Europe, Day 9: In A Firenze-y Over Florence

Previous recaps:

It’s hard to believe there are only two cities left to talk about from our European adventure, but I’ve really been enjoying the reminiscing and hope you are finding it interesting, too!

On our second to last day of vacation, we woke up at the Hotel Globus in Florence and headed downstairs for our final complimentary breakfast of the trip.

The selection at this hotel wasn’t as large as the others in Italy, but it was no less delicious. I decided to have a Nutella-topped croissant with a side of sliced ham and cheese…

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…plus one more cappuccino for good measure.

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After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel but left our bags at the front desk to begin our full day of Florentine exploration. Our first stop? The Accademia Gallery, home to the infamous and impressive David. Everyone who recommended seeing David prior to our trip promised that we would be amazed by just how massive the sculpture is in person, and they were right! Once we entered the museum, we turned a corner and our eyes were immediately drawn to the end of the hall where this 17-foot tall Michelangelo masterpiece is housed.

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David is a true symbol of the Renaissance. Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt him for the Duomo in 1501. Originally the statue was supposed to stand on the roof of the giant red dome of the cathedral, but ultimately it was decided that he would be placed at the entrance of the town hall (Palazzo Vecchio, which we visited later). He stood there for 350 years, during which time he sustained weather damage and also a broken arm during a riot in 1527. In 1873, the original statue was replaced with a copy and moved to this museum for preservation.

Seeing David in person really makes it clear just how much talent and work goes into sculpting. Combined with the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s, I’d say Michelangelo deserves all the praise and respect he’s given and then some! We had a chance to thank his bronze portrait bust.

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We also viewed several of his unfinished works. It was cool to see the figures emerging from the stone, but not quite completed. Several of them were called “the prisoners.” There was the “awakening prisoner” who looks to be stretching…

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…and the “young prisoner” who buries his face in his arm.

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There was also an unfinished sculpture of St. Matthew…

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…and the “bearded prisoner,” who is the most finished of them all.

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We also saw the unfinished Palestrina Pietà, which was originally thought to be done by Michelangelo but has since been considered a creation from his followers. All of the sculptures were by far the highlights of our time at the gallery.

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Following our morning trip to the museum, we headed back to the Duomo for a daytime visit.

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I know I said this before, but I truly can’t get over how beautiful the exteriors are!

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We decided to climb the 414 steps of Giotto’s Campanile instead of the dome because we’d heard that you could get the same views with a lot less crowds in the stairwells. For someone a little squeamish over heights and small spaces, this ended up being great.

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Plus, by climbing the bell tower we had an actual view of the dome from high up!

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The red roofs of Florence were positively breathtaking, even as it began to rain.

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Once we were back on ground level, we decided to venture inside the cathedral. Our Rick Steves podcast had mentioned it was nothing too exciting, and I have to admit it was pretty bare compared to the other churches we’d seen.

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Still, the Duomo is one of my all-time favorite sites from our trip, inside and out.

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We continued our Renaissance tour with a walk down the pedestrian-only Via dei Calzaiuoli, Florence’s main street for oh, at least a few thousand years. It connects the religious center – Duomo – with the political center – Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo Vecchio.

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The latter was the city hall – in the 1400s it was where the city council met, but it later became the Medici’s personal palace. You can see the replica of David guarding the door in the picture above, which is where the original once stood. A bench tossed out of the window of the palace during the riot in 1527 is what caused his arm to break.

In the courtyard of the palace are statues and ornately decorated walls and columns.

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To the right of the Palazzo Vecchio is an area called the Loggia dei Lanzi, which is full of statues.

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And to the left of the Palazzo Vecchio is a Fountain of Neptune sculpted by Bartolomeo Ammannati.

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We continued our walk until we had reached the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio. This old bridge is lined with shops and has been around since Roman times. The stores used to be inhabited by traders and merchants but are now completely upscale with expensive gold and silver boutiques.

But what we found most interesting about the Ponte Vecchio is that it was the only bridge spared during World War II and the German retreat in 1944. While the rest of the bridges were completely destroyed, the commander decided to leave the Ponte Vecchio impassable but intact.

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Once we had crossed over the bridge into Oltrarno (essentially Florence’s version of Rome’s Trastevere), we made our way to Trattoria Borgo Antico for a late lunch – our last full Italian meal!

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The waiter immediately brought us a basket of bread and olives, which were very tasty.

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We decided to live it up and order one final house wine – this time in a carafe made for two.

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Bobby ordered a prosciutto e funghi pizza that consisted of tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham and mushrooms. He shared one of his pieces with me and it was awesome.

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I decided to branch out with a calzoni, which turned out to be massive!

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But again, so delicious. My filling was essentially the same as Bobby’s pizza, but it was cool to try out the puffy calzone crust. It was definitely different from what I’ve had in the U.S.

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We needed all the fuel we could get for the hike to Piazzale Michelangelo, another must-do on our list in Florence. The walk begins with a slight uphill followed by a set of seemingly endless stairs.

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The view from the top made it all worth it. Hello, Duomo! Hello, Ponte and Palazzo Vecchio!

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Hello, Italian countryside meets city. It was absolutely gorgeous.

 

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We could have spent the rest of the day gazing from Piazzale Michelangelo but it was getting late and our flight to Barcelona was leaving in a few hours. We decided to head back across the bridge and grab one last bite of Italian gelato, this time from well-recommended Vivoli.

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The options were numerous, but I decided to stick with dark chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut.

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We enjoyed our gelato al fresco before making our way back to the Hotel Globus and our beloved Fiat. After stuffing our bags back into the trunk, it was time for one last drive – hallelujah!

Of course, that task proved easier said than done. The hotel concierge was super helpful and said it would be “simple,” which we immediately took to mean “challenging” given our previous history. As it turns out, getting to the airport itself was a breeze – but finding the rental car return was a lot harder. Thanks to some guesswork and a bit of luck, we picked the right turn (in more ways than one) at a fork in the road, saving us a trip back into the city. The full relief we felt after putting the Fiat in park for the final time cannot be described in words. Arrivederci!

Italy, we love you, but we will likely take trains and planes on our next trip. 🙂

Soon enough, we had boarded our Vueling flight and were headed west across the Mediterranean. It was bittersweet to land in Barcelona, but we couldn’t wait to see what this bustling city had in store.

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Abrazos,

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19 Comments

  1. I would be way too scared to drive over there :). Yall are adventurous!! You saw so much- very impressive. The sculptures are very interesting. I can’t imagine having the patience to do that kind of work haha. And of course, the food looks amazing. The pizza- omgosh!!

    • Haha – you are smart. 🙂 I can’t imagine having the patience to sculpt, either, which is why it’s extra impressive!!

  2. I just went to Italy in September and I LOVE your recaps! You did such a better job at cataloging your trip and it’s bringing back memories! How’d you get a pic of the David?! Lucky! Also, we stayed at hotel globus, too! We thought it smelled really bad inside oddly, but otherwise was fairly nice! I loved the wine hour 🙂

    • Aw, thank you, Angie! So cool that you went to Italy, too. I have to admit that my picture of David was definitely against the rules, haha. But the beauty of an iPhone camera is that you can turn the sound and flash off and take a shot before they catch you…and no Davids were harmed in the process. 🙂 I actually thought the same thing about Hotel Globus! Where else did you go in Italy?

      • I’m jealous of your David pic! Haha. I was always too scared. (Probably because one night after too much wine I got yelled at by the Italian police…but that’s another story hahaha). We went to Rome and Venice, also! I wasn’t the hugest fan of Venice, but I LOVED Rome and Florence. We did an amazing wine tour in Tuscany too and that was the best part. Thanks again for letting me reminisce 🙂

        • Haha! That sounds like a very interesting story. 😉 We didn’t have a chance to go to Venice so I’m glad to hear that Rome and Florence were your favorites because it makes me feel better about that decision! The wine tour in Tuscany sounds AMAZING, though. I’d love to go back and do that someday! Glad to reminisce!

  3. Oh Florence, how I love thee! So glad you did too! I could chill at the Piazzale Michelangelo all day I swear. Can’t wait to chat Villa Triste and Inferno when you’re done (Dan Brown REALLY loves staging his books around favorite landmarks, so you’ll definitely re-live your experience throughout the book.) Love all these pics.

    • Bobby is reading Inferno while I finish Villa Triste and loving it so far! I can’t wait to get through both. Piazzale Michelangelo really is the bee’s knees. 🙂

    • Thanks, Kristi! Glad the photos inspired a trip down memory lane. 🙂 It truly was a beautiful city!

  4. Florence really is a beautiful city. I loved the views from the Piazzale Michelangelo, too. Although I totally got flashed by an old man on my climb up to the top (not kidding)…ah, memories. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear what you thought about Barcelona!

    • Ah, memories is right – or more like “ahhhhhhhh” memory? Getting flashed on the climb sounds pretty…interesting, haha. 🙂

  5. Wow. Just wow. Those statues look AMAZING and i’m so jealous. I feel like I’ve said that in every single post you’ve done on your trip! haha!

    I’m so glad you had such a great time!!!

    • Haha! I can’t WAIT for you to go on a trip like this – you are going to love it so much!

  6. Ah, I’m recalling my Florence experiences too (those from art history at ND, that is… haha). I’m soo jealous! 🙂 Thanks for sharing all the pics, especially the art!

    • I knew you would appreciate the art! Can’t wait for when you take a trip to Florence – I have a feeling you could spend all day in the Uffizi and Accademia Gallery!

  7. Jenn, thank you for sharing all of these pictures, they are breathtaking.

    It looks like you are having a wonderful trip.

    The sculptures are just awe inspiring. So many times throughout the years I have wished that I could create something like that. Unfortunately the only thing I ever accomplished was a coffee mug in pottery class.

    The quality and the craftsmanship are something that has stood the test of time and will hopefully bring others joy for many more years to come.

    The food looks delicious. I now want to find a good gelato!

    I can’t wait to see pictures from the rest of your trip.

    • Thank you, Elle! I hear you on the sculpting. I took a pottery class in high school and my teacher once used my bowl as an example of what “not to do.” 😉 Makes me appreciate these works of art all the more. Can’t wait to share the details from the rest of our trip with you!

  8. Great pictures! Thanks for posting – yours are a lot better than the ones I took on my visit. Aren’t Rick Steves guides great? I really find them the most useful of any I’ve used.

    If you didn’t get to Cinque Terre this trip put it on your list for next time. Rick Steves has made it a lot more popular but it’s still a great region to visit.

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