Today was our first full and only day in
the Tuscan capital of Firenze. While our hotel isn’t very good, it is pretty
centrally located which makes it pretty easy to get around. Hans was taking us
to a music arena so he led us on a walking tour through part of Florence. Our
first stop was Basilica di Santa Maria Novella. It is a very old church with a
slightly less old façade. Famous architect, Leon Battista Alberti, designed the
façade based on a proportioning system that he wrote about in architecture treatise.
Personally, I didn’t like it but it was an attention getter.
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| Basilica di Santa Maria Novella |
After sketching a bit at the church, we
finally made our way to the Opera di Firenze. It is a fairly new opera house
that is supposed to be focal point for Florence’s arts and music scene. We
couldn’t go inside because our original docent called out sick. We had to be
content with exploring the grounds. It is a very interesting exterior that
circulates people really well. There is even an outdoor amphitheater on top of
one of the lower buildings. The placement doesn’t make the most sense but it is
a nice feature. It is also high enough that it overlooks the central part of
Florence. It was a beautiful view.
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| Opera di Firenze |
Hans let us go so our next mission was
to find lunch. We walked down the Arno River on what was a pretty hot day. We
stopped for lunch at All’Antico Vinaio which had been recommended to me by
multiple people. It was a cheap but delicious sandwich shop. We got there just
in time beating a crowd of people. We walked a short distance back to the river
to Ponte Vecchio which is a covered bridge full of shops. It is a famous
destination in Florence. We stopped by the Loggia di Lanzi, which was basically
a porch full of statues, before making our way to the Duomo.
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| Ponte Vecchio |
The Florence Cathedral or Duomo is the
11th largest church in the world. What makes it really stand out
though is the dome designed by famous architect Filippo Brunelleschi. It is the
largest brick dome in the world. It is really a sight to behold. The interior
was really lacking compared to a lot of other churches I have seen on this trip
and was sort of a disappointment. I wanted to go up to the dome but it was a
little pricey so I decided to pass on it. I had other things I wanted to see.
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| Brunelleschi's Dome |
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| Interior of Florence Cathedral |
From the Duomo, we made our way to the
Galleria dell’Academia where Michaelangelo’s Statue of David is housed. It was
such a sight to see. It was beautiful and such a rich part of history. It was a
little surreal to see such an important piece of art in person. We didn’t care
about the rest of the museum so we left and attempt to see something that has
been on my must see list for over a year and a half.
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| Michaelangelo's David |
I was dying to see Antinori Winery by
Archea Associati. A winery in Tuscany sounds like a fantastic idea especially
one that has been around for almost 700 years. Antinori wine has been around since 1385! And this specific winery was a
finalist for the Mies van der Rohe Award for European architecture a year ago.
Trying to find the bus station and buy tickets and find where we needed to go
was such a struggle. It was infuriating how much of struggle we had with it.
But we finally got what and where we needed and got to the winery at closing.
We talked a guy at the gate into letting us in and ended up getting a tasting
of some great wines. I ended up buying a couple that I plan on taking home with
me. It was exhausting but I’m glad we did it.
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| Antinori Winery |
We still had a group dinner to go to
which turned out to be pretty good. I had some of the best pasta in Italy up to
that point. We had good food and good conversation before calling it a night.
Tomorrow we leave for Venice. I am very excited!
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