We made it, really didn’t know how it would unfold after Rick’s bike accident. But he did well on the plane and seems like he might be able to walk some if not all of the Camino starting Monday. We also like the potential of taxis!
My first picture is from the plane. I couldn’t believe how beautiful Florence looked and that was just from the sky! Gorgeous day, sunny, nice temps, upper 70’s, and the contrast between the green and the red roofs, amazing.
We got to our hotel, next photo of our window, so pretty!
And then we didn’t do anything else. We had quick walked from plane to plane in Munich and actually made the connection despite delays. Worried it would take a toll on Rick, but again, he didn’t seem to have any damage from the pace, our bags didn’t make it, but we did. Our hotel is a Palacio from the late 1400’s and it has a really large garden with all kinds of statues.
We asked if it would be possible to get a tour guide just to get a sense of Florence since we only had one day. The hotel concierge said, well, I don’t know, very unlikely as it’s so last minute and then he called – we got one of our favorites! Chiara was her name and she was wonderful.
We had a slow breakfast, met Chiara and off we walked. We’re close to the city center and she was able to show us the highlights and tell us history and details about what we were seeing. As Rick said, “That was fantastic, I never would have learned anything if we’d just walked.” Chiara was passionate about history and how important it is to understand what’s come before in order to not repeat.
And the crowds, goodness. But it was all cheerful and fun to hear the languages.
Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, the start of the renaissance happened here (according to Chiara). This was the first building that Brunelleschi designed and he was making a statement – that the windows and shapes reflected the shape of a person’s head and shoulders, thus the arch. No longer the steep shapes that pointed to heaven and were meant to remind humans how small they were in comparison to God. This the Hospital of the Innocents for orphans. Brunelleschi said that he wanted to give beauty to the orphans to try to make up for how hard their lives were. There’s a famous wheel that is still visible where it was possible to abandon newborns anonymously by making them enter a cavity that was opened by turning the wooden wheel.
This is the baptistery in front of the Duomo (cathedral), started in 1069, solely for baptisms. You weren’t allowed to enter the church without having been baptized.
Impossible to actually get a full photo of the Duomo, but it was truly spectacular. It’s been cleaned and they’re working their way around the building – the detailing was remarkable. The dome by Brunelleschi was the final piece and was put on after 20 years of a giant empty hole at the end of the cathedral because no one could figure out how to put on a dome. They had a competition for who could design the dome and Brunelleschi won. Happily, he lived the 15 years it took to finish it because he was the ONLY one who knew how to do it. He then destroyed all of his notes so that no one else could replicate his design.
Ponte Vecchio – pictures of us on the only surviving bridge over the Arno River after WWII. The reason it survived is because the Italian general directing the strikes (to keep the allies from moving their weapons and troops through town) had gone through the upper corridor that connects the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence’s town hall where Cosimo de Medici governed) with the Palazzo Pitti (where Cosimo lived) in 1565. The general had seen all of these portraits of Cosimo in the corridor and knew there was valuable history and that it shouldn’t be destroyed. Plus he knew that the bridge itself couldn’t hold the heavy allied vehicles. So he bombed the roads leading up to the bridge and all of the other bridges, but saved this one.
Anna Maria Luisa de Medici was the last surviving Medici. They had inbred to keep the assets in the family and by the end, all were sterile or impacted by other health issues. Since there was a law from the 9th century that women couldn’t rule, she knew that the Hapsburgs would inherit. She changed her will so that all of her holdings were to be given to the city of Florence upon her death. Thus the city was able to hold onto all of the paintings and statues from the renaissance. They couldn’t hold onto the jewelry because the Hapsburgs would just put it on and carry it away…
And Chiara, our wonderful guide, jumped into the ticket office for the Accademia Gallery of Florence as we passed by and said – wow, there’s no line! If you want to see the David, go ahead and buy tickets and then come back. So we did – got tickets for 5 to close the museum. Finished our walk with Chiara, came back to the hotel for a break (ice for Rick) then back out 10 minutes away and saw the David (and the rest of the museum). Just astonishing.
Then Bob and Susan came in! Yay, so fun, and we’re off tomorrow to start our Camino on the Via Francigena
Reb's Walks! 