Florence - Come Fall in Love !

It was nine in the evening when I reached Florence, as I stepped out of the train coach the hot air greeted me, the air con inside was much better. It was my third day in Italy and I had started to feel the heat of summer.

Coming out of train station I saw something familiar, there was showroom of this footwear MNC ‘BATA’, it is a Czech company but has a very good presence in India and for the first time I saw it anywhere in Europe.

The print out said that I need to walk for 3 minutes to reach the hotel. I walked for about 3 minutes and reached River Arno, the sun was setting, the river was gently flowing, it was a marvelous, enough for love at first sight with this city !

Florence is an extremely beautiful city situated on the banks of river Arno, between the Adriatic and Tirreno Seas, not much of traffic, no pollution, and no noise, what would I not do to have a home in this peaceful city and live my life here.



I didn’t see any industries in this city, tourism seems to be the biggest source of income for this city. Anyway I was tired,little more walk I reached the hotel and retired to bed.

I started exploration of Florence next day at around 9am, here are the pictures.

The first monument to see was ‘The Duomo’. The construction of this cathedral began in 1296 and the dome was added in 1436 AD. The original façade was demolished in 1587 and the present façade was recreated in 1887 by de Fabris.









The dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and was the world’s largest when it was made.The frescoes in this dome are the work of Vasari and Federico Zuccaro.










The next is 'Palazzo Vecchio' (Old Palace). This was constructed in 1294 AD as the head quarters for the elected members of the Republic of Florence who formed the ‘Signoria’. The Medici family (most powerful family of Florence then) moved to this palace in 1540 AD , stayed here for 10 years and them moved to ‘Palazzo Pitti’



Here is the sectional graphical view of this palace.



This is the entrance to this palace


There were some beautiful work of sculpture around this palace. This is famous ‘David’ by Michelangelo made for this palace



The following picture is of ‘Neptune Fountain’ situated in Piazza della Signoria.



This is the sculpture of ‘Hercules and Caco’



The little cupid



‘Ufizzi Gallery’



The Ufizzi Gallery is the building located between the 'Piazza della Signoria' and the Arno river was constructed between 1560 and 1580. It was originally designed to host the archives and administrative offices of the state of Florence. In 1737 it was converted in museum.

Ponte Vechio



By now few terms were clear to me, like ‘Ponte’ means ‘bridge’ and ‘Via’ means ‘road’ and ‘Piazza’ means ‘square’
The 'Ponte Vechio' (old bridge) is, of course, the oldest bridge in town. There are lots of jewelery shops in this bridge for tourists.



The shops



Palazzo Pitti

After this I on the other side of the river is Palazzo Pitti. It was constructed in 1450 AD and it was the residence of the Medici family. This has now been turned in a museum and it took me about two hours to complete the round of this museum. It was not allowed to take photographs inside so I couldn’t take any



Palace from inside




Santa Croce church

This is the most famous church in whole of Florence due to the presence of the graves of artist like Michelangelo, Nicholav Machiavelli, and Galileo.



This is the tomb of Michelangelo





This is the tomb of Machiavelli



This is the tomb of Galileo



There is also a museum inside this church.



The omni present scooters of Italy




The day was coming to end and it was around 5 pm by this time and now the only thing left in my itinerary was visit to ‘Piazzale Michelangelo’. It is the highest point in Florence and one of the most beautiful sights in world and is always full of tourist.


There is a church here as well !.
This is the view of the church from city (with full zoom)



and now when I reach this place.



Below the photograph of Florence city which I took while spending the evening at this beautiful place.













The beautiful sunset from this place








This is the Santa Maria Novella Church.



One of the most beautiful cities of earth, the city of art from where came the term ‘Stendhal Syndrome’. This is the view of Florence at night