Friday, April 13. Out to breakfast at pasticceria, then to town. L set out to look for hairdresser while I did Museo del Opera del Duomo. All stuff removed from cathedral at various times. A Sebastian really stuck with arrows like a hedgehog as in life of St Edmund - most have just one arrow through the neck or something. A sculptured group including a Madonna with glass eyes - X says not unusual, but a first for me. A Michelangelo pieta left unfinished on account of flaws in the marble I found all the more impressive on account of one of the figures being just roughly blocked out. Particularly liked a huge sculpture with figures of rejoicing children in high relief. Then to Duomo to take pictures of glass for L. Somehow no queue. Afterwards climbed campanile - they said 414 steps, but the first 100 or so were the hardest. A spiral section near the top was not altogether pleasant. Took many pix of rooftops. Meanwhile L, freshly coiffed, had located reasonably cheap eatery and public toilet - something town could do with more of. Then walked to Santa Croce with many frescoes, but hard to see in dim light. Original glass again, side aisles gothic vault with pitched roof over the nave. Corinthian columns, but with simpler capitals than in Duomo. Many tombs of notabilities, including Galileo, Macchiavelli, Dante, the last put up by admirers in C19. L said 'si monumentum requiris...'. L v pleased with 6 euro admission charge and good selection of postcards - showed the place was properly run. I liked a plaque that said the church had been given the title of minor basilica by Pius XI in 1933, in the 12th year (I think) of the reign of Victor Emmanuel III, while Benito Mussolini was head of government.
Talk with L about troubles at Sydney Uni which X feels would make her unwilling to come back. Inclined to think this looms large for the young people who are making a fuss in Sydney because it is the first cause they have been involved in, whereas from perspective of apartheid and Vietnam campaigns, etc, etc, one feels a diminished sense of outrage. People have to realise that in a self-indulgent age such as the present there is little support for public goods. The same cultural context that allows people to breakfast in coffee shops, and fly off to conferences, let alone holidays, in faraway places, is killing the universities. A may call us 'puritans of the left' - it's a title I don't disdain.
Met S and adjourned to what he said was oldest cafe in Florence for drinks. He was keen we should dine at the best pizza place - it didn't open till 7.30, so I suggested a walk over the Ponte Vecchio. All jewellers' shops - little that appealed to me, though L liked some cameos. V pricey. Walked over to Pitti Palace - brutalist construction - and S pointed out Vasari corridor which runs across the top of the Ponte Vecchio and through and around buildings to allow the Medici to get around town unobserved. Not generally open, though X has had a tour. Then to pizza place - gas-fired wood-burning oven like a hellmouth and pizzas with big charred bubbles. Most excellent. Drank a lot of beer. They use a strong flour and the crust is very chewy. Later watched bizarre anime called Revolutionary Girl. Struck by the word 'yami' meaning shadow in the Japanese, cf Cantonese yam, Warlbiri yama. Japanese word likely a Chinese borrowing. So to bed and dreamless sleep.