Florence Take 3
Technically, this was our third trip to Florence. The first time was for just a night during our honeymoon. A night that will always be remembered by frequent trips to the bathroom all night after being food poisoned by the (in)famous Florentine beef. Oh, man that was a rough couple of days. We decided to return on that same trip and I fell in like. Florence is an amazing and captivating city. After we got home I whined about going back almost every day. I’m annoying like that. So, ten months later, here we are!
We came into Florence knowing we would have to hike to our AirBnB from the train station. It was incredibly hot and crowded, so lugging our heavy packs through streets full of crazy drivers and sidewalks full of oblivious tourists, made a 15 minute walk turn into almost twice that. Once we arrived, the apartment had blessed air conditioning. Manna from Heaven. Swapping pants for shorts, we went sniffing around for gelato at our “secret” hole in the wall spot, which has no name or sign, but offers the best gelato ever in history.
It was too late in the day to go see any museums, so we just wandered around and took in the familiar sights of Florence. Having been there twice prior, it was pretty cool to know our way around streets and how to get places. Florence has a very maze like series of roads and it is very easy to get lost and turned around. I was so enthralled with the place from the past visit, that I had pretty much memorized the map of the city and exactly where I wanted to go. Kristin was a good sport by humoring me. She loves Florence too, but was not too keen about going back there a third time.
The next day we went to see the Palazzo Vecchio, where there is a hidden Leonardo painting behind a giant fresco in what is called The Hall of the 500. A huge meeting hall. The story goes, that Leo was commissioned to paint a battle scene on a wall. Years go by and some Medici guy decided to remodel the Hall making it much bigger. The guy commissioned to do the remodel, Giorgio Vassari, was a total fan boy of Leo and took measures to protect Leo’s painting by building a wall in front of it. The painting that is there now is huge. I mean giant! And hidden on the painting in tiny white letters are the words, “cerca trova”, which mean seek and find. It was a cryptic message Vassari left letting people know that he didn’t carve up the Leo. Anyways, I was totally smitten by that story and had to see it for myself.
Vassari painting that is in front of a hidden Leonardo.
We also saw The Bargello museum. It was an off-the-beaten-path one, but held some really awesome pieces of art my Michelangelo and Rafael. It was small, but definitely worth it. It was cash money also, which we didn’t have on us, so we managed to get a quick lunch and bottle of wine before getting cash and stumbling back in there.
We saw this last time, but I figure I can give a quick shout out to it: The Duomo. The crowning crown of the city. Built upon the ruins of older things, the Duomo church is topped by the biggest freestanding dome in the world. Brunelleschi designed and built this dome over 500 years ago. Looking at it from below is unreal, but walking up to the top of it is something else. You get to walk along the interior part and see some truly terrifying paintings. The view from the outside is even better and you can really appreciate the architectural beauty all around the city. These Renaissance dudes were so smart and ahead of their time. That is what draws me to Florence. It is a city where the modern world began. It is like an epicenter for creativity and thinking. It is a city that cultivated the talents of the greatest minds and inspired untold numbers.
The Duomo from the Palazzo Vecchio clock tower
Florence is a city everyone needs to see once in their life. Florence is one of the most beautiful cities I have every seen. Around every corner and down every narrow path, you are literally walking in the footsteps of some of the biggest names in history. Every single one of the Ninja Turtles worked here. Seeing the David in person is a bucket list item you need to do. The Uffizi Museum holds Leonardo, Rafael, Botticelli and countless other works.
It was our last night there, so we cooked a little dinner inside of our little apartment and watch dubbed Italian TV before calling it a night. The next day was a travel day to The City of Lights. I was sad to go. Florence will always have special meaning to us (not from the food poisoning incident) and have a hold on me especially. There is something about the amazing history here that is so fascinating. The Renaissance was born here and the greatest artistic, architectural and philosophical minds ran these streets for hundreds of years. I can’t put words to it, but there is something Florence puts in their water that keeps me wanting to come back. I just have to convince Kristin!
FINAL THOUGHT:
Florence is simply an amazing city to visit. It is undeniably beautiful. There are so many things to see and try to take in. For us, it was incredible to see, in person, things we've seen in pictures or movies our entire lives. To look upon some of these works feels surreal. Most people rush to pull out their phones to take a picture in order to brag about what they've seen to their friends (I'm guilty of this, too). I think you can look at something without truly seeing it. Take the picture and then just stop and take it in; it's not going anywhere. Unless you get shoved out of the way by a tour group.
