The next day it was time to pay our respects to the pope at the Vatican. I'd been here a few times before and knew that the lines were horrible, so we got up early, and arrived at the Vatican museum by 8.30. It was a half hour before the place opened, but the line still stretched along the half mile of formidable walls (built by Michelangelo no less). The line moved quickly, though, and we descended the funky spiral staircase and into one of the world's greatest and most congested museums.

Michelangelo designed a very handsome plaza surrounded by buildings on three sides. The Senate building is in the center facing the staircase leading up to the plaza. Today it houses Rome's city hall. Behind the building, largely inaccessible, is the Tarpeian Rock, a big cliff overlooking the Forum, where criminals would be thrown to their death before the Romans built the Colosseum and devised more fun ways to kill people. Flanking the Senate on both sides is the Capitoline Museum, housing one of Italy's best sculpture collections. There are lots of odd bits and pieces of obviously larger than life pieces from ancient Rome, as well as many rooms dedicated to the more subtle charms of Renaissance sculpture. It started to rain while we were here, one of the few rainy days of our whole trip, so we spent quite a bit of time here. But it's well worth it, both for the beauty of the collection and the buildings housing it. And if you're bored by the museums, he piazza has fantastic views over the rooftops of Rome

A twelfth century monk writing the history of Rome wrote passionately about the political dramas and intrigue that took place on Capitoline Hill, the center of the universe, home of the senate etc etc. Of course none of this was true, as that all took place in the Forum, and the Capitoline Hill had only one real function, holding the main state temple to Jupiter, where the emperor would come to perform rituals. Nonetheless, the monk had a good PR agent, and it became firmly established that Capitoline Hill was in fact the seat of government, giving the world, obviously, the word capitol. It also convinced the medieval Romans that they should re-establish their government seat on the Capitoline, so, accidentally, it did become the Roman capitol. They enlisted the services of Michelangelo to design the whole government complex, which housed the new Roman senate. Like the ancient senate of Rome, the institution rarely accomplished anything since the city was firmly under the thumb of the pope, but it did give old people a place to talk.

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.

69. Florence

We finally arrived in Florence, staying at the Villa San Michele, one of my all time favorite hotels. It's actually in Fiesole, a town on the hillside overlooking Florence, which is a charming town that's worth a trip in its own right, as you will soon see. We thought it would be a bit remote so we ended up splitting our stay with a more centrally located hotel. But Florence is just a pretty15 minute walk downhill or a shorter cab ride, so if I were to do it again, I'd stay here for the duration.

It's a fifteenth century villa designed by Michelangelo, so you can't get any more Florentine than that. Originally designed as a monastery, it later became a private house until transformed into the current boutique hotel.