More renaissance culture

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Geo: 43.7687, 11.2569

Florence is a city that benefits from a 4 day stay during which time you can really immerse yourself in all the glorious renaissance stuff it has to offer. We had the one day to enjoy it but having been before we did not mind especially as it was a sunny day. I love the Piazza della Signoria, where the statue of David by Michelangelo stands. It is a very good copy however and you need to go to the Accademia to see the original. There is also the wonderful bronze statue of Perseus and Medusa by Cellini. It is told that when he was making it he was running out of metal so he rushed around the house collecting bronze plates and anything he could find to literally throw into the melting pot. The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna is another glorious statue you should not miss. After having a drink in the square our friends went off to the Uffizi. Fortunately they had pre-booked their timed tickets, a wise move as the queues to get in were very long. We had been twice before so instead we strolled around and went around the Orsanmichele building which has some fine statues by Ghiberti and Donatello commissioned by the Guilds in niches all around the outside of the church. The outside is better than the inside. Our mission was to find somewhere for lunch and by the time our friends came out of the Uffizi we had a good table in the Ristorante Paoli on the Via dei Tavolini, a very pretty old restaurant with fresco-ed walls and arched ceilings.. The beef carpaccio and spaghetti vongole were excellent but do not bother with the house wine and choose a better bottle. After lunch there was the inevitable trip to the Duomo, which I do not think is as nice as the one in Siena, but the outside with green, pink and white marble is beautiful and the huge dome by Brunelleschi needs to be seen. While the men sat in a bar, the girls also went in the Baptistry which has some beautiful mosaics inside as well as the famous doors by Ghiberti. I also dragged my friend along to the Innocenti, which was the Foundling hospital, not to go inside but to see the blue and white plaques of swaddled babies by the Della Robbia family decorating the outside. It was a long walk back to the car so another bar stop was in order while our friends visited the Ponte Vecchio. As I thought , they didn't think much to it as it is now too touristy. Another successful day out made even better by the fact that it was sunny.

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