The hot weather delayed my plans to sit outside and sketch. And jet lag hasn’t helped me stay awake if I sit still for any length of time. But I had seen a shady park on my walk about Saturday so I returned after first making a trip to the Sant’Ambrogio market for tomatoes.

They got bruised carrying them in my backpack so I’ve already eaten two of them. I’m getting my vitamins.

I sketched this view.

I was sitting upstream from the Ponte Vecchio.

I forgot to take a photo of the park, called Giardino Martin Lutero, or Martin Luther. There was a statue that I assume was of him. It isn’t very large but has six benches along the walkway and another four at the back of the park. People walking dogs came by, someone was sleeping on one bench when I arrived and a lot of people stopped to sit and chat for a while and others were escaping the heat.

This was part of what I managed.

I added some paint back in the apartamento. I didn’t have water with me and I haven’t tried painting when I don’t have a table.

On the walk back, I tried another gelateria, La Carraia, which is very close.

It has chopped hazelnuts in the nocciola and super creamy texture.

The tall tower in what I sketched is the bell tower of Santa Croce. The closer square towers are part of the Biblioteca Nazionale (National Library). I thought I would go take a closer look.

The restoration of the Bardi Chapel, which has some of the most famous works by pre-Renaissance artist Giotto, is still ongoing. It was being restored when I visited in 2023.

Santa Croce is full of tombs or monuments to famous people but not full of great art. There is an early Donatello bronze.

In the cloister is the Pazzi Chapel which is attributed to Brunelleschi but Martin Trachtenberg questions this because of the lack of documentation and also because of style. He is critical, for example, of the corners which lack the logical function and structure of Brunelleschi’s style.

In August this year, Trachtenberg published a book on Brunelleschi that I have been trying to get in Canada. I see it in bookstores here in Florence.

I’m not sure what this drum structure is. I’m not sure that it’s part of Santa Croce.

It doesn’t seem close enough to be part of the library. Maybe it’s some structure that isn’t named on Google maps.