Steve's European Exploits: Florence

Florence is a really great city. It is not quite as insane as Rome, which was a nice relief. I thought it also had a lot more character than Rome due to the fact that Florence is primarily a Renaissance city and there is a distinctive architectural style all throughout the city. There were of course the inevitable tourists... but not nearly as many as in Rome.

Food and wine is amazing in Florence as well. Florence is a red wine city and therefore, as a red wine lover, I was very pleased with the amazing selection of wine. I had quite possibly the best pasta i have ever had in Florence as well at this restaurant near San Lorenzo church. Absolutely amazing... I could hardly believe that food could be that delicious.

We arrived in Florence by bus on Wednesday night. We got to stay in a very nice 4 star hotel. I shared a room with one other guy... well actually it was a suite... and we each had our own room.... and bathroom.

We started off the day on Thursday by going to see the Galleria dell'Accademia. This is the museum that houses The David by Michelangelo. David was incredibly impressive. I have seen many pictures of the statue before... but then when I saw it in real life I was overcome by awe. I knew that David was big... but I had no idea how big he was. The statue is literally 4 or 5 times lifesize... just incredibly huge. But he is also incredibly life like. I almost expected him to move or twitch or something it was so lifelike. Michelangelo has to be one of the greatest sculptors ever to live. I highly recommend a visit.

We then went on an extensive walking tour of Florence where we saw many churches, chapels, cathedrals, etc... The most impressive was of course Santa Maria del Fiore with the iconic dome known as Il Duomo designed by Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi was able to design the incredible engineering for Il Duomo by studying how the Romans built the Pantheon. Brunelleschi was faced with a number of challenges that he overcame with his ingenious and unprecedented design and construction process. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the octagonal drum of the church was built but there was no dome. Brunelleschi won the competition for the design and construction of the dome with an incredible solution. Because of the existing building, it was not possible to use buttresses to support the lateral force of a typical dome, therefore Brunelleschi’s design was engineered so that the dome would completely support itself. To take things even further, Brunelleschi’s design did not require the use of scaffolding. Another strategy used was to lighten the weight of the dome by having two ribbed layers of brick rather than a solid mass. Due to the complexity of the project, Brunelleschi insisted that he have complete control over the construction of the dome. Il Duomo is not only an incredible feat in engineering and design but became the pride of Florence and remains one of the most recognizable architectural icons of the Renaissance.

As mentioned, I saw a good number of other churches such as Santa Maria Nouvella, San Lorenzo (a church designed by Brunelleschi but with no facade because he died before it was finished... and he never drew any plans), Santa Croce, as well as elaborate personal chapels of the powerful Medici family of Florence. We also saw the Palazzo Vecchio which was the seat of government for Florence during the Renaissance.

That night I was with my friends Kyle and Laura and we met up with some other Cal Poly students who were studying abroad in Florence. We went to dinner at a great pasta and pizza place. It was good to talk to the other students and find out what it was like for them to live and study in Florence.

Friday morning we visited the Uffizi Museum which is a very large collection of art that spans the centuries. It was definitely overwhelming. The most famous works in the Uffizi is Primavera and The Birth of Venus, both by the Renaissance painter Boticelli.

We had free time in the afternoon. I went with Kyle and Laura up to an amazing lookout of Florence on a hill across the river. Then we walked to the Boboli Gardens where we met the Cal Poly students in Florence. The gardens were pretty and it was very nice to get out of the city for a bit and enjoy some nature. We met back up with the group for a great last meal at a restaurant.

On Saturday the rest of the group returned to Copenhagen. I had the day to enjoy one more day in Florence before my train left for Zurich at night. I was able to meet up with the other Cal Poly students in Florence again and we spent the day just hanging out in Florence and in their apartment. I had dinner with them then walked to the train station for my night train to Zurich.

To conclude matters.... Florence was a great city to visit. I enjoyed myself much more in Florence than in Rome because it was not as crazy and I was able to relax more. It also helped that the food was especially good along with that delicious red wine. Overall, it was an incredible week of travelling in Italy. However, despite the nice weather (think California) and amazing food, there were many things about Italy that I was not such a fan of. It also gave me a whole new perspective on Copenhagen and the Danish culture. I realized that I really appreciate Danish culture and that Copenhagen really is a beautiful city.

Here's a few of the photos. Check out the rest here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve04/BestOfFlorence#