I went to Florence in 4th grade and was convinced I was in the middle of a fairy tale.
Going back in my 30s, I still felt the same awe.
The architecture and art, so beautifully preserved, you step inside a time machine to another century.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and The Last Judgement painted on its ceiling by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari
It’s one of the world’s largest cathedrals and took over 100 years to build.
the view from the top of the Duomo
This incredible city is over 2,000 years old.
Florence is known as
the birthplace of the Renaissance.
Before Rome, Florence was once Italy’s capital.
The cathedral also boasts the world’s largest masonry dome.
(that’s a self supporting brick structure that uses it’s own weight to stand tall)
- The green marble from Prato was meant to symbolize hope.
- The white marble from Carrara is world famous! From the same city that Michelangelo used to carve all of his statues.
Ponte Vecchio
the Medieval bridge over the Arno river
“Ponte Vecchio, that bridge which is covered with the shops of jewelers and goldsmiths, is a most enchanting feature in the scene.”
-Charles Dickens
Tiny shops line the bridge. When I was a kid on my first trip to Florence, my parents bought me a little coin purse in a leather shop that I still have to this day.
The Common Man, by French artist Jean Marie Clet Abraham, steps off the Ponte alle Grazie, seemingly into the nothingness below.
statues flood the Palazzio Vecchio
“Everything about Florence seems to be colored with a mild violet, like diluted wine.”
-Henry James
The Equestrian Monument of Cosimo I by Giambologna
and a few famous rape statues…
Giambologna, Rape of the Sabine Women, 1583 and the Pio Fedi, The Rape of Polyxena, 1868
I didn’t get to see the statue of (the real) David this trip because it was during COVID,
but I’ll be back someday soon I’m sure.
And now for my favorite photos from this trip:
Florence at Sunset
“This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and the spirit.
To see the sun sink down, drowned on his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.”
–Mark Twain
Replica of Michelangelo’s David
The Famous Uffizi Gallery
As an art major, this city is home to many incredible works that lead the way for art of the future.
The Duke and Duchess of Urbino, by Piero della Francesca (1473–1475)
Primavera by Sandro Botticelli (1477–1482)
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1485–1486)
Doni Tondo by Michelangelo (1504–1506)
Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo (1481)
Perseus Rescuing Andromeda by Piero di Cosimo (1510-1515)
Portrait of a Man with a Medal by Sandro Botticelli (1474)
Portrait of an Old Man by Filippo Lippi (1485)
The Cestello Annunciation by Sandro Botticelli (1489)
Laocoön and His Sons by Greek Sculptors (unknown date…but OLD and insanely influential)
so much to view in The Uffizi, but also to view from The Uffizi
It’s a relief in a hectic, modern world that this city still exists in this state.
How lucky I feel to have seen it with my own eyes.
Florence, we’ll meet again soon.
for the love of nike 