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Florence Travel Blogs

Background: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.

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By SDaniels
November 26th 2009

Thanksgiving in Firenze Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Megan and I at Thanksgiving dinner

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving this semester, being in Italy and all. The Wells program sponsored a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone though since we all couldn't be with our families and homesickness is starting to set in. It was at Accademia and our advisor and his wife ate Thanksgiving dinner with us. It was weird to have school on Thanksgiving and not celebrate it until the dinner. The dinner was very good though, of course there was red wine served. We had a soup for the 1st course, it was an orange-ish color, but we couldn't figure [View Full Entry]

By SwedishVanessa
November 8th 2009

Florence & Festival Della Creativita Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Here I will write something about how horrible Florence was but how awesome the people at Festival Della Creativita that we met were. Shout outs to Mike from Vancouver and Peter and Abby from the NL. [View Full Entry]

By diegocastro
November 2nd 2009

A Terra das Estátuas Peladas Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Florença

Dias 64 a 67 - Devido a um erro em minha mensagem pelo couchsurfing, repentinamente fiquei sem lugar para dormir em Florença. Havia mandado meu pedido com a data errada e, quando, no dia anterior, enviei uma mensagem confirmando minha chegada para o dia seguinte, meu anfitrião disse que havia me esperado três dias antes. Expliquei meu erro, mas ele não poderia me hospedar no sábado, apenas a partir de domingo. Ele então me indicou uma amiga sua que poderia me receber. Anna aceitou que eu passasse a noite em seu apartamento. Na tarde seguinte, ela foi me buscar na rodoviária. [View Full Entry]

By EdBKK
October 30th 2009

Florence Gelato Rip-off Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Piazza Della Signoria Gelato Rip-off

Florence is a very walkable city with lots of great Gelato places. But don't go to this one. It's next to the Loggia in the Piazza Della Signoria. See the picture. We got ripped for 10EU per cone! [View Full Entry]

By mshaw
October 26th 2009

Firenze Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

ciao everybody! It's my last night in Firenze (Florence for all you gringos... Just kidding :) ) and I finally have time to write an entry. Thankfully this hostel has wifi, but only on the first floor. But hey, works for me. Actually, the hostel itself is an interesting story. Ah yes, Interesting story #6 (and yes, I know it's ridiculous to try to keep track because obviously I have more than 6 interesting stories to tell. And I know the first "interesting story #3" got cut off and I don't remember what it was but bear with me): I was [View Full Entry]

By txubergeek
October 26th 2009

A Masterpiece of Italian Engineering Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

The duomo

Florence, Italy Monday, October 26, 2009 As I sat on the steps of the Duomo in Pisa and watched the people milling about the leaning tower, I started thinking about engineering. You see, the leaning tower of Pisa wasn't designed to sit at that angle, but through a series of engineering mishaps and miracles it has ended up that way. What started out as a simple bell tower for the town's church turned into the symbol of a town that you probably would have never heard of without it, as well as one of the most popular sights in Italy. What [View Full Entry]

By Tsunami Sara
October 25th 2009

More bloody meat Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

In action up the alps

We've been in Florence for the last few days, and I'm sad to leave this morning because it means biking every day again. Not that the biking itself is bad, just that our lack of planning causes a panic every day at 4pm about where we're going to stay that night. It always seems to work itself out though. Florence was really nice, though it rained yesterday. We visited the statue of David (what a teeny weiner!) and went to the Uffizi art gallery yesterday. Wish I was more into art because the guidebook said it would take a whole day [View Full Entry]

By Joe Blo
October 23rd 2009

Florence Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

DSCN0831 2

Florence - This album is a combination of photos from two of my different stays/trips in Florence. The first was from from August, my first month in Italy when I lived in Florence while I was taking the certification course to become an English Teacher in Italy. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures during this time because I was too busy with the class. The second set of pictures is from when Marilyn, Andy, and I stopped in Florence for a day before flying up to Munich for Oktoberfest opening weekend. Marilyn and I managed to do a little [View Full Entry]

By ShazDiet
October 21st 2009

Arrived in Florence Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

So I think I've got this thing figured out but still need to work on how to get pictures loaded up. Haven't really taken a lot yet, but I plan on taking a bunch this weekend. Arrived safely, although without my iPod, I left it on the plane from Phillie to Amsterdam. Ridiculous thing was before I got on the plane I bought a charger/speaker for it! Anyway, I'm in class most of the day. I should be fairly fluent after 6 hours a day, five days a week! Still scoping out the good places to grab a latte, found a [View Full Entry]

By LSL09
October 21st 2009

Florence - the Belco girls get kultcha'd Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

The River Arno

From Shell: Florence was yet another surprise. Very clean, very easy to walk around the historical centre, not too packed this time of year and some great museums if you time it right. Timing it right requires what you might expect: checking the opening hours and the standard days of closure. But it also requires investigating additional things like: are there alternating closure times and dates depending on the season/alignment of the planets/what the staff have on that week; are the key Caravaggio pieces you came to see currently offline for restoration; are two whole floors of the [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence