Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Florence - A Few Street Art Pieces

We were last in Florence in 2008 and decided it was time to visit again. We took the nonstop train from Bergamo to Roma (Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, Bologna, Florence, Roma) and stayed one night at the very nice Soprarno Suites.

In 2007 and 2008, we didn’t notice street art or graffiti, so it was surprising this time to see some. Probably we are just looking more than we did back then. Florence, at least in the center, is pretty tightly controlled in terms of keeping graffiti and street art – that is, you don't see much. In fact, most of the street art we saw was small-scale, making use of the services doors containing infrastructure like water and gas. And, the art work seemed like it could be easily removed. In the heart of Florence, around the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, you’d be hard-pressed to find much graffiti or tagging other than on these service panels.

Most of the photos shown below were taken within 1-2 km area around the Duomo and around Santo Spirito.

L'arte sa nuotare or "art knows how to swim" is currently the most likely to catch your eye around Florence. Half the fun of these small pieces are how they make you scratch your head as to who exactly is being depicted. Okay, Jesus and Santa Claus are easy. Many of the rest are related to the renaissance or Florence.

Left: L'arte sa nuotare - Jesus. Center: L'arte sa nuotare - Dante. Right: L'arte sa nuotare - Giuseppe Verdi.
L'arte sa nuotare - Jesus.L'arte sa nuotare - Dante. L'arte sa nuotare - Giuseppe Verdi.

Left: L'arte sa nuotare - Leonardo da Vinci. Center: L'arte sa nuotare - William Shakespeare. Right: L'arte sa nuotare - Santa Claus.
L'arte sa nuotare - Leonardo da Vinci. L'arte sa nuotare - William Shakespeare.L'arte sa nuotare - Santa Claus.

Left: L'arte sa nuotare - Bust of a roman emperor Julius Caesar. Center: L'arte sa nuotare - Freddie Mercury. Right: L'arte sa nuotare - Salvador Dali.
L'arte sa nuotare - Bust of a roman emperor Julius Caesar.  L'arte sa nuotare - Freddie Mercury.L'arte sa nuotare - Salvador Dali.

Left: L'arte sa nuotare - Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca. Center: L'arte sa nuotare - The creation of Adam by Michelangelo. Right: L'arte sa nuotare - Former Fiorentina soccer player Gabriel Batistuta.
L'arte sa nuotare - Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca.L'arte sa nuotare - The creation of Adam by Michelangelo. L'arte sa nuotare - Former Fiorentina soccer player Gabriel Batistuta.

It's interesting how the service panel for infrastructure like gas or water can become a small canvas in a space where walls are closely monitored.

Left: Handshake. Center: Flower: Right: Buddha head. 




Faces and skulls on the wall in Florence. Left: Face by Hopnn Yuri.
Hopnn Yuri face on the wall in Florence.Face on the wall in Florence.Skull on the wall in Florence.Face on the wall in Florence.Face on the wall in Florence.

Left: 1+1 = 1 in Florence. Also saw this in Sicily a couple of months ago. Center: Denial. Right: Make a flower grow.

1+1 = 1 in Florence.Denial head in Florence.Make a flower grow in Florence.

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