Today is our one full day in Florence so we have a plan which will require we walk around most of the old town area and across the river. Our first stop was the Piazza Della Signoia which meant we got to walk by all the sights of yesterday again. The Piazza Della Signoia has many tourist attractions. We did not study all of them, but we did check most out. Our first was to admire the sculptures in the Loggia della Signoria.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street, three bays wide and one bay deep. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines, which Michelangelo even proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria. The Loggia della Signoria houses 14th century sculptures including a copy of Michelangelo’s David.
We also checked out the Palazza Vecchio. The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany. The Palazza Vecchio the historical seat of the Florentine Gov’t but we had a quick look but did not pay the entry fee to tour the restored rooms on the second floor.
We did, however, determine to go into the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi Gallery is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world. Building of the palace was begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici as the offices for the Florentine magistrates — hence the name "uffizi" ("offices"). Construction was continued to Vasari's design by Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti and ended in 1581.
The Palazzo degli Uffizi brought together under one roof the administrative offices, the Tribunal and the state archive (Archivio di Stato). The project that was planned by Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany to arrange that prime works of art in the Medici collections on the piano nobile was effected by Francis I of Tuscany, who commissioned from Buontalenti the famous Tribuna degli Uffizi that united a selection of the outstanding masterpieces in the collection in an ensemble that was a star attraction of the Grand Tour. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public.
We walked up to the lineup to wait for our entrance opportunity and after about 30 minutes were told that this lineup was for those with reservations. There was no signage to that effect so we wasted about 30 minutes in the wrong line. However, it was not a total waste since we had a fantastic chat from a fellow from Australia who was taking a tour of Italy before he got too old – he was 70.
So we walked to the other end and stood in line. Again it was a bit of a wait – if you consider 3 hours a bit of a wait. Behind us in the line walked up 3 young men from US who were on break from their studies in London. The time seemed to go quickly as we chatted for the entire time. What was a bit of a surprise was that when we finally got to the front one of the guys was chatting with us (a bit of a group now) and the attendant put the block off right after him and before us. Because he was already on the entry side the attendant let his two friends join him, but we had to wait – and we had been there first. Bummer! They all felt really bad and apologized numerous times both at the line and again inside when we met up with them again, but we really did not mind. What is a few more minutes of waiting after almost 3 hours?
I will not even try to describe the incredible sights of great works we looked at as we wondered through this huge and world famous gallery. I do have to admit that after a 3 hour line to get in and 2 hours walking around admiring the sculptures, the original paintings, the frescos, etc we were getting a bit tired and numb. (and hungry) However, the highlight of the gallery and our visit was the Botticelli’s Birth of Venus painting.
We left the gallery feeling a bit overwhelmed, tired and hungry. I suspect our tiredness had a lot to do with being hungry since we at breakfast at 8:30 and it was now about 4. So we headed on with our agenda which now included finding a place to eat as we continued to trek across the river towards the Forte Di Vevedere. To achieve this we walked over the Vecchio Bridge.
The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. It has been described as Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge, but there are far older segmental arch bridges such as Alconétar Bridge.
We exited the bridge to walk along very narrow streets with sidewalks that were so narrow they were hard to walk on but onward we walked. Along this stretch we stopped at sidewalk café to have something to eat. This is the first place we had eaten at that I really felt the food was not up to standards and the prices were way too high. In addition they added a ‘tip’ to the bill and that bothered me. Oh well, what do you do, you pay it and veto every eating there again.
We continued up the narrow streets and reached the Piazza Pitti. The Palazzo Pitti is a vast mainly Renaissance Palace. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.
In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon, and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, and its doors were opened to the public as one of Florence's largest art galleries. Today, it houses several minor collections in addition to those of the Medici family, and is fully open to the public. We took one look at the line-up and decided it was not to be for our attendance.
We headed up the hill to find the Forte di Belvedere. The Forte di Belvedere or Fortezza di Santa Maria in San Giorgio del Belvedere (often called simply Belvedere) is a fortification in Florence. It was built by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici during the period 1590–1595, with Bernardo Buontalenti as the designer, to protect the city and its rule by the Medici family. However we were not able to explore since it is closed. We did however find that the Giardino di Boboli (gardens) were open and we were able to spend some time walking through the many paths. The Boboli Gardens form a famous park in Florence that is home to a distinguished collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities. One of the most interesting parts of the walking was the views of Florence. I was able to take several pictures of some of the sculptures and fountains as we walked along Cedar Alley or any of the other numerous paths. Very few flowers are in bloom at this stage, but what I did enjoy was the yellow one I discovered.
Another interesting find was the Museo delle Porcellane (Porcelain Museum). The Porcelain Museum is located in the so-called Casino of the Knight, one of the highest points of the Boboli Gardens at Palazzo Pitti , Florence . Although its opening date back only to 1973, the collection of porcelain is very old, with pieces from other gifts to the Grand European monarchs or actually built by them on commission. The pieces on display belong to the most famous and noble European manufacturers, which since the eighteenth century were able to emulate the techniques of this unique material, hitherto the prerogative only of Chinese and Japanese manufacturers.
As we finished our tour of the Gardens we figured it was time to call it a day since it was close to 6 pm We enjoyed walking across the Ponte Amerigo Vespucci (bridge). What caught my attention was the water level control dam across the river. Most of it was not underwater and that part was being used as a sun-bathing location for local residences. Very interesting and considering the concrete dam would be warm and protected from the wind I am sure it would be very popular to replace the idea of a beach.
The walk home was interrupted by a short stop at the Mini Market so we could pick up some food for dinner which we will have in our room. It really is nice to be at a hotel where there is a kitchen available for our use with dishes and a stove. Of course we did not cook anything since by the time we got back to the room it was after 7 pm and we had started at 9:30 from the hotel. It had been a very long day.
By the way, in the Gardens we were able to watch an archery training session in progress.
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