the best masters were was quite different from what we hear today.
Speaking of subjectivity, crossing the Arno I enjoy going over the Ponte Santa Trinita, not as famous as the Ponte Vecchio, but a prettier bridge. And this usually takes me past Salvatore Ferragamo's store, where there's a new display in one of the windows.

These items are not inexpensive. I think a pair of the very colorful shoe near the top goes for 800 euro, or about the cost of a dozen very fine pairs of running shoes, taxes included. And those could be bright colored running shoes, too, even if not quite as fashionable.

Ciao.