David stands tall

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This article was published 15/06/2024 (665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even at 520-years-old, David is still quite the hunk.

As such, this statue of naked male perfection is the star of the show in the Piazza della Signoria.

Upon entering this massive square in Florence, Italy, my wife, Kerry, and I realize there’s no need to search out enigmatic David.

Simply join the smartphone-toting hordes of tourist jostling for prime real estate at the feet of the 5.2-metre-tall white marble sculpture by Michelangelo.

The only other time we’ve encountered such a frenzy around art was at the Louvre in Paris, where selfie-obsessed visitors make a beeline for the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Florence may be packed with the world’s largest concentration of Renaissance art and architecture, but it’s singular David who is instantly recognizable and a household name.

There are dozens of other nude sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria, all of them just as beautiful, some even larger and set in elaborate fountains.

But David has demanded rapt attention for more than five centuries because he was sculpted at the hand of famous artist Michelangelo from 1501-04.

He’s also a depiction of that underdog from the Bible, the guy in the David and Goliath story to slay the big, bad giant.

In fact, Michelangelo’s sculpture captures David looking pensive, standing with the sling and rock he will use to down Goliath.

That he happens to be naked and gorgeous is historical happenstance.

Heroic male nudes, who are coincidentally buff, beautiful and youthful, were all the rage in Renaissance sculpture.

Which brings us to the question of David’s uncircumcised penis.

Everyone seems to have a tee-hee that it’s on the small end of the spectrum, when it really is simply average-sized.

Apparently, Renaissance sculptors kept it real when it came to genitals.

Full disclosure here.

The David in the Piazza della Signoria is an exact replica of the original.

In other words, it’s a fake, but a brilliant one.

The original did stand in the piazza for more than 350 years before it was moved to the nearby Academy of Fine Arts.

After fighting the crowds in the piazza, my wife and I aren’t about to stand in the long line for tickets and entrance at the academy.

Besides, we’ve had our David fix and now have time to wander along the Arno River to the famous Ponte Vecchio.

The bridge was once the stroll for ladies of the night and is now a tourist magnet lined with jewellery shops.

We’ll also zig-zag through historic streets to the circa 1430 Cathedral of Santa Maria del Flores, also called The Duomo, because it sports the largest masonry dome in the world, and the Church of Santa Croce, the final resting place of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.

Our aversion to line ups means we don’t cue to pay and get into these houses of God, but we do admire the Renaissance eye candy from the outside.

That frees up our time to have a long, terroir-inspired lunch of pasta fresca alla garfagnina with glasses of Chianti Classico at Ristorante Natalino in the Piazza di Pier Maggiore; wine and olive oil tasting at Italian Loves on the Via dei Pepi; and truffle tasting at a shop on the Via Por Santa Maria.

Luxury cruise ship is the ideal way to arrive for a day in Florence.

The 21-deck, 1,133-foot-long, 4,300-passenger Sun Princess (Princess’ newest ship in the ‘Sphere’ class) docked in La Spezia and organized the bus transportation to Florence for guests to enjoy the city on their own or in a group with a guide.

The Sun Princess was also the perfect way to ply the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Rome with other stops at Marseille in the South of France, Gibraltar at the southernmost tip of Spain and Genoa to get an Italian Riviera fix.

My wife and I had to only unpack and pack once to enjoy six Med destinations.

And when not in port, we were travelling in style, eating in the Horizons dining room, being pampered at Lotus Spa, lounging by the pool and toasting sail-aways with Champagne on the balcony of our stateroom.

The Sun Princess continues to offer Med cruises to November and will then cross the Atlantic to spend the winter in the Caribbean.

Air Canada flies between Toronto and Montreal and Barcelona and Rome, so it’s handy to get to and from a Princess Cruise.

Check out Princess.com and AirCanada.com.

smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca