Florence

After seeing Rome, the center of the historical Ancient Roman Empire, I was really excited about getting to know the "Real Italy," one that is purely Italian.

Within seconds of hopping off the train in Florence, the cultural capital of Italy and the start of the Great Renaissance, I knew I had found it.

If Rome should be remembered for what the Romans did, Florence should be remembered for what the Florentines re-did. After the Romans skipped town around 500 AD, Europe went backwards into the Dark Ages, a time of highly theological, non-logical thinking in which Science took a back seat to superstition and tradition. It was Europe's "Great Regression," a time where life was so crappy that it was viewed only as an ugly pit stop on the highway toward heaven. For those that have stopped at "South Of The Border" on I-95 while heading between DC and Florida... You know exactly what I am talking about.

This went on for far longer than it should have, almost a thousand years, when a group of men decided that life itself is actually pretty beautiful as is. They looked at mountains and flowers and even the human form and said: "you know, this ain't half bad." They were not, as commonly thought, anti-religion or anti-God. They just viewed all of these beautiful things as God's gifts, especially the gift of creativity in art.

And the center of this great awakening? You got it: Florence

Florence is packed solid with hundreds of renaissance sights: art museums, Renaissance architecture, etc. etc. To give you an idea of how beautiful this place is to the eye, when Nazi fighter pilots were ordered to blow up the bridges connecting both parts of the city they left one of the bridges: the Ponte Vecchio, because they thought it too beautiful to destroy. True story.

We took our two days in Florence to see some of the sights and eat ourselves silly. First, right after arriving in the city, we went to The Duomo, a massive Renaissance-style cathedral that sits in the center of town. It is a beautiful white, green and pink marble with an amazing red-tiled dome. The cathedral was actually built with a big gaping hole in it because they did not have the technology to put the dome on. Now remember that this was accomplished almost a thousand years earlier, and you now know why this was truly a great regression into the dark ages.





We followed another great Rick Steves walking tour through the city, pointing out other examples of Renaissance florentine works and continued all the way south to the famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio. Truth be told, its just a bridge... But unlike most bridges, it has shops and apartments built right onto it. Situated between the banks of this beautiful city, it truly is pretty. We enjoyed strolling around and sitting on one of the bridges nearby so that we could enjoy the view of the P.V.

That night we bought some great Tuscan wine (for very cheap, I might add) and went to our new favorite restaurant on earth, Leonardo's. This was recommended to us by Rick Steves' book and it did not disappoint. It is a great self-service cafeteria with some of the best food and fairest prices I have ever seen. I'm talking 8€ for a massive lasagna, bread, veggies and wine. You couldn't beat that deal with a stick.

On Day 2, we met at the Ferrovia (train station) to do a free walking tour, this time with a nice lady named Nicolette who was so Italian it was sometimes hard to understand her. She did a good job, repeated some of what we heard Rick day a day earlier, but also walked us to a few other sights in the city. After our tour, we trekked up to Piazalla Michelangelo, the highest hill in central Florence, for a commanding view of the city and mainly the Duomo which sat centrally within the buildings. It was a beautiful view, and reminded me of Munich/Bavaria with the mountains lurking just beyond the city. I can definitely see why the renaissance started where it did.





After, we went to The Academie, where Michelangelo's famous David statue resides. I was awestruck. Michelangelo carved all of his statues out of single blocks of marble without any assistance or marking tools. He just grabbed a chisel and went to town on the block. According to Rick, he viewed himself not as creating anything, but instead freeing the figure that was already in the marble. Deep, I know. How he did this, I have no clue. The David is so lifelike, so perfectly done that its hard to believe anybody could do this at all. Throw in the fact that it was once one block and nothing but hand tools were used!? Crazy.

Lining the hall to the David are unfinished sculptures, called "The Prisoners" because they look as if individuals are trying to free themselves from the blocks. It gave great insight into how difficult the job must have been for Michelangelo, and how incredibly talented he truly was.


For dinner... You guessed it: Leonardo's self service restaurant. Mmmmmmm so good. This time it was a mix of spaghetti, gnocchi and other pastas- so yummy.

Oh and I should mention that both nights we partook in Gelato, described as an edible art form in Italy. We ate at Grom, which was dually recommended in both of our guide books, and it lived up to the hype big time. I was so happy with my vanilla/strawberry double scoop that I did it two nights in a row.



Florence was a beautiful city with a small-town feel. While Rome was like Berlin: big, bustling, busy; Florence was like Munich: more local, smaller, quieter. Walking through the streets to and from our hotel was an attraction all in itself. We had a really great time.

Enjoy the pictures!

Greg