Celebrity Friday: Fabio Fognini Poses Nude!

Well-known tennis hottie Fabio Fognini is posing nude for UK Cosmopolitan to raise awareness for male cancer. I ran into Fognini in person practicing shirtless when I was at the 2011 US Open. I guess the idea of tennis players posing nude is getting more popular!

2014 ROME: Serena Wins 60th WTA Title Over Errani

As I predicted, Serena Williams was able to win her 3rd title in Rome, her 60th career title overall by overwhelming Sara Errani of Italy 6-3 6-0. Serena was able to accomplish a rare feat for her, defending a clay court title, since she won this title last year over Vika Azarenka. Many people are remarking that the two times Serena has won the Rome title (2002 and 2013) are also the two times that she won the title in Paris. Will 2014 be the third time this happens?

2014 ROME: Finals are Djokovic-Nadal XVI and Serena-Errani

As I predicted yesterday, the men's final will feature the mouthwatering showdown between World #1 Rafael Nadal versus World #2 Novak Djokovic in their record 41st meeting on the ATP world tour. Nadal is in his record 9th Rome final and is shooting for his 8th Rome title while Djokovic is in his 5th Rome final and is hoping to win his 3rd Rome title. Nadal currently leads the head-to-head 22-18,  but Djokovic won their last meeting in the final of the 2014 Key Biscayne ATP Master series in straight sets and 2 other meetings since losing to Nadal in the 2013 US Open final. Overall, Djokovic leads 12-9 in finals, but Nadal leads 13-3 in clay court meetings. Djokovic got through a tough 3-hour match against Milos Raonic while Nadal destroyed Grigor Dimitrov playing in his first Master Series semifinal.

In the women's final, defending champion Serena Williams will face hometown favorite Sara Errani. Serena had a tough time getting past a spirited Ana Ivanovic  6-1 3-6 6-1. Errani did very well to win her second consecutive match against a Top 10 player, following  her tough 3-set dismissal of Li Na with a straight sets win over Jelena Jankovic to become the first Italian woman to reach the final of her hometown championships in over a generation.

MadProfessah's predictions: Djokovic and Serena.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Davis Cup Semifinals Set: Switzerland v Italy, France v Czech Republic

The big news in the tennis world this weekend was the result of the Davis Cup quarterfinal ties which for the most part proceeded as I predicted when it was announced: Switzerland beat Kazakhstan 3-2 (a close result even though the Swiss team had two Top 5 players and the Kazakh team has no one in the Top 50), Italy (surprisingly) beat Great Britain 3-2, defending champion Czech Republic beat Japan 5-0 and France beat Germany 3-2.

Switzerland will face Italy and France will face the Czech Republic. I predict a Switzerland versus France showdown if Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils remain healthy.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Davis Cup Quarters Set Without Usual Suspects

This weekend the first round of Davis Cup occurred and there was a historic meeting between the United Kingdom and the United States featuring Andy Murray.

The usual suspects of Serbia, Spain and Argentina did not feature their top players (World #1 Rafael Nadal,World #2 Novak Djokovic and World #4 Juan Martin del Potro were no-shows this round.) 2-time defending champion Czech Republic defeated the Netherlands and will face Japan who is into the final 8 on the strength of one player: Kei Nishikori and the fact that Canada did not feature Milos Raonic.

In the Davis Cup quarterfinals the weekend of April 4th, Japan will face the Czechs, Switzerland will face Kazakhstan, France will face Germany and Great Britain will face Italy. Switzerland is the only country featuring two grand slam champions, even though both France and Spain have two top 10 players. Roger Federer has already committed to playing Davis Cup this year and if they win that round they would face the winner of the Great Britain-Italy match-up in the semifinals. Switzerland has never won the Davis Cup, although they made the final round way back in 1992.

MONTE CARLO 2013 Final: Djokovic-Nadal XXXIV

In a repeat of last year's final, 8-time defending champion Rafael Nadal will face World #1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday at the 2013 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco. As I predicted last night, Nadal was able to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, although the Frenchman did put a bit of a scare into the Spaniard by coming back from 1-5 down in the 2nd set (saving four match points!) to force a tiebreak which he lost 7-3, along with the match 6-3 7-6(3). In the other semifinal Djokovic played the irrepressible Fabio Fognini, who was playing in his first Masters Series-level semifinal after dispatching Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych in consecutive rounds. Djokovic looked very sharp and dismissed the hunky Italian in under an hour 6-1 6-2.

Sunday will be the 34th meeting in the burgeoning rivalry between Djokovic and Nadal. Their last 10 meetings have been in final with Nadal winning the last 3 and Djokovic winning the first 7. Overall, Nadal lead 19-14 and 8-7 in tour finals. But, amazingly, Djokovic has beaten Nadal in two clay court finals (2011 Madrid Masters and 2011 Rome Masters) but has lost to him in four clay court finals, including the 2009 Monte Carlo final and the 2012 Monte Carlo final. Nadal leads 11-2 in clay court matches while Djokovic leads 11-5 on hard courts. Last year the Serbian was reeling from a personal crisis and lost relatively easily 6-3 6-1 to the King of Clay. This year Djokovic's difficulties will be more physical than mental. He injured his ankle ina Davis Cup match versus Sam Querrey two weeks ago and until hours before he played his first match on Wednesday, it was unclear whether the World #1 would even play the tournament. He won a scratchy match against Mikhail Youzhny 4-6 6-1 6-4 but has looked sharp during the business end of the tournament. Nadal surprisingly lost a set against fast-improving Grigor Dimitrov in his quarterfinal on his way to his 9th consecutive final here.

However, he is playing the King of Clay, who has reached 5 consecutive finals this year (winning three of them so far) and who has won this tournament 8 times in a row, something no one has ever done at any tournament. In fact, Nadal has won 44 matches in a row in Monte Carlo including the now classic 5-set tussle with Roger Federer in 2008, which some might argue is almost as good as their 2008 match in the Wimbledon final a few months later. Nadal wants to win in order to increase his total of the number of career ATP Masters 1000 shields from the current record total of 22, win his 9th title here and also not lose ranking points.

Djokovic, on the other hand, probably feels pretty good just to get the final and can probably go home and rest his ankle after this tournament until the Madrid-Rome double starts in two weeks. It is on that terrain that he will need to bolster his claim that he can prevent Nadal from winning his 8th French Open title.

MadProfessah's prediction: Nadal.

Godless Wednesday: Atheist's View of the Conclave

There are more than a billion Catholics around the world. Right now there are waiting for a 100-plus men to elect one of their own the leader of this group, somehow transforming from a Cardinal to "God's Representative on Earth" i.e. The Supreme Pontiff or Pope.

As an atheist, the extremely close attention paid to this ridiculous process is absolutely baffling. What do you think?

FILM REVIEW: To Rome With Love

As you know, the Other Half and I had our first visit to Rome, Italy this past May. The fact that we had seen the city firsthand was one of the main reasons I decided to go see To Rome With Love, the latest film written and directed by Woody Allen which is also set in the Eternal City. As with most of Allen's movies, it has a stellar and interesting cast: Alex Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page. Unlike his more recent films like Midnight in Paris, Woody himself also appears in this film.

However unlike To Rome With Love which has a disappointing 44% rating on rottentomatoes.com  Midnight in Paris got near-universal positive reviews (93% on rottentomatoes.com) and earned Allen another Academy Award, his 3rd Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in his career.

If you have been to Rome you do have an extra appreciation for the film, similar to people who live in Los Angeles have a different perspective on films which are set in the city (like Speed, Die Hard, Independence Day, The Italian Job and Collateral, just to name a few). Another interesting feature of the film is the presence of several Italian actors unknown to Americans. I suspect that they must be famous in Italy, so perhaps the film would have a special resonance for Italian viewers.

The film's structure is of four stories who don't really intersect with each other, and are of varying interest and quality. The four stories are: a provincial Italian newlywed couple who are visiting the big city of Roma who get intertwined in some bizarre trysts due to some unfortunate circumstances; an American architect meddles in the life of a younger American architect student who is caught in a love triangle involving his longtime girlfriend and her actress best friend who comes to visit her after a bad break-up; the father of an American girl who finds a nice Italian boy she wants to marry tries to promote his daughter's future father in law as an opera star who can only perform when singing in the shower; and an ordinary Italian bureaucrat who suddenly finds himself the most famous man in the country with the attendant breathless celebrity media coverage.

None of the stories are very compelling, and some of them are downright silly. Allen uses unlikely coincidence and even magical events to forward the plot in several of the stories. This is definitely a comedy, unlike his previous Midnight in Paris there are some laugh-out loud moments. The problem is that because of the film's structure, and frankly, the bizarre nature of the situations which leads to some diffident acting, the audience has difficulty connecting with the characters and finding the emotional core of the film.

But for someone who has been to Rome, , or who intends to travel there soon, the film is a delightful travelogue and can be recommended just for that aspect alone.

Title: To Rome With Love.
Director: Woody Allen.
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for some sexual references.
Release Date: June 22, 2012.
Viewing Date: July 15, 2012.

Writing: B.
Acting: B.
Visuals: B-.
Impact: B+.

Overall Grade: B (3.0/4.0).

08/08/08: Today's My 4th Wedding Anniversary!

Me and my husband in front of the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy
(May 2012)

Today is my 4th wedding anniversary. On 08/08/08 I got legally married in California, before Proposition 8 passed, preventing other same-sex couples from doing so. Of course, it's somewhat silly just to say it's my 4th wedding anniversary since we have been registered domestic partners in California since 1999 and lived together since 1994 and a couple since 1991! Posting pictures of us together has become a regular tradition of this blog (2009, 2010, 2011), although generally this is the only day where you will see actual pictures of The Other Half.

But there ya go, the state of California only recognizes our marriage as legal and valid from August 8, 2008. I wonder when the United States will do so (when DOMA is struck down sometime in 2013!)

August 8th happens to be Roger Federer's birthday, so it's an easy date for me to remember :)

Rome 2012: Nadal Restores Order With Win

Defying my prediction, Rafael Nadal restored order to the top of men's tennis today with a 7-5 6-3 win over World #1 (and defending champion) Novak Djokovic to win his 6th Italian Open title and reclaim the World #2 position from his arch-nemesis Roger Federer a mere 6 days before the start of the 2nd major of the year in Paris.

It was the 32nd meeting between Djokovic and Nadal and with his win Nadal improved his career head-to-head record to 18-14 and vaulted to the top of the record books with 21 ATP Masters series titles (1 ahead of Federer's 20). The BNL Internazionale d'Italia title was Nadal's 49th ATP tour title (35th on clay).

ROME 2012: Sharapova Guts Out Title Win Over Li

Julian Finney/Getty 

Julian Finney/Getty 

AP

Maria Sharapova continued her string of surprisingly successful clay court performances by retaining her Italian Open title with a gut-wrenching,  rain-drenched 4-6 6-4 7-6(5) win over reigning French Open champion Li Na in Rome. The match took nearly 3 hours in playing time (2 hours, 52 minutes) but more than twice that in actual duration due to the inclement weather. It drizzled most of the day starting around 3pm and eventually the rain lead to a 2 hour break, astonishingly right before the decisive 3rd set tie-breaker.

The drama was not only in the sky but also on the court. When I started watching the match (after a long day walking around the centuries-old Foro Romano) the score was 6-4 4-0 for Li Na, who was then a mere two games away from claiming the BNL Internazionale d'Italia title after winning six games in a row. At that point, the Chinese player inexplicably started spraying the ball around the court with unforced errors and an inability to hit first serves and ended up losing the next eight games in a row; this resulted in her losing the second set 4-6 and being down a break before she was able to win another game, on serve. Sharapova was able to break serve again and eventually served at 4-1 in the 3rd set when the momentum suddenly shifted again when Li Na managed to break the Russian's serve and rattled off 4 consecutive games to grab the lead 4-5, on serve. The next 3 games were played in pouring rain, but all went with serve (although Sharapova also had to save a championship point in the 12th game after mangling an easy put away on the deuce point to give her opponent a chance to break and win the match). Finally at 6-all the umpire stopped play due to rain and the two combatants had to wait for nearly 2 hours to play a tension-filled tiebreak which Sharapova won when a Li backhand down the line missed the sideline by millimeters.

Sharapova ended up with twice as many double faults (10 to 5), more unforced errors (59 to 56) and less total points (101 to 102) but with a win.

The Russian has to be considered  a front-runner for the Roland Garros title which starts next week, since Serena Williams withdrew with a back injury on Saturday instead of playing her semifinal with Li Na and World #1 Victoria Azarenka withdrew after playing a pro forma match so that she would not be fined by the WTA for skipping the mandatory Rome tournament.

Madrid and Rome: A (Tennis) Tale of Two Cities

Rome, Italy	Madrid, Spain

Thanks to some clever scheduling and an accommodating spouse, I was able to arrange my family's annual vacation to coincide with two of the most important clay court tournaments of the year: the Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy. That the tennis tournaments happen to be in two of the European cities that we have not visited yet but were relatively high on our joint bucket list was an extra bonus.

Before arriving, we were told that Rome is a much more exciting city than Madrid so we budgeted twice as much time for the Eternal City. However, Madrid is the larger city (3.3 million residents to 2.8 million residents) while Italy is the more populous country (60.6 million to 46 million). Tennis-wise, both the Madrid and Rome tournaments share the feature of the four Grand Slams (Australia, French, Wimbledon and U.S.) that women and men compete at the same event, which is excellent for someone like me who is a fan of both the ATP (men's tennis) and the WTA (women's tennis). Both tournaments are very important stops on the two tennis tours, labeled a Masters 1000 event for the Men and a Premiere event for the Women (i.e. the largest tournaments just below the Majors). The Madrid tournament is technically larger (it has a draw of 64 and a purse of $5 million for the women and € 3 million for the men) compared to the Italian tournament (which has a slightly smaller draw of 56 but a significantly smaller purse of $2 million for the women and € 2.4 million for the men). The Madrid final is played in a state-of-the-art stadium called La Caja Magica (The Magic Box) while the Rome final is played in a Centre Court at the Italico Foro (Italian Forum) on the site of the 1960 Olympics.

Here are my impressions of the two tournaments, having attended the exact same session on the same day 1 week apart in the same year (the day session of Day 5: Quarterfinals Day).

In Madrid, the matches we were able to see with a ticket to the largest arena were: World #1 Victoria Azarenka v Li Na, Serena Williams v. World #2 Maria Sharapova and Tomas Berdych v. Fernando Verdasco (who had eliminated World #2 Rafael Nadal the round before). We also potentially had access to every other match being played during the day, which included Juan Martin del Potro v Aleksandr Dologpolov, World #4 Agnieska Radwanska v. a Qualifier and World #5 Samantha Stosur v. a Qualifier. The latter matches were played on Court #3, since for some reason Court #2 was not used on this day but I believe was in service during the earlier part of the tournament. The Night session featured World #1 Novak Djokovic v Janko Tipsarevic and World #3 Roger Federer v World #5 David Ferrer.

In Rome, the quarterfinal matches were split between the Centre Court and the Super Tennis Arena. Thanks to the fact that all tickets to the Italian Open can only be purchased online through TicketOne.it (which appears to be the Italian version of Ticketmaster) I was unable to get what I considered an acceptable Centre Court ticket online and opted for tickets in the 4th row of the 2nd largest court instead. My decision was made easier when it also became clear that buying a ticket to the largest court did not provide optional access to the 2nd largest and all other courts on the grounds, which is typically the practice in every tournament I have been to, including all four slams. In the day session at Centre Court was Serena Willliams v Flavia Pennetta, World #1 Novak Djokovic v. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and World #3 Rafael Nadal v. Tomas Berdych. In the Super Tennis Day session was World #5 David Ferrer v Richard Gasquet (who had eliminated World #4 Andy Murray), Li Na v Dominika Cibulkova, and Venus Williams v World #2 Maria Sharapova. The night session featured World #3 Petra Kvitova v Angelique Kerber and World #2 Roger Federer v Andreas Seppi.

Overall, I'd say the Madrid tournament is the tournament that I would more be likely to attend again.
This decision is made on the following reasons:

Accessibility (Madrid): The site of the Madrid Open is very accessible by public transport from the center of the city by Metro, followed by a short (10 minute walk) from the nearest subway stop (San Fermin-Ocasur on the Yellow Line). The Italian Open is a 40-minute bone-jarring bus ride from the Central Train Station and then a short 5-minute walk to the Olympic complex which contains the tennis stadiums.

Fan Friendliness (Tie): The Madrid Open allows absolutely no food or drink to be brought in from outside (these rules are not posted on the tournament website). I had brought two packs of Trader Joe's cranberries, a banana and some locally purchased tangerines and security would not let me enter with even a single piece of fruit after a thorough search of every bag. At the Italian Open you could probably walk in with a pizza (or a gun!) the security was almost negligible with no searching of bags whatsoever.
However, the Madrid site has numerous other aspects which make it more oriented toward the casual tennis fan (give-aways of posters with players names, lots of booths with tennis gear and tournament schwag and a gigantic television screen outside of the main court showing all the scores and the action on the main court).

Tournament Site (Madrid): Madrid's Caja Magica is one of the best tennis venues I have ever been in bar none (and that includes Centre Court at Wimbledon!). It is clearly better (in the sense of being more modern and comfortable to be in with better sight lines) than all of the stadiums at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows (except perhaps Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York). I haven't been to every court at Flinders Park in Melbourne or Wimbledon but of the British courts since only Centre Court has a roof that is the only court I would say approaches the Caja Magica. I've heard that Hi-Sense Arena and Margaret Court Arena (both of which will have roofs by next year) are excellent stadiums buut I've only been to Rod Laver Arena, which I think is slightly too big. The Magic Box contains three courts in one carpeted arena, which for all intents and purposes are indoor courts because they have retractable roofs. Of course, the blue clay is controversial but the seats are well-marked and the traffic flow of getting fans to their ticketed seat is professionally maintained. Rome's Super Tennis Arena has no marked areas to distinguish the different seating areas and then uses the same numbers to describe two different seats in two different areas! There are no ushers once when gets into the stadium so basically even if you have an assigned seat, it is very unlikely that is where you will be sitting.

Ticketing and Pricing (Madrid): The Italian Open website is a disorganized disaster (though bizarrely, the one thing they do better than Madrid is live-streaming of the matches online) with the ticketing problems already mentioned. Their seating charts of the two main stadium are very misleading (this is a common problem with the seating charts of every tennis stadium I have ever been to!) What is needed is the actual measurements of the stadium and always the location of the umpire's chair to be indicated. If this information was provided I see no reason why any tennis fan would ever buy a ticket to Arthur Ashe Stadium again--it is the absolutely worst tennis stadium in the world to watch a tennis match for the average fan. The Italian Open tickets were slightly cheaper but the availability was significantly reduced. As a fan coming from another country, a site that allows printing of one's ticket from the website is necessary, and ticketone.it only has that option for certain tickets and the Italian Open re-sellers rarely had that option at all. The Madrid Open website allows one to print out tickets directly from it's own website.

City and Country of Event Location (Tie): Both the Italians and the Spaniards have the shocking habit of answering their cellphones (and engaging in a full conversation!) when they ring during a match. As a city and country, Madrid and Spain seem more technologically advanced than Rome and Italy. The Spanish metro is one of the best in the world, with modern, clean trains coming every 2-4 minutes. It's not cheap, but it's fast and efficient. Rome's metro system is like a throwback to New York's subways from the 70s or 80s. They are covered in graffiti and there are only two(!) lines. The bus and tram (light rail) lines are the more efficient way to get around the city, but the city transport service (called ATAC) does not make it easy to find the location of the routes. However, a weekly pass (which allows travel on all bus, tram or subway) is half the price it is in Madrid (or Barcelona) and is an excellent bargain. Yes, there's probably more to see (and eat) in Rome than Madrid as a tourist but the Spanish city is a more livable city (i.e. more grocery stores, easier to get around, cheaper accommodations) and when the tennis is over one has to enjoy the rest of one's stay. The Spaniards really do start eating dinner at 9, 10, 11pm at night but they also have a nap (businesses close) in the middle of the day. It's all very civilized. It's true that while in Italy there are many, many more cities you could visit (Milan, Florence, Venice, etc) while in Spain there are fewer alternate destinations (Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao).

Interestingly, the next tournaments I want to attend are in North America: Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and the Roger Cup in Toronto (or Montreal).

ROME 2012: Men's and Women's Quarterfinals Set

I'm in Rome this week along with all the top players in the ATP and WTA. I'm on vacation, while the players are competing in the Italian Open, the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The quarterfnals are now set:

Men's Draw
Djokovic v. Tsonga
Nadal v. Berdych
Federer v.  Seppi
Ferrer v. Gasquet

Women's Draw
D. Cibulkova v. Li. N
F. Pennetta v. S. Williams
A. Kerber v. P. Kvitova
M. Sharapova v. V. Williams


I'll be attending the day session today and will see Ferrer v. Gasquet, Cibulkova v. Li and M. Sharapova v. V. Williams.

Eye Candy: Italian Swim Team for Dolce & Gabbana

Much thanks to Outsports.com blog for these stunning shots of various Italian swimmers in Dolce & Gabbana underwear. Previously, the Italian Rugby Team had been featured in Eye Candy when they were feature in D&G underwear also.

World Cup Final Today: Spain v. The Netherlands

Today is the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Spain will be playing the Netherlands. Holland is undefeated in this year's tournament, while Spain has been one of the top 2 ranked teams in the world for the last three years (the other, Brazil was vanquished by the Dutch team in the quarterfinals).

One week after I watched him win his 2nd Wimbledon title, Spaniard Rafael Nadal will be in the audience to watch his team, La Furia Roja battle for their first World Cup title. Only seven countries have won the World Cup since the quadrennial competition began in 1930 (Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, and France) so today history will be made.

Yesterday, 2-time defending champion Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup by France in the semifinals. Is this a harbinger of Spain's defeat in the World Cup? The world's most famous cephalopod, Paul the Octopus has chosen Spain as the winner over the Netherlands today. He has not been wrong in all of his predictions at this year's tournament. He also correctly picked Germany to defeat Uruguay in the third place (runner's up) match. Germany won with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory to seal an all-European sweep.

MadProfessah's prediction: Netherlands (2-1)

Venus Loses Semi To Safina; Rises To World #3

Venus Williams lost to World #1 Dinara Safina in a tough 3-set clay court match 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 in the semifinals of the Italian Open. Despite losing, Venus will rise to World #3, right behind her sister Serena Williams at World #2.

Safina will play World #6 Svetlana Kuznetsova on Sunday in the final.

Djokovic Beats Federer in Rome; Faces Nadal in Final

World #3 Novak Djokovic battled back from 4-6, 0-2 down to beat World #2 Roger Federer 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the semifinals of the Rome Masters tournament on Saturday. In the other semifinal defending champion World #1 Rafael Nadal beat Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-3.

13-time Grand Slam champion Federer has now not won a single ATP tour title in seven months, since the 2008 U.S. Open. Djokovic has beaten him the last two times they played in 2009, in what Craig Hickman calls "awful" matches.

Eye Candy: Italian Rugby Team In D&G Underwear

Hat/tip to TowleRoad for these images of members of the Italian Rugby Team (Sergio Parisse, Denis Dallan, Ezio Galon, Andrea Masi, Gonzalo Canale) in underwear designed by Dolce & Gabbana. Ahh, this brings back good memories of my trip to Milan, Florence, Turin and Bololgna earlier this year!

ITALY TRIP: I'm baaack!

The trip back from Firenze, Italy via Frankfurt to Los Angeles was not too painful. Will try to post some pictures over the weekend...

Italy Day 12-13: The Beauty of Florence

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence's Duomo) to the right,
the 4th largest cathedral in the world, and the Campanile (Bell Tower), at night.

The "reviled" frescoes of the Duomo, painted by Vasani in 1579 (with close-up).
Note the devil sodomizing a man with a flaming pitchfork!

Statue of Achilles battling a centaur,
located in the Loggia del la Signoria, a public outdoor gallery designed in 1376.

Basilica di Santa Croce, started in 1294, completed in 1385. It is the burial place of famous men such as composer Rossini, author Macchiavelli, sculptor Michelangelo and scientist Gallileo.

Mad Professah (left) and the Other Half, after walking up 463 steps to
reach the top of the Duomo with views of the city of Florence behind us.

That's it for now, we're taking a one-day side trip to Bologna tomorrow afternoon with a date with Michelangelo's David in the morning and then an intensive museum day on Wednesday with an early flight home on Thursday.