All roads lead to the Duomo in Firenze

Panorama of Firenze

Man oh man do my feet hurt. I've done nothing but walk! Walk and take pictures and eat gelato! Rough life, I know. So, my first full day in Florence (Firenze) I went to the Uffizi Gallery where I saw numerous Madonna and Child/ Madonna Enthroned works and a lot of Greek myth stuff including Caravaggio's Bacchus. Now, if you are going to Florence, I highly recommend that you take a renaissance art history themed class before going. I happened to take such a class last spring so it was interesting to see all of the actual works I had worked so hard to memorize.

Cool arches

After Uffizi, I decided to head on down to the Galleria dell'Academia where Michelangelo's David is located. I hadn't pre-booked my ticket so I had to wait two hours in line. Anyways, I think that particular statue is a tad over-rated. Some of his other works are much more interesting. My one major complaint with these places is that no pictures were allowed! Completely ridiculous, especially when there are copies of the most famous works all around Florence! I've seen three David statues, including the real one. Is the real one

even real though? I could see them not having any of the real art on display and only having copies, which defeats the whole purpose of art! Conspiracy! You should be allowed to take pictures is all I'm saying. It was funny because when one attempts to be furtive and take photos with his or her phone, one starts to notice other people doing the same thing. I also visited the Orsanmichele because we had spent a lot of time hearing about that church and its niches in my art history class.

Orsanmichele niche

Firenze at night

That night after eating at a pizzeria, with my personal philosophy on this trip being never walk back the same way you came because you will always somehow end up at the Duomo and therefore it's better to choose a new direction as long as you don't end up in some creepy side street, I stumbled upon a church procession. This led me to Santa Maria del Fiore where a large number of people were gathered. I entered the church and there were candles and programs, and apparently the "Solemn Vigil of the Resurrection (Veglia pasquale nella santa notte della Risurrezione)" was taking place that evening (Holy Saturday). There was chanting, incense, fire, candles, and Christ on the cross. The funny thing about Santa Maria del Fiore is that the outside is completely over-the-top elaborate, and the inside is rather plain. It's such a contrast. I'm glad I stumbled on this though because taking part in this local tradition really added to my experience in Florence.

Il Scoppio del Carro

The next morning was Easter and I had wanted to be in Florence for Easter precisely because of Il Scoppio del Carro, the explosion of the cart, which is exactly what it sounds like. Oh my word. There were so many people, and taking pictures and video took effort what with angling and zooming to avoid filming someone else filming or filming the back of someone's head instead of the event. Actually, there was this guy with a wide head and salt & pepper hair (more pepper than salt - that's how close people were packed) in front of me who kept moving back and forth, so I eventually just stuck my arm straight up in the air above his head to get some decent footage. Luckily I was able to see the dove light up the cart! Getting out of there though... Oh boy. It was just a mob of people.




Once I was free I decided to go to the Piazzale Michelangelo, on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio from the historic city center where there are great skyline views of Florence. There is a church at the top of the piazzale called San Miniato al monte. The air was thick with incense and it was rather somber inside, but it was very architecturally pleasing to the eye.

Ponte Vecchio

Basilica di San Miniato

Easter is a serious holiday in Italy and as such, most places are closed. Mondays are also "closed days" in Florence, where if a store chooses to open, they have to pay a fine. So this gave me two days of just wandering around the markets and streets of Florence. I have found that, excluding food, there are three main stall types: leather goods, tchotchkes, and scarves.

Campanile di Giotto

On Monday though, and this required a bit of research on my part to see what was open, I found some interesting places to visit. First I headed over to Museo di San Marco where I saw the church and then I went into the museum part which is actually a convent. This was really neat because there were a bunch of small chambers upstairs with original frescoes painted by artists like Fra Angelico.

Next I headed back to the Duomo area and when I saw the line for the Duomo, I decided that Giotto's Campanile was a better bet. Fun fact: there are 414 stairs to get to the top. Once at the top, there are amazing views of Florence city center and the surrounding hills. There was actually blue sky and sun, so that made the journey upwards even better. Also, let me just say, shout out to the iPhone's awesome panorama feature! I love that I'm able to take really wide pictures.

Cutlery at the Bargello

I went to the Bargello Museum next, which used to be a prison, holding prisoners before their executions. That's kind of disturbing if you start to think about it. I liked this place better than the Uffizi Gallery and Galleria dell'Academia because there was a lot more diversity in the items on display. For example, the very cool old cutlery. There were also no lines :)

After all of that I headed back towards Ponte Vecchio to hit up my favorite gelateria (Caffè Delle Carrozze - homemade awesomeness) where I got raspberry and chocolate this time. I won't say how many times I've been, but I will say one word: Delicious. I ambled across the Ponte Vecchio, which has a bunch of fancy jewelry shops, past the Belfredelli tower, and across the Ponte Santa Trinita back to my room to rest my feet. Next stop, Bologna!