When we arrived, we began to realize that people, Italians and tourists, do not get up early. We had found our advantage! My wife had bought tickets for 8:15 am. It was cooler than it had been in Venenze. We easily strolled down the street, uncrowded, for about 15 min.
Uffizi is a U shaped museum with a courtyard down the center filled with statues. Amerigo Vespucci caught our eye. We hustled off to convert our eTicket into bona fide tickets.
The museum consisted of two main floors each with two wings. We started on the second floor, as most visitors do. The main hallways were lined with marble sculptures. Many were of Greek mythology. My children all enjoy Greek mythology so they were pleased to recognize them and describe the stories of Hercules, Athena, Apollo, Hermes, Zeus, and Ares.
Interestingly, some rooms had no air conditioning while others were refreshingly cool. Fortunately, there were many benches to rest ourselves.
There were several striking themes. Statues were mostly Greek mythology with a few rich people "in portrait." Paintings were mostly Christian with some portraits and very few still life paintings. The Christian paintings were dominated by the beheading of John the Baptist, the Annunciation, and various saints either at critical moments in their personal history or in the background with modern figures.
There were a few mysteries.
A. Why two big pantings of the Massacres of the Innocents? This was combined with Apollo and Artemis assassinated 14 mortals, the sons and daughters of a woman who thought she was better than the gods for having so many beautiful children.
B. A pope had banned the tre cheraphim (three heads of God) and instead had a painter cover the. With a pyramid with a solitary eye (a la Illuminati).
C. A room filled with gruesome paintings, including a beheading of Medusa.
I was very proud of my children and my brother's family, we were vividly entertained for six hours!
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