30 ...
The train pulled in to the Stazione Santa Maria Novella, and we made our way through the crowds to the main exit. As we descended the steps in front of the station, I caught a glimpse of two familiar-looking men in rather unusual clothes. One of them waved frantically and they began to make their way toward us. Dumfounded, I realized that these were Paul Gaugin and Edgar Degas. Both men looked weary and distraught. Shaking hands, they greeted us warmly and desperately. I introduced them to Donatello.

"Yes, of course," said Gaugin. "We saw you from a distance in Venice during David's event there, but never had the opportunity to speak. It's a great honour."

"The honour is mine, I assure you," replied Donatello, gracious as always. " I do hope that we'll have that chance soon, however I must rush off I'm afraid. I do apologize. I've been away from the studio too long, and I must see to several projects that are urgently ongoing. Please make arrangements with David to get together soon." And with that, he bowed and was gone.

I turned to Gaugin and Degas. "You two look awful. What's happened? What are you doing in Firenze?"

"Comment dit-on?" Degas looked sheepish. "We screwed up."

"Mais oui. We definitely screwed up," agreed Gaugin. "Let me try to explain, David. We are here at the train station trying to get out; but so far it has been impossible. It's like we are prisoners here. You see, when we met you and all the others at Venice a couple of years ago, Edgar and I were so enthusiastic about the idea that we thought: if he can do it, so can we! And then we went to the cinema to see that Woody Allen film called Midnight in Paris. We saw ourselves – well, actors playing our characters – saying that we thought that the golden age of art was the Renaissance, rather than our own time in the second half of the 19th century. Kaboom! That's when we had this bright idea."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gauguin

"Yes, yes," Degas continued. "If David can bring us all to life in Venice in 2013, we thought, why should we not be able to try out life in the Renaissance if we wish? And where should we live during that period? Why Florence, Firenze of course, the cradle of the Italian Renaissance.

http://www.edgar-degas.net/biography.jsp

"And so we converted the few francs we had left into Euros and went to the train station and directly from Venice to Florence, naively imagining that we would then be able to "will" ourselves back in time to the quattrocento. After what we had seen in Venice, it all seemed like such a simple idea."

Gaugin picked up the narrative: "And we've been here ever since, stuck in this city in your present, and unable either to find a way to the Renaissance, or to leave here and just go home to Paris in our own time. Each day we come here to the station to buy tickets to Paris, and each day when we pass through the doors, we find ourselves standing stupidly among the throng of tourists in line outside the Uffizzi. It's enough to make one crazy. it's exactly like another film we watched one evening at our hotel: Groundhog Day. This is no longer amusing. You must help us, David. You must help us."

"Now we just want to go home!" said Degas. "I never want to see this city again. I feel as if I've been trapped inside a bell jar, hermetically sealed in a single time period. Firenze is Renaissance; Renaissance is Firenze. Do you have any idea how many times now I have seen Michelangelo's David? It is enough! Get me out of here! Please!"