Shopping district! Florence is known for producing Italian leather and gold.
Florence (Firenza in Italian) means “City of Flowers,” and it’s official flower is the Lily.
The real David is protected in the Academy of Fine Arts building and the one on the street that everyone sees is actually a copy.
I know someone else who played the accordion!
What the…?
🤔
Florence Cathedral. It was massive!
Baptistery, also in the Piazza del Duomo, right next to the church. This one is named after John the Baptist.
Again, once you’re baptized, the door leaving the baptistery toward the church is beautiful because it begins your path to God. Each of the panels on this door tells multiple stories.
Story of Adam and Eve
This is the artist. He worked on it for so long and did such an amazing job, the Church let him carve himself into the sculpture.
They learned from the disaster in Pisa, and constructed this tower with lots of open spaces— especially at the top — to keep it as light as possible.
Il Duomo!
Part of the original facade. This was a parking space - a place to tie horses.
Part of the original walls. They built them around the original city and it kept growing so much they moved and expanded the walls 6 times before they eventually tore them down. There are only a handful of areas where the original walls are still standing.
Dante is practically synonymous with Florence.
The original Medici home.
The Medici’s were one of the richest families in Italy. They gained their wealth as bankers. Figures.
Cosmos Medici - on the horse in the background - he thought pretty highly of himself, and put his face on the statue of Neptune in the foreground
This area was used as a stage for public forums and plays. It now houses a large collection of original sculptures.
David! His body seems to be weirdly out of proportion - his hands, for example, seem much larger than they should be. This wasn’t a mistake. Michelangelo was originally commissioned to sculpt David for placement near the top of the Duomo tower. So, he proportioned David to look normal when viewing from far below. However, in the end, he was far too heavy to safely put him at the top of the tower (think: Pisa), so they put him in the piazza instead.
I always wondered why David was a big deal - like, who was this guy? I fully admit it never occurred to me that “David” is a portrayal of the guy who fought Goliath, one of the most inspirational stories in the Bible. This was pretty stupid on my part— I mean, he’s even holding a slingshot.
Perseus holding Medusa’s head! 😳
Hercules
The Medici family eventually moved to a new place, the Pitti Palace, which is huge. \240They populated the area with statues of famous artists, philosophers, and scientists. Here’s Macchiavelli.
Amerigo Vespucci
Galileo
Ponte Vecchio. Many of the original bridges in Italy were destroyed during World War II. The Ponte Vecchio somehow survived and is one of the last original bridges in Italy.
Michelangelo!
First view of the Pitti Palace.
This is Juliana, our tour guide in Pisa and Florence. She was fantastic! In this pic, she was showing us the high water mark from the 1844 flood. Apparently, Florence is highly prone to flooding
Look for the second plaque in the middle of the picture. This was the high water mark in the 1966 flood!
This was how they used to serve wine and bread on the streets. They used to be little wooden doors. You’d knock on the little door and they’d open it and serve. The original fast food, I guess.
Dante! I guess he made a lot of references to Florence in Inferno and many of the streets display a plaque with a quote from the book that’s related to that area in Florence. Could swear I took a few pictures of those plaques, but…nope.
We stopped at an authentic Floretine restaurant for a meal. The bread was weird, but the pasta was excellent.
Selfie at the Ponte Vecchio
Selfie at David.
Another section of the original walls.
Just thought this was pretty.
Tuscan countryside
Il Duomo!
Il Gina. Lol.
View of the city.
And back to the ship. As if we hadn’t already eaten enough, we came back to this appetizer plate in our cabin! Yum.
