Ten Days of Touring Italy 2011 Day 8-9

TEN DAYS OF TOURING ITALY 2011

BY TOM FRASCELLA MAY 2011

DAY EIGHT AND NINE: FLORENCE

We left Rome behind on the eighth day of our tour and drove to the beautiful northern Italian city of Florence. Florence traces its history back to the Roman era and is the capital city of Tuscany. The city sits on the Arno River, and is crossed by a number of bridges. Florence was the center of the Renaissance and the list of notable sons born there is incredible including Dante, Boccaccio, Da Vinci, Botticelli, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Donatello, Gallileo and the Medici family to name but a few.

Arno River

Bridge

Ponte Vecchio

Statue of Machiavelli

Outside the Uffizi gallery

One of the great structures of Florence is the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore with its great Dome. Equally important is the nearby Baptistry and the renowned bronze doors designed by Ghberti and commissioned the Gates of Paradise .

Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore

Baptistry

                                                                           Gates of Paradise bronze doors designed by Ghberti
                                                                                                        Photos by Rich Steo

inside of Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore

Great art abounds in the museums of the city. People are especially drawn to the works of the great Renaissance masters including Michelangelo.

                                               statues in the square                                                                                 David
                                                   Photo by Rich Steo                                                                           Photo by Rich Steo

On one of our evenings we took a short bus trip across the Arno to dinner at a wonderful dinner club. In addition to having a very nice meal we were entertained by opera and contemporary singers and confronted by the owner/comedic distraction.

dinner club

                                                                                                              owner/comedic
                                                                                                              Photo by Rich Steo

Across from the dinner club was an ancient monastery whose grounds were very beautiful as we approached at sunset.

ancient monastery

Florence, like Rome, is very hard to see in just two days and before we knew it we were on our way to our final stop Venice.

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