We then walked south along the river to the Janiculum, Rome's largest and least important hill. The fabulously wealthy Chigi family bought this hill and built their palace on the banks of the Tiber. They were a banking family, and scored a coup by grabbing the papal accounts from the Medici of Florence, who made their fortune by financing the popes and received the Grand Duchy of Florence in return. The Chigi just received money, but unfortunately by the time they were banking the popes, they were decidedly less creditworthy, and eventually the popes reneged on their debts. Our friends from a few posts ago, the Farnese, bought the Chigi estate, renaming it Villa Farnesina. The Farnese now had elaborate palaces on both sides of the Tiber, but unfortunately the river made it inconvenient to move between the two. So, the family, unencumbered by zoning commissions and historical societies, simply built a bridge over the river connecting their two palaces. The bridge has faded into history, and the Villa Farnesina is now a museum. Only a few rooms of the palace are open, but they are covered with frescoes from some of the Renaissance's greatest artists. The hill behind the palace is now Rome's botanical gardens.

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The city, like Volterra, was run by a warrior bishop, but was annexed by Florence in the 14th century. The Medici then plopped a big fortress across from the cathedral to keep things under control. Strangely, this nexus of political and religious power is at the edge of the city, on the crest of the cliff. The area has now been turned into a very English looking park, and the cathedral has even been given an English belltower, although I don't think there's any connection to England. The park provides expansive views, and apparently only one bench for four strangers to share uncomfortably.

The Piazza dei Cavalieri is Pisa's main square, and contains these historical buildings. The one with the clock at center, the aptly named Clock Palace, is by far the most interesting, but you'll have to suffer through a bit more history to get the full impact of the story. As mentioned earlier, Genoa and Pisa were bitter rivals for the lucrative sea trade. At the time, the Gherardesca family was dominant, sort of the Pisan Medicis. Again, as in Florence, there was plenty of rivalry among the leading families, and with the powerful Archbishop as well. I'll skip all the rebellions and civil wars, but ultimately Ugolini, the leader of the Gherardesca clan, is appointed to lead a naval expedition against the hated Genoans. Unfortunately, the Pisan fleet got totally destroyed by Genoa, destroying their source of wealth and leaving them vulnerable to takeover. The rival families and the archbishop decided that Ugolini intentionally lost the battle due to some secret pact with the Genoans, which may or may not have been true. Regardless, the archbishop had him arrested, and for punishment, had him, his two sons and two grandsons imprisoned in the Clock Palace. It was then boarded up, and they were left to starve to death. As if this were not grisly enough, Dante popularised this event in his Inferno, by adding the famous line that "In the end, hunger overcame grief". At that point Ugolini, who had been eating his arm, crossed over to cannibalism and ate his descendants to stay alive. Scientists continue to investigate their remains to determine the truth of this part of the story, but the Cannibal Count nickname has stuck.

To wrap up the history, defenseless Pisa was quickly annexed to Florence, and a big statue of Medici planted in the middle of the square. Medici also ripped down the old city hall and built a grand building for a new order of crusading knights, pictured here. The last crusades had ended long ago, but this new order was a chance for Medici to give out lots of titles and prizes to rich families craving the status of being a pretend crusading knight. And with that, Pisa fades into obscurity, and our visit draws to a close.

We ended the day at the Pitti Palace, the only real sight on the other side of the river. It's yet another Medici palace, and as described previously they had a corridor built from the Palazzo Vecchio, over the bridge, straight into the Pitti Palace so they never had to mingle with the rest of the city. Because this side of the river is less urban, the Medici had plenty of elbow room, and the residence and garden took on gargantuan proportions. The enormous palace is composed of a dour brown stone with a severe, repetitive pattern to make it about as welcoming as a giant middle finger. Inside is divided among seven different museums displaying the former Medici collections, from masterpiece paintings to souvenir knicknacks.

After failing in our visa extension, we consoled ourselves at the weirdest church in Florence, San Lorenzo. This is the oldest church in the city, founded in 393, and served as Florence's cathedral for three hundred years. It was also the parish church of the Medici who showered art and treasure on the church. The airy, somber interior of the main church was designed by Brunelleschi (the guy who lost the Duomo bronze door competition but designed its dome).

One aspect of its weirdness can be seen from the aerial view. The church sprawls in all directions, but importantly, the huge dome that dominates the church is in fact a separate building, the Medici chapel used only for the family. Its out of control interior can be seen in the marble drenched photo below. It's also got elaborate Medici tombs designed by Michelanelo. The other weird aspect is that, despite its over the top interior, they forgot to put a face on the church. Michelangelo (again) designed a facade, but somehow they never got around to building it. So it greets the world with one of the ugliest exteriors of any building in Italy.

Next we visited the political center of Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio. Florence was nominally a republic run by the merchants and bankers, although it was in an almost perpetual state of civil war among the rich families, as well as war with its neighbors. As the Medici clan rose to dominance, the Palazzo Vecchio became their home away from home, which accounts for some of the excess in the interior decor. The outside, of course, looks like a fort, since whoever managed to grab power needed to bunker down fast to hold on to it. The building still serves as Florence's city hall. The cavernous Hall of the 500 is where the representatives of the leading families met to duke it out. The building also houses a famous statue by Michelangelo, and yes, his hand is where you think it is.

Outside on the main piazza is a replic of the David statue in its original position, and the piazza is surrounded by several other important government buildings and museums. This piazza hosted the Bonfire of the Vanities discussed in the previous entry, as well as the Bonfire of the Priest a couple years later.