We are all pilgrims who seek Italy. – Goethe
Exploring the awe-inspiring corridor between the Uffizi Gallery and nearby Piazza della Signoria, I’m intrigued by the myriad statues lining the exterior walls. Machiavelli, Donatello, Redi, Dante, Giotto, all on display, remind me of the literary legacy of Florence, Italy.
Additional artistic forefathers along this same path include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Brunelleschi, known best for designing the dome of the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) in Florence. He was also known for principles of linear perspective, creating the illusion of space and depth.
Feeling especially fortunate to visit the Duomo one morning without large crowds, I venture out after an invigorating morning rain. While circumnavigating the entire exterior, its intricate details including pink, green, and white marble are impressive. Completed in 1436, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site Basilica and one of Italy’s largest churches.
Florence was considered the birthplace of the Renaissance movement while evolving into a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic, and financial center. The Renaissance brought writers and artists into the spotlight and was a transitional time from the Middle Ages to modern times spreading its influence across western Europe.
Street musicians, artists, and live theater actors bring the bustling piazzas to life here in Florence. There’s a creative dynamic at play with a continuous air of celebration. It’s infectious and reawakens the artistic flair for all who visit.
Considered the greatest Italian poet, Dante (Alighieri) known best for The Divine Comedy and La Vita Nuova, was born in Florence in 1265. Actively involved in the political life of the city, starting in 1295, he was elected to a prestigious role at the age of 36. Due to local and papal politics, he lived his final two decades in exile from Florence.
Often called the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics and modern science, I next venture into the Museo Galileo. His compasses, telescopes, and other tools of discovery are on display, along with hand-written journals. Living in Florence from 1631 until his death in 1642, Galileo’s biggest literary (and most controversial) book was Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632.
Machiavelli, born in 1469 in Florence, wrote The Prince in 1513, and is often called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. He worked as a secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512 while the famed Medici family was in exile. He provided important insights into the political landscape of that period.
Yet another reminder of this city’s literary prestige are the myriad Pinocchio wooden puppets sold out on street corner kiosks. As the protagonist of the popular children’s book, Carlo Lorenzini (Carlo Collodi) was the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio.
He was born here in Florence in 1826 and there are numerous Pinocchio stores, museums and statues honoring both Collodi and Pinocchio. His likeness is seemingly everywhere, and I purchased two wooden puppets in a historic toy store as a reminder of this favorite childhood classic that I too was read at an early age. There is a theme park nearby in Collodi, Tuscany dedicated to the writer and his beloved characters. Collodi is a small village where his mother was born and where he spent much of his childhood.
Heading south to the heart of Tuscan countryside for a women’s writing retreat, I pass through some of the most creatively inspiring countryside I’ve encountered in my travels. I found the heart of Tuscany lovely, old, and more picturesque than I had envisioned.
Staying at a villa for the week, I walk around the vast property filled with ancient olive trees, grape vines, citrus trees, chapels, and small, picturesque towns nestled in the hills. Wheat, olives, grapes, fruit, and vegetables are all valuable crops in this area. I fully understand now what brings writers and artists to this enchanted region and call of the landscape stirs the sould and is hard to ignore.
Giovanni Boccaccio, born in Certaldo, set his 14th century masterpiece, The Decameron, in a secluded villa just outside Florence, where a group took shelter to escape the plague that was afflicting the city. Besides its literary influence (Chaucer used this as model for The Canterbury Tales), The Decameron provides a document of Tuscan life during that perilous time (1348).
Foreign writers started to arrive in large numbers with the emergence of the so-called Grand Tour of the 18th and 19th centuries. Male heirs of noble British families were sent to continental Europe for their classical studies by seeing first-hand artistic and cultural treasures.
Writers and wealthy young men came from Germany as well. Goethe traveled to Italy from 1786 to 1788 and he wrote Italian Journey, based on the diaries he kept while traveling all over the country. “The most striking thing about Tuscany is that all the public works, the roads, and the bridges, look beautiful and imposing. They are at one and the same time efficient and neat, combining usefulness with grace, and everywhere one observes the care with which things are looked after,” he wrote. Two years after he returned to Germany, he wrote in a poem, “We are all pilgrims who seek Italy.”
We should not forget the Italian influence on the French. From France, Stendhal, the author of Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme, inspired a condition known as “Stendhal syndrome”. In 1817, when he first visited Florence, he was overcome by the cultural richness of the Tuscan capital and, in his book Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio, described his reaction this way: “As I emerged from the porch of Santa Croce, I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart; the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground.”
Whether you are seeking greater creative influences of your own, or merely craving to be in the presence of such inspiration, walking the streets of Florence and or meandering through the old acreage of the Tuscan countryside is hard to surpass. It is a magical kingdom worthy of exploration and artistic praise.
Leslie Jones lives and writes along California’s picturesque central coast. She’s especially passionate about history and cultural travel which has taken her to favorite destinations including: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. She has been published in Travel Thru History, Go World Travel and Traveling Tales magazines to name a few. She also has two books in the heritage centers and museums on Hawaii Island showcasing her family’s deep roots in the sugar plantation industry.