The Body in the Piazza - By Katherine Hall Page Page 0,38
Lorenzo quarter. You will see how large the market is, a city block. For its time, the building was very high-tech. The architect modeled it on a cast-iron and glass galleria he had built in Milan. If you can tear yourselves away from looking at the food, there is much beautiful ornamental ironwork, and of course the two stories are filled with natural light from the windows and the ceiling. After we visit some of the stalls, I would encourage you to explore on your own, and you may also want to visit the outside ones, very different, that sell typical Florentine souvenirs—decorative wooden boxes, scarves, leather goods. If you want suggestions for specific shops for these items and others elsewhere in Florence, just ask me. I can show you on your maps. I have a friend, Sylvia, who sells high-quality, Italian silk ties and scarves at good prices in the Mercato Nuovo near the Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall, where the copy of Michelangelo’s David stands outside. Just say to any vendor, ‘Dove Sylvia?’ and tell her you are my friend. You may know of this market because of Il Porcellino, the famous brass statue of a large piglet—a copy there now like the David—but the saying is that if you rub Il Porcellino’s snout, you will return to Florence. It is very shiny.”
“Well, I’ll give it a pat,” Sally said. “I’m already in love with Florence and I definitely love anything pork, especially barbecued. But if we keep going to all these places with customs like this, I may never see the rest of the world. I tossed a coin over my shoulder in Rome, so I have to go back there, too.”
Francesca laughed. “I think there are many things like that in many countries. There are several opinions about throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain. Some say you have to throw with your right hand over your left shoulder, facing away; others that it doesn’t matter how you do it. Also they say if you throw two coins, you will have a new romance, and three means marriage. I think it was because of an old movie.”
“Yes,” Terry Russo said. “I love it—Three Coins in the Fountain.” She started to hum the song, made famous by Sinatra.
“Cool it,” Len said.
She flushed. “Maybe I should have thrown in more than one,” Faith heard her mutter. Fortunately they had arrived at their destination, so the group was spared further bickering from the Russos.
“Andiamo, we’re here!” Francesca said. “It is always very crowded both inside and outside the market, so mind your personal belongings.”
Gianni pulled the van over and everyone got out. He told the group he would pick them up at the same spot at three o’clock. Now he would park a ways off, return to shop with them, and then he and Francesca would bring the food back to the house while the students toured on their own.
As they passed what seemed like miles of merchandise outdoors—Faith wondered how much was from Italy and how much from China—Francesca pointed out the nearby Basilica of San Lorenzo.
“You may be surprised by how plain it looks, since it was the church of the Medicis.”
Faith had been expecting something more elaborate than the crude-looking, unfinished brick facade. She hadn’t had time to read up on Florence, just as she hadn’t about Rome. Freddy would approve, she thought, and resolved to leave her guidebook in her purse. Besides, Francesca was proving to be an extremely adequate source.
“Brunelleschi designed the basilica, which replaced a smaller Romanesque church. Later Michelangelo was commissioned to complete the front. He spent three years searching the quarries for the right stone for the statues and columns he’d planned, but the work was postponed and finally abandoned when the then pope, one of the Medici popes, wanted to use cheaper marble from nearby and Michelangelo refused.
“I like the way the outside looks, although some people say it’s a biscotti that has been overcooked. Now there is a proposal by the mayor to finish it. All the plans, the drawings have been saved. He is looking for big money sponsors, hard to find these days, but you never know. It could happen—five hundred years later what Michelangelo intended would be completed. In any case, you will see a great contrast with the interior, the final resting place for the family. Michelangelo’s Medici tombs are very beautiful and very elaborate. They are very sad, too, not because of Lorenzo’s and Giuliano’s