Italy: Florence

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Florence (Firenze), with its 2000 years of history, is one of the most interesting cities in Italy. It is situated in the central part of the country, on the Arno River, at the foot of the Apennines. It has about 370 thousand inhabitants. The entire historic center has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. This is one of those cities with which you fall in love at first sight. It’s not only because of its rich history, magnificent architecture, charming streets, but most of all because of the atmosphere, difficult to define, making everyone who has visited the place yearning to return sometime.


Good to know

*Tourist Information: www.firenzeturismo.it (It.); www.visitflorence.com (Eng.); main information point is located on Via Cavour 1R (Mon-Sat 830-18.30); other points, open on Sunday, are located  at the Piazza Stazione 4 (Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00, Sat 9.00-14.00) and Piazza San Giovanni 1 (Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00, Sat 9.00-14.00).
*Accommodation: as befits a tourist town, everyone will find for themselves the appropriate option, be it a luxury hotel, guest house or camping site.
*Food: dozens of restaurants, trattorias, pizzerias, etc. operate here, offering traditional Tuscan and Italian cuisine, but also dozens of places with dishes from all over the world.

Things to Do

*The Uffizi Gallery (Galleria degli Uffizi) – Piazza della Signoria. The building, which was built in the sixteenth century, originally housed administrative offices and courts, because that was its main purpose. Even then an art gallery was placed at the top floor. Today it’s one of the most important and greatest art collections in Europe or even the world. Works of Italian and Flemish schools are predominant here, including S. Boticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt and many others; website: www.uffizi.org
Aside from the Vatican Museums it’s the second in terms of popularity among tourists museum in Italy and a must-see. In peak season it’s better to think in advance about the tickets, you can order them over the Internet.
After having passed several rooms you can get dizzy from the works exhibited here. It would be good to be able to go outside to cool off after having passed two-three rooms and come back, but this is unfortunately not possible...In effect, after a short time spent here it all seems like flashing lights before your eyes, and you think you’re no longer able to “absorb” more.

Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore
*Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore (Catedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Duomo) – one of the most magnificent temples ever built, with a distinctive red dome, known from postcards and movies. Built in the fifteenth century, on the site of an earlier cathedral church of Santa Reparata from the fourth century. Its magnificent size is impressive, the interior has a length of 153 m and a width of 38. Facade has been designed and constructed in the Gothic style and is clad with colored marble panels: white, green and pink. The present appearance, in Neo-Gothic style, is due to the re-works from the nineteenth century
*Giotto's Bell Tower (Campanile di Giotto) – stands beside the cathedral, it’s almost 85 meters high; its facades are covered with slabs of marble in the same colors as the facade of the cathedral (ie, white, green and pink), arranged in a geometric pattern. There are 414 steps to come up to the top; there are seven bells here.

*Goldsmiths’ Bridge (Old Bridge, Ponte Vecchio) – one of the oldest bridges in the city, built in the fourteenth century in the place of a wooden bridge from Roman times. From the thirteenth century there were set up various shops here, primarily by fish and meat traders, later also tanners. In the sixteenth century they were removed by the decision of Prince Ferdinand I, and in their place goldsmiths and jewelers workshop were installed (hence the name of the bridge).
*Signoria Square (Piazza della Signoria) – located in the center of the city, built from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, surrounded by a number of palaces, among which the most important is Palazzo di Vecchio, which is now the seat of the municipal government. Other interesting sights here are: Neptune fountain (Fontanna di Piazza) with a statue of white marble, built between 1563-1575, and a copy of Michelangelo's "David", carved in 1501; to the left of the fountain of Neptune there is a statue of Cosimo I, Duke of Tuscany, founder of the Medici family. Another interesting feature is the marble slab put in the place of "bonfire of vanity" made by Savonarola and a pile on which it was burned.
*Baptistery of St. John (Battisterio di San Giovanni Battista) – Piazza San Giovanni, near the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, one of the oldest buildings in the city, with 10 reliefs recognized as masterpieces of the early Renaissance. Three bronze doors lead to its interior, including the so-called Doors of Paradise, decorated with 10 scenes from the Old Testament and biblical figures.
*Basilica of St. Cross (Basilica di Santa Croce) – Piazza Santa Croce, the largest Franciscan church in the world; the graves Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo (among others) can be found here; the walls are covered with frescoes by Giotto.


View of the city with the famous dome of the cathedral

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