Florence

When I started planning this trip, Florence was one of the few cities I put on the “Must Visit” list. I can say now, after visiting it, it definitely lived up to its reputation. Florence’s art and architecture are truly magnificent. For example, look at this enormous, elaborately decorated church, the Santa Maria del Fiore:

The interior of the church is equally magnificent:

Additionally, included in the ticket were a few other things:

A visit to the top of the bell tower

Entrance to the Baptistry adjacent to the Cathedral

And entrance to the nearby museum where, among other relics, they have the original doors Lorenzo Ghiberti created in 1424, which Michelangelo famously called “The doors of Paradise.”

I would be amiss to say that the Santa Maria was the only notable cathedral I visited while there, however. The Basilica di Santa Croce is another impressive place. While not as visually impressive on the outside, it is still an imposing structure. The interior, however, is where things get interesting. A number of notable historical figures have graves in this church. To name a few of the most prominent ones, Michelangelo

Galileo

Machiavelli (Under restoration currently)

Dante

And finally, Florence Nightingale.

There’s a river running right through the city of Florence named the Arno. I watched the sun set from a bridge over the river on a number of occasions. Here’s a picture of the sunset on the Arno.

On the other side of the Arno from where I was staying is the old Pitti palace, where the Medici family lived when they ruled Florence in the 15th century. A portion of the palace is left relatively identical to how it was back in the Medicis’ days. Here’s a few pictures:

Around the palace are the Medici gardens. These gardens are massive, and really easy to get lost in. As I did. Repeatedly.

One night, I decided I wanted pizza. I had seen this place called GustaPizza that I wanted to go to earlier that day, but it didn’t open until 7:00. I decided to try again, and lucky me, it was open! They cooked the pizza in a traditional wood-fired oven:

The pizza was really good. Apparently a lot of people agree with me about that, because by the time I left the line stretched around the block!

Today I traveled from Florence to Rome, where I’ll spend the next few days of my trip.

Alla prossima!