G’day folks. Well, today I embark on a big challenge for you, bringing you a summary of my time in the capital of the Renaissance and one of my favourite places I visited last year on my Dhaka to Dakar journey – and that’s Florence. I had five nights and realistically four days in Florence, and I seriously crammed a lot in in those four days and so I am struggling to work out how to present my time there. Perhaps the best thing to do is do it by day.
Day Zero
See my previous post about arriving in Florence. I arrived in the evening, checked into the hotel which was the Rezidenza Conte di Cavour, you can see the review above I did for YouTube. This was one of the best value accommodations I had throughout the whole trip I paid a little over $60AUD by booking super early. Otherwise I had little time to do anything in the evening
Day One
Day One was one I could have time managed a bit better all said. Because I was on this long trip I had to organise onward transport and onward accommodation and I wanted to get it done ASAP as I had paid too much for my train to Florence because I bought the ticket at the station on the day of travel. I decided one a couple of nights in Nice on my way to Barcelona which I had to reach by a certain date and so booked all of the transport and hotel in Nice before heading out into Florence which took up a few hours in the morning (I also was making decisions on whether or not to stop in Nice).
Once out in the city, I walked straight down to the main piazza. Here stands the magnificent Cathedral of Santa Maria di Flore. Probably the most visited church in all of Florence, there were long lines to get in (I would enter another day), it is free to enter but if you want to go up the tower or I think there is a small museum attached, they cost money.
I had planned to do a bit of a walk to orientate myself to my new city. It’s really an attractive place along the Arno River. Full of churches, palaces and squares. I passed a church before getting to the square which had a little booth for buying combination tickets for the Galleria Uffizi, the Palace Pitti and the Boboli Gardens (attached to the Palace Pizzi). I decided later in the day and checking the prices elsewhere that that ticket was pretty good value and those would be the three things I would visit on my next day.
As for this day, well I headed on towards the river and came to another square just before the Uffizi Gallery, Piazza della Signoria. To one side was the Palazzo Vecchio, and on another was a gallery of Roman statues. I was heading on towards the river and the famous Ponte (Bridge) Vecchio. Passing through two sections of the Galleria Uffizi I came upon the river which was (needless to say) the perfect place for selfies, I made my way to the Ponte Vecchio to cross the river.
It rivals the Charles Bridge in Prague for popularity. The Ponte Vecchio has jewellery shops on either side, statues and great spots for photos. The bridge dates back to Roman times, although over the centuries it has been washed away/destroyed and rebuilt more than once. The current bridge is the oldest bridge in Florence and dates back to the 14th century. The shops along the bridge were once butchers shops, but in the late 1500s the ruler of the day, Ferdinand I d’Medici declared they should all be shut as he didn’t enjoy the smell. They were filled by gold blacksmiths and jewellers and a statue was erected on the bridge to Cellini, a famous blacksmith. One other ‘fun fact’, when retreating during WWII the German Army destroyed all bridges crossing the Arno, except for the Ponte Vecchio on Hitler’s orders.
Once crossing the bridge I had hoped to see Palazzo Pitti on this day, but it wasn’t open. So instead I decided to check out a couple of smaller museums with the rest of my day. I went back over the Ponte Vecchio to the Galileo Museum. And this is when I truly started to appreciate the significance of the Renaissance and the significance of Florence to the Renaissance.
Sometimes you arrive in a city knowing little. I had heard the names before, I knew who Leonardo Da Vinci was and the Medici family was familiar to me without me knowing who they were – they were a rich family that ruled Florence and the surrounds during the Renaissance. For reference too, the Renaissance is the period in Europe from the 14th to the 17th century. It sees a rise in science and understanding. It underpins so much of what we know and understand today about our world and beyond.
Galileo Galilei was a famous astronomer from Pisa, who lived much of his life in Florence, he lived 1564 to 1642. Even today he’s regarded as one of the most important astronomers who ever lived, perfecting telescopes that allowed him to see planets and help the world understand it was a sphere and how it and planets moved. This little museum I found really cool with so many globes and maps and instruments from the time (not all belonging or created by Galileo) and I was really glad I visited this museum.
Speaking of famous Renaissance figures, there is also a Museum to Leonardo Da Vinci, 1452 – 1519. He was regarded as a true ‘Renaissance Man’ or ‘polymath’ (only heard the term when doing a little research for this post). The painter/inventor’s genius knew few boundaries and his little museum over several floors in Florence is worth a look it’s full of machinery that sort of works and is good for kids and adults alike.
At some point in there, I think between the two museums I walked through the open parts of the Palazzo Vecchio (there are museum parts too which you pay for which I didn’t realise until afterwards but I was happy enough) that was kind of cool one sort of courtyard had a model of Pinocchio in one corner – turns out the fable is set in Florence. You will even find a museum to Pinocchio too if that’s your bag. From there I went out to the Piazza della Signoria and checked out the Roman statues I mentioned earlier. Interestingly another case of restricted photography – video not allowed!
Anyways, that was my first full day in Florence. The second day went as such and so forth etc etc…
Day Two
So this day was longer but will probably write up shorter. I found my way to the Church Orsanmichele where they have the booth to buy the combination ticket for the Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, which the interweb is telling me today is 38 Euro. As the palace and the gallery are more than 20 Euro each (not sure on Boboli) it does represent good value as you save money even if you DON’T go to the Boboli Gardens.
The Galleria Uffizi for those who have never been to Florence is one of the two main galleries in Florence. The other is the Academic Gallery which houses Michelangelo’s Statue of David. Michelangelo is another prominent Florence alum, but you know, I’m not drawn to galleries and at over 20 Euro a pop, I thought one would be enough for me personally and Uffizi was on this ticket. Turns out the Palazzo Pitti is also basically a gallery too.
The Galleria Uffizi opened in 1581, so it’s one of the world’s older galleries and was commissioned by Cosimo I de Medici. It was packed as I expected and there is such a wealth of art inside which made me wish I knew more about art. There is a concentration as you would expect on Renaissance Italian Art, with the most famous work perhaps being ‘The Birth of Venus’ by Botticelli, also known as ‘Venus on the Shell’. The building is on both sides of Piazzale Uffizi which leads to the river. It’s linked with a sort of overpass so you see a few views. Along with all the Renaissance art, there are more Roman busts and statues than I’ve ever seen in one museum before!
It took a couple of hours to get through the Galleria Uffizi. And then it was time to cross the Ponte Vecchio again. The Palazzo Pitti is a palace dating back to the 15th century originally the residence for Luca Pitti. The Medici family bought it in 1549 when it became the main residence for those ruling the Tuscany region (Grand Duchy of Tuscany).
Today it’s a museum/gallery but the highlight is truly the building itself. You get to visit so many incredible rooms as you survey art from many different eras, again focussing on the Renaissance. There even was a ‘modern art’ exhibition. This referred to the 19th century primarily so it was quite different to what I had expected. Not the works of Joan Miro for sure!
Then finally the Boboli Gardens – I just went through a gate from the Palazzo Pitti and walked up the ramp into these massive gardens. You could lose an afternoon or maybe even a day in them! There are ponds and statues and walking avenues. Really, photos are better here!
After that was done, it was late afternoon and I too was done. But there was a lovely little gelati shop just up from the palace and gardens which was a perfect place to stop for ten minutes and enjoy a cold treat! Each of these places took a minimum of 90 minutes, plus the walking and the queuing (for Uffizi) it was a really BIG day!
But there is still so much I saw in Florence – and of course, much that I didn’t see. So more is on its way for the next post! Thanks for popping over today and checking out the blog! Take care wherever you are – and May the Journey Never End!
Andy's World Journeys 
You did quite a lot in Florence. I really liked Boboli garden, it was peaceful after crowded streets