Look Up in Florence!

A group listens to its tour guide in the Palazzo Strozzi.

Much of the interior of the Duomo (except for the floors) is rather plain, but this painting by Giorgio Vasari of the ceiling under the Brunelleschi dome is astonishing.  The perspective is perfect, 

but the ceiling is actually flat.  And, the details are endless.

The previous four images are all from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, one of the oldest
palaces of Florence.  The museum houses many superb sculptures by Michelangelo, 

Donatello, Cellini and other prominent gothic and Renaissance sculptors.

With all the wonders on the walls of the Uffizi, it is a challenge to look up, 

but the ceilings of the loggia are amazing and reward the viewer.

The Pitti Palace became the residence of the Medici family -- the grand dukes of Tuscany -- in 1549
when it was bought by Eleanor of Toledo, a Spanish noblewoman who married Cosimo de Medici.
The ceilings are masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art.  The ceiling in the bottom photo
looks like it is loaded with statuary and mouldings and columns, but it is troupe l'oeil.