Firenze

[Palazzo Vecchio -- and the crowds]


[Duomo with Campanile on the right.]


[Ponte Vecchio]


We spent the last three-and-a-half days in Florence. We had the best meals of the trip (although pizza in Naples will always have a special place in my heart) and saw some incredible art and palaces.

[Gelato is supposed to be especially good in Florence. This place was good but we went to another place that was better.]


Our last time in Florence (1999), we were here for free museum week, which was a nightmare, because all of the Italians came out to go to their expensive museums. This time, we got a Firenze Art card, which allowed us to walk into most of the museums as if we had a reservation – very nice! Most of the museums didn’t let you take pictures, so I don’t have as much to share from this part of the trip (one reason I am doing just one post).

[Donatello]

[Originally on the Campanile]

[Michelangelo]

[Palazzo Vecchio -- outside above, inside below.]


Florence is a pretty town, with lots of nice streets, but unlike Naples it feels taken over by tourists. You are at least as likely to hear an American as an Italian. So I think you come here for the art – although the Tuscan food was great (and we did a better job researching restaurants). A lot of local specialties use stale bread. Some of the best dishes we had were tomato and bread soup, where the tomatoes and bread are pureed with garlic and herbs – really delicious.




We stayed in another really nice apartment outside of the central tourist area -- with another lovely rooftop deck:



Yesterday we arrived in Rome – for the last stop on our trip, before going to Berlin for a month.

[One section of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise]