Florence

Florence, more than Rome, charmed me. Rome is impressive - it has been, and is still, an important city - Caput mundi! It is awe-inspiring. But Florence is more walkable than Rome, and the Duomo church is stunning, and the shop windows are distractingly well-presented, and even at night people are walking--it's well lit and well populated so that it feels safe to walk at night, and it just feels right to stroll around and be a tourist! We also found very good food in Florence. Mmm! Maybe that is what really won me over. ;)

In Florence, HH and I met up with Michael, another Catholic friend from Auburn. It was great to be three Americans together in Italy. Michael has been during research in Europe, and had already been around Florence enough to show us the way--ahh, no more poring over our map everywhere we go!

Facade of the Duomo church

We saw Santa Maria Novella first--a beautiful, art-filled church right across from the train station. Discovering the interior-- chapels, side rooms, behind the altar, all the nooks and crannies -- was incredible because it seemed that every surface was painted and decorated. We left as the church was closing to visitors, and decided to stroll around Florence before getting dinner. The Duomo is tall enough that we could find our way simply by looking up. We saw the doors to the Baptistry right in front of the Duomo church, one of the many "things from art history class" that I got to see in person!

In front of Florence's Baptistry

We detoured by Palazzo Vecchio, the former home (or rather, fortress? It is one very secure looking castle!) of the De Medici family, and then found dinner at Trattoria Nella. It was delicious!! Best meal. I ordered the plate of the day, crab ravioli, and finished with the house-made panna cotta.

The next day was a serious museum day - we had appointments at both the Accademia and the Uffizi galleries. The highlight was seeing the GIANT (haha, get it?) "David" statue, and other sculptures by Michelangelo, at the Accademia. The Uffizi gallery, though exhausting, impressed me with its chronologically-ordered artworks, room by room (by room by room), showing development of artistic styles--including Giotto's early-Renaissance golden Madonna and Child, a great Botticelli room featuring the Birth of Venus, Da Vinci's Annunciation, and Titian's sensual Venus of Urbino, among many others.

Then, for recovery, we had gelato and cappucinos, and ogled the jewelry sold on the Ponte Vecchio. Gemstones and gold! Ooh!

The Arno river and Ponte Vecchio

The next morning, we went to mass at the Duomo. We had some pizza and cannoli, and escaped the rain inside the Duomo museum, which I enjoyed very much. It covered the history of the church's architecture (a church has been in the spot a long time, but not always with the huge dome and fancy facade), and it holds Michelangelo's last Pièta and Donatello's wood-carved Mary Magdalene, along other beautiful sacred art (many things that at one time or another adorned the church).