A Day in Florence

After spending a few days exploring Rome and the Vatican, we hopped on a high speed train for a day trip to Florence, the capital of Tuscany.

View of Florence from the campanile.

First - a day in Florence isn't enough. That being said, if you're limited on time, it's definitely worth the trip and it's very easy to take the train between cities. The high speed train was really nice. We paid a little extra (about $10 per person) for business class, which has nicer seats, more space, power plugs, and drink/snack service. We had some nice views of the Lazian and Tuscan countryside, but didn't have long to appreciate them as we sped along at 250 kilometers per hour, reaching Florence in just 90 minutes.

One of the high speed trains in Roma Termini.

Everyone looks excited! Actually it was pretty early and people were still jetlagged.

High speed countryside view.

David on the train.

The train station in Florence is right next to the historic center, which is very convenient. There's no need to take a taxi or transit; we walked everywhere. After checking David's parents in to their hotel (since they were staying the night while the rest of us were just on a day trip), we went straight to Il Duomo, Florence's cathedral. It's a masterpiece of architecture, and a widely recognizable symbol of the city. Construction began in 1296, but it wasn't until almost a hundred and fifty years later that they figured out how to build the dome. It was completed in 1436, claiming the record for the world's largest dome. Previously held by the Pantheon in Rome for 1300 years, the record wouldn't be broken again until 1881. Random aside - the Georgia Dome in Atlanta held this record for about a decade after its construction in 1992. The front of the cathedral is covered in green and pink marble, so it looks pretty different than the other churches we saw in Italy. The interior is actually pretty plain, although the inside of the dome is painted with frescoes from the 1550s.

The dome dominates Florence, and is visible throughout much of the historic center.

The view from David's parent's hotel.

It's an imposing and beautiful building.

The front façade of the cathedral.

The baptistery, and the replica doors.

Close-up of a door panel.

The inside of the dome is so high, it's hard to see the frescoes from the ground.

This is when we discovered that just about everything in Florence needs to be booked ahead of time. The tickets to the main museums were all sold out for the day, and tickets to climb the dome were sold out for the next three days. We even checked a "last minute ticket" place that was recommended by David's parent's hotel. We had almost resigned ourselves to skipping these sights, when we found "tour companies" that sold day-of tours... at only four times the cost of normal tickets. It's legal because it's not scalping, it's selling a guided organized tour. It still felt like a bit of a scam, but it was the only way to get in, so four of us signed up for a dome tour. Keep in mind that prices can be negotiated on some of these tours. With only a day in Florence, none of us had all the time to see everything we wanted, and some people weren't too keen on climbing over 400 steps, so we split up. Paul's Mom and sister took an open top bus tour while we climbed the dome.

The last minute dome tour ended up being a great deal. We had a private guide, Eliza, for just four of us. She gave us some history of the cathedral and the baptistery, showing us the replica bronze doors. The original doors, made by Lorenzo Ghiberti over the course of twenty years in the early 1400s, are safe in a nearby museum. From there we began the long climb up the dome - a total of 463 steps. There were good views of the frescoes on the interior of the dome, and then the final steep climb to the top. Our guide made a joke about being lazy, and that the only exercise she gets is while working as a guide, saying "my friends say I have to be paid to do sport." She also noted that regional Italian dialects are quite different, and it's hard for her to understand people from Sicily. We hadn't realized there were such large regional linguistic differences. She also said people in the South tend to be nicer, and the North is stereotyped as being less friendly. It's just one person's opinion, but we enjoyed getting her take on Italians while also learning about the Cathedral.

When we reached the top, the view was amazing. All of the buildings in Florence have red tile roofs and there are no skyscrapers, so it's a sea of historic buildings stretching to the forests and mountains. Climbing the dome should be on your "must do" list in Florence.

Looking down into the scantily clad cathedral...a contrast to the style of church's in Rome.

Close up view of the frescoes on the dome. The top part was painted by an artist who died; the bottom part was completed by another artist.

You can clearly see the difference between the two painters' style...quality.

Not a great fresco...but the painter had imagination! This reminds us of a painting we saw in Fukuoka, Japan! 

View of another church through a porthole. Almost at the top!

The bricks of the dome were laid in a "herringbone" style, to be self-supporting.

It's actually a double dome. Here we're climbing between the inner and outer domes.

The last part goes straight up the side of the inner dome.

The view from the top is incredible.

Looking over at the people on the campanile - we'd be here later in the day.

David's parents at the top.

Looking down the dome to the church and campanile.

Us at the top.

Climbing back down the stairs.

Our next stop was a late lunch at mercato centrale. It's an indoor market with food stalls and a few shops. The market is a little bit gritty and reminded us of a bigger version of the Sweet Auburn curb market in Atlanta. Since it was already mid-afternoon, a lot of the places were starting to close up, but we found a place (called "pork") and had some porchetta and a delicious lasagna made with béchamel. Chris and David E found a place with a good meat and cheese tray. We wandered around the adjacent streets for a bit, which were full of stalls selling leather goods. One great thing about Florence is that most of the center of the city is pedestrian only, so there were a lot of great public spaces filled with artists and tourist stalls. It's clean and pleasant to walk around.

Another view of il duomo down the streets of Florence.

After we pointed David's parents to their hotel, we went with Christina and David E to the Galleria dell'Accademia, a small  museum that holds Michelangelo's David. Again, pre-booked tickets were sold out. There was a long standby line that stretched the length of the block, but we again booked a tour with some guys on the street and were taken directly inside. This time we were in a small group of about 10. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable but not as spunky as some of our other guides. There's not much to the museum - some paintings, and a few statues, but the star of the show is clearly Michelangelo's famous David. This statue actually sat outside for over 300 years before being moved inside. It's an amazing sculpture, with incredible detailing. Our guide showed us some close-up pictures in a book that helped us to understand the importance of the sculpture.

Spiderweb on a statue in the museum.

David is surprisingly tall, and of course surrounded by crowds.

Classic view!

The moment before David hurled a rock at Goliath, captured in marble.

Someone drawing David.

Next the two of us walked back to the cathedral. We planned on going in the Museo del Duomo, which was included in our dome ticket, but it had closed early. Instead we climbed to the top of the belltower (campanile) for sunset views of the city. The campanile was actually completed in 1359, a few generations before the dome was completed.

Heading toward the campanile.

Part way up the campanile.

Sunset view of the dome.

Hey, we were there earlier!

Porthole view of il duomo and Florence.

David in the belltower.

The campanile has good vantage points of the detail on the cathedral.

The cathedral at sunset.

At this point we only had a few hours left in Florence. We met back up with David's parents and made our way to the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval stone bridge lined with shops spanning the Arno River. We walked through Piazza della Repubblica on the way, stopping for gelato popsicles. This part of Florence, just south of the cathedral, was full of high-end shops. It was very clean and organized and with very little vehicular traffic - a stark contrast from Rome and especially Naples. It's kind of a Disneyfied version of Italy, but full of real history and incredible art. The twilight views from the ponte vecchio were lovely.

The lively Piazza della Rupublica.

High-end shops in historic buildings.

A gelato popsicle!

Evening on the River Arno.

Ponte Vecchio

Dusk on the river, seen from Ponte Vecchio.

After our stroll, we parted with David's parents and had dinner on the way to the train station. It was a good pizza place, and of course we had an aperol spritz or two as well. We met up with Betsy, Chad, and Paul's Mom and waited for the train, which was delayed by about 20 minutes. What a whirlwind day in Florence!

Pizza for dinner...again.

They brought us some bubbly. Fancy! Business class all the way!

The trains are really fast. We made it up to 300 km/h at one point.

Florence is a cute smaller city with a lot of touristy areas, and most of the big attractions are clustered right in the center. It's definitely much cleaner than Rome and Naples, but also has less of a lived-in feeling and could seem less authentic or local. The architecture is amazing, especially the stunning Il Duomo, and the renaissance art is also incredible. The heart of Tuscany is a place you should definitely try to visit while you're in Italy.