Our European Adventure: My Last Thoughts on Florence

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy

I mentioned in my last blog that although the Germans blew up all the other bridges crossing the Arno, bridges that connected the two sides of the city, they spared the historic Ponte Vecchio dating from the twelve hundreds. What I forgot to say was that in retaliation for “sparing” the Ponte Vecchio, they blew up two blocks of palazzos and houses dating from the same period and even earlier, on both sides of the bridge – in all, four city blocks of the city’s history. This wonton act of destruction of irreplaceable architecture had no military rationale. Nothing was lost militarily to the advancing armies by this, nothing was gained by the retreating army. It was a childish “tit for tat”. It lends credence to the tales that the goldsmiths of the Ponte Vecchio did indeed buy off the German authorities.

This information came from a British art-historian, Chris Dobsen, two of whose lectures we were fortunate enough to hear while we were here.

Italian Banco

We learned two other pieces of interesting historical trivia as it were. The first deals with the word “bankrupt”, a word all too common in today’s fiscal reality. It seems the major powers in Florence, the Guelphs, the Ghibellines, the Medici, were all bankers. They made their wealth by lending money. To do this they each sat behind a bench. An actual wooden bench, a “Banco” in Italian, that became “bank” in English. In those days, as in these, bankers sometimes made problematic loans, lending more money than they actually had assets to cover. (Sound familiar? There’s nothing new under the sun!) When a bank failed, couldn’t meet its obligations because it was overextended, the city fathers came around with something resembling a sledge hammer and physically bashed in the banker’s bench. 

Bank—rupt.

Wouldn’t you think we’d learn something from history?

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 • Sonata ~ Sayuri McAllister has just arrived home to Vancouver to find some shocking situations:  
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It’s a confusing and difficult time for Sayuri, especially when dangerous accidents happen to her father and herself – or are they accidents?

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 • Abigail's Christmas (short story) ~ An enchanting tale of love and romance, with a magical touch of fantasy.
 
Abigail's Christmas is a holiday story about Abigail who goes looking for a tree on Christmas Eve, and ends up with the man of her dreams in a sleigh in the Rockies --- with a wedding in the offing! Is it real?  Is she dreaming?  Or is it just Christmas magic?