At the Duomo, Florence

Benvenuto Cellini, Pontevecchio, Florence

------
[edit] Youth
Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, Italy, where his family had been landowners in the Val d'Ambra for three generations. His parents were Giovanni Cellini, a musician and builder of musical instruments, and Maria Lisabetta Granacci. They were married for eighteen years before the birth of their first child. Benvenuto was the second child of the family[1]

Giovanni initially wished Benvenuto to join him in instrument making, and endeavoured to thwart his inclination for metalwork. When he was fifteen, his father reluctantly agreed to apprentice him to a goldsmith, Antonio di Sandro, nicknamed Marcone. At the age of sixteen, Benvenuto had already attracted attention in Florence by taking part in an affray with youthful companions. He escaped punishment by fleeing for six months to Siena, where he worked for a goldsmith named Fracastoro (unrelated to the Veronese polymath). From Siena he moved to Bologna, where he became a more accomplished flute-player and made progress as a goldsmith. After a visit to Pisa and two periods of living in Florence (where he was visited by the sculptor Torrigiano), he moved to Rome, age nineteen[2].

WIKIPEDIA

Etruscan Fiesole outside Florence

The Charm of Florence

and my terrible Florence hay fever

Train of Cars in Switzerland

Dr Jose Barba eating ice cream in Geneva

"Disgruntled old men" Enjoying Geneva, Early July 2009, with the International Cultic Studies Association

----------------------------------
[Aura and Paul, Jose Barba & friend, aboard cruise on Lake Leman, Sunday, July 5, 2009. Both Jose Barba, a professor at the ITAM in Mexico City, and Paul, a psychotherapist in Virginia, USA, were among those critics labelled "disgruntled & bitter old men" by Legionary spokespersons]