Florence - Day I

 We woke up to beautiful weather and our first stop of the day was the Piazza del Duomo. Our plan was to visit to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (pictured), but given the sizable queue we decided to return early Saturday morning before the crowds arrived.

Nonetheless, we were still able to visit the piazza’s other two main sights: the Campanile di Giotto (Giotto’s belltower) and the Baptistery. First we visited the belltower, which dates back to the 14^th century and is nearly 280 feet tall.

While the height is readily apparent when you view the tower from below, it becomes even more so once you’ve scaled the 414 steps to the panoramic viewpoint at the top. The view is incredible and well worth the effort.

The Baptistery is a little older than the belltower (it dates back to the 11^th century), and offers some interesting history as well – Dante Alighieri and other notable Renaissance figures were baptized there. It also is full of beautiful artwork.

Next we visited the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (sculptures by Donatello and Michelangelo), the San Lorenzo church (statues by Michelangelo) and the Galleria degli Uffizi (works by Rafael, Leonardo Da Vinci, Carravaggio, Titian, Botticelli and El Greco). Clearly Florence isn’t known as the birthplace of the Renaissance for nothing.

I always find it a bit weird when I see a famous painting in person that I vaguely remember seeing in a textbook as a kid (a quasi-déjà vu feeling, I guess…). One such painting is the Birth of Venus, and my 10th grade European History textbook definitely didn’t do it justice.

We then visited the Palazzo Vecchio, which is a former palace and serves as the current city hall. The exterior of the building is very impressive, and surrounds a massive tower. And Michelangelo’s David apparently stood at the entrance of the palace for nearly four centuries before being moved to the Accademia and replaced by a replica.

The palace also houses a (big surprise) large collection of Renaissance art…

There was also an exhibition for the diamond encrusted “For the Love of God” skull by Damien Hurst. You were basically in a small, heavily secured room that was nearly pitch black except for the lights focused on the skull and you had a couple of minutes at your disposal. The picture probably describes it better than I could. And if you have £50 million to spare, its yours.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the river Arno and seeing the various bridges. The most notable was Ponte Vecchio – the only bridge in Florence that survived WWII. It actually felt more like a street than a bridge as it is lined by buildings with shops.

We finished up the day with a brief stop at a wine bar to sample some Tuscan wines before dinner. I’m ignorant on many topics, but wine continues to be one that confounds me as much as any other. Some wines I like and some I don’t, but that’s the extent of my expertise. And it’s never easy to articulate why or fit them into buckets that could be of any use in the future.