Europe Tour Day 4-5: Florence, Italy

We arrived in Florence late Monday night, and then spent all Tuesday, March 18th and most of Wednesday, March 19 in the city there. Our hotel here was actually really nice compared to most places we stayed. The staff was actually dressed professionally, and they were very helpful and accommodating. Our room was quite sound proof, which was nice after our hotel in Varazze where we could hear our neighbors very well. In fact, Monday morning we had woken up to what sounded like the person in the room next to us using a jack-hammer there. Our room also came equipped with basics such as shampoo and cups, and the breakfast was good. The only disadvantages were the stairs and our narrow bathroom. The hotel was built with the reception on the bottom floor at street level and then five stories of rooms stacked above that. There wasn't an elevator, and we were on the fourth floor. Luckily, the staff assisted in carrying our bags up. The narrow bathroom had the toilet so close to the wall in front of it that you couldn't sit down without spreading your legs sideways. The toilet also took a few tries before it flushed. Despite this, we couldn't complain much about our accommodations which were well located and otherwise comfortable.

Driving in Florence was another matter though. The main streets were wide enough, but many lacked any markings to divide lanes. We were never sure if we were actually in a lane or not, and at times everything just seemed to move in a mass of cars without much order. As we got closer to our hotel, many of the streets became incredibly narrow. We thought some of them were only for pedestrians, but we were instructed by someone else to drive down them to get to our hotel, and we saw other cars do the same. We were very grateful to finally arrive and have someone else take our car to the parking garage. When we went to retrieve something from the car later on we discovered why they had someone else park it for us; the garage itself was incredibly small with cars double or triple parked and/or sitting up on lifts within the tiny space.

Driving around the cities make us nervous anyway, but we were especially nervous by the time we got to Florence because our rental car was actually not covered by insurance there. Our first rental had required some regular maintenance, so we exchanged it right before leaving on our trip for a different vehicle. At that time Nate was informed that we were not permitted to take our car south of Venice due to the high rates of auto theft in southern Italy. In fact, Brother Pelle had joked with us that car theft in Naples is so bad that your car just disappears out from under you as you are driving along. German cars are especially targets. We had hoped to exchange our car again somewhere before going further south, but were unable to find a place to do so. Stuck, we kept on with our original plans while driving as carefully as possible and praying fervently for safety. Luckily, everything turned out alright, but we were much more comfortable when we arrived in Venice later in the week.

The Piazza della Repubblica

We started our day out Tuesday by heading to the Museo di Palazzo Davanzati by way of the Piazza della Repubblica. This museum gave visitors an interesting look at the life of a typical wealthy family in the area from the Medieval to Renaissance eras. No pictures were allowed inside, but we found the various furnishings and tools quite interesting. The kitchen items were especially interesting. There was a strange looking orange juicer that looked somewhat like a giant garlic press and a pulley and weight system that was used to turn a spit. We learned that windows used to be made from thin vellum soaked in oil and took a look at how lace used to be made. The building even had its own convenient well for pulling water up directly into several of the levels.

After that, we headed to one of Florence's most iconic landmarks: the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore or the Duomo di Firenze, as it is more commonly called. This cathedral was started at the very end of the 13th century, but the elaborate façade of the cathedral as it stands today wasn't finished until 1887. The cathedral's dome was designed and built under the direction of Filippo Brunelleschi. It was started in 1420 and completed in 1436 and was an engineering marvel of the time.

The dome was the largest in world at the time, and it remains the largest brick dome in the world today. It was built with a smaller much thicker dome inside that supports and is sheltered by a larger thinner outer dome. Brunelleschi was able to have it built without the traditional ground based scaffolding. He also invented various tools for hoisting and moving materials up to the dome that were far ahead of his time, including a 65 foot tall crane that could move things laterally as well as up and down.

The inside of the dome is painted with a depiction of the Last Judgement. It was designed and started by Giorgio Vasari and completed by his student Federico Zuccari with some other collaborators in 1579. The holes seen in it were left over from the scaffolding from when the dome was made.

You can see the photosynth picture Nate took of the cathedral's inside here. We were particularly interested by the huge 24 hour clock inside. There wasn't any standard way to make clocks or keep time when it was made around 1443, so the clock actually moves counterclockwise and starts at the bottom. It started at sunset each day, so it had to be continually adjusted to stay on track.

Equestrian statue of Niccolò da Tolentino by Andrea del Castagno (1456)

After seeing the cathedral, we caught a bus and rode up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, from which visitors have an amazing panoramic view of the city. It was a beautiful day and the square was also surrounded by flowerbeds that were filled with beautiful blooming tulips. Visiting this spot was probably one of our favorite things we did during our stay in Florence.

Duomo di Firenze

From the Piazzale Michelangelo we walked over to the nearby Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, which was built between the 11th and 13th centuries in the style of Tuscan Romanesque architecture.

Bust on Ponte Vecchi

From there we headed over to the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, which was originally built during Roman times. We walked across the bridge, but ultimately found it more interesting to look at from other locations. The sides of the bridge are mostly lined with overpriced jewelry shops. After that we ended up walking over to the Galleria dell'Accademia where Michelangelo's David is housed. This museum was very small, but we really enjoyed what we saw there. From that point we headed back to the Piazza della Repubblica where we ate dinner and let Austin ride the carrousel there. Austin kept asking to "ride on horse" while we were finishing up at the nearby restaurant. Paying for Austin to ride the carrousel turned out to be one of the best euros we spent on our trip! He absolutely loved it. He continued to talk about riding on the horse the whole time and kept pointing and waving to me every time the ride circled around.

Wednesday morning we headed over to the Uffizi Gallery, which is a huge museum holding many works from the Italian Renaissance, including works by Botticelli, Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci. We also saw Artemisia Gentileschi's gory painting Judith and Holophernes. We were surprised to see that there was a "touch tour" for the blind in the museum. This tour included a number of sculpted works that visually impaired visitors could feel. There was even a relief made of The Birth of Venus by Botticelli that could be felt. I don't think I would ever think of the possibility of visiting and getting anything out of an art museum if I were blind, but this idea of making artwork accessible to those who can't see it was really cool.

We actually had to stand in a long line for roughly an hour to get into the museum, so while we were waiting, Nate and I took turns wandering around nearby areas with Austin, who wasn't about to stay happy in the same place for an hour as we waited. During this time we visited the Piazza della Signoria, from which we also saw the Loggia dei Lanzi (a covered outdoor sculpture gallery) and the Palazzo Vecchio (the "Old Palace"/city's town hall). We also got some nice views of the nearby Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Uffizi Gallery Square

Fountain of Neptune by
Bartolomeo Ammannati

Replica of Michelangelo's "David" in front of the Palazzo Vecchio

The Loggia dei Lanzi

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

After spending a few hours in the Uffizi Gallery, we headed over to the Pitti Palace to see the Boboli Garden. We originally had intended to visit the garden the day before after seeing the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, but after a long steep walk there we found that we were too late to enter at that time.

Despite this 16th century garden's expansive size, it was not open to anyone but the immediate members of the Medici family. The formal garden features a number of sculptures, wide pathways, green pools, and shady walkways. Nate and I enjoyed walking around here and admiring the views. Austin had fun pushing the stroller around.

On our way back to our hotel to get our car and pick up our bags, we stopped by a gelato shop that the hotel had recommended to us. It was a good recommendation, and we thoroughly enjoyed the gelato cones we purchased there!

After getting our things, we headed out and spent the rest of our day driving to Rome.