Last Days

We had much debate about where to go after (sigh) leaving Anghiari. Pompeii and Ercolano called, but we had misgivings about the amount of time we had available after lingering on in Anghiari to hear the Mozart opera and a final chamber music performance on Sunday afternoon. Moreover, Tom's wonderful doctor in San Sepulcro wanted to see him again on Monday morning to give him another treatment. Eventually, we also agreed that it was too hot to turn south.

Therefore, after the last treatment in San Sepulcro, we set our sights on Mantua, where we drove through the still pastoral setting of Virgil's birthplace just outside the city, and enjoyed a rich day taking in the artistic wonders of the court palaces of the Gonzagas. Our first objective was to see Mantegna's paintings in the Bridal Chamber. A plus was the discovery that Mantua is the place where Giulio Romano flourished. As the only artist specifically mentioned by Shakespeare, he captured Tom's interest. We admired his beautiful home and some of his other architectural creations. However, his great glory was as a master of fresco. The student of Rafael, he had a great realistic technique, but he lacked any sense of restraint. Thus, his great works are the over-the-top frescoes of the story of Troy, the gods celebrating the wedding of Cupid and Psyche presided over by a gigantic Polyphemus, and the notorious Hall of the Giants. Here, he portrays the gods fleeing in terror from the giants as massive earthquakes crush the mammoth figures of the primordial sons of Gaia. Nothing subtle about Giulio Romano!
After an exhausting day of hoofing about Mantua, we chose a more conservative route for the last day, heading straight for Florence. Our first objective was to turn in the car, and then to head for the Brancacci Chapel to see the frescoes of Masaccio, Filippino Lippi and others. That was all we aimed to do on that day. Walking back across the Arno, we spent an hour in Santa Maria Novella, admiring the frescoes there. Then we went to the Cathedral Square for drinks in an exorbitantly expensive cafe. A final delicious Tuscan dinner concluded our stay in Italy and it was early to bed and early to rise for our trip home.