At Golden Hour in Florence, Italy
Beautiful Florence.
In the late afternoon of our last day in Florence, Italy, my husband and I climbed the steps to Piazzale Michelangelo to view the sunset. I wanted to get photos of the city at golden hour. What is golden hour? It is the last hour before sunset and the first hour after sunrise. It is when the angle of the sun on the horizon provides a golden hue that is not directly overhead, so it creates wonderful shadows and soft golden light on faces.
We knew from the tourist guidebooks that we would be with a crowd of hundreds at sunset, but the view was supposed to be worth the climb.
The Piazza Michelangelo on the south bank of the Arno river was designed in 1869 by Giuseppe Poggi. Originally the terrace was designed to house a museum of Michelangelo’s work but the museum was never built. Besides seeing the view of the city, I was especially interested in viewing the bronze version of Michelangelo's statue of David on the Piazza.
The view from the Piazza was as spectacular as expected and the golden hour light was perfect.
The dominant dome in the photo is Il Duomo, the Brunelleschi Dome of Florence. It is the largest masonry vault in the world. It was built between 1420 and 1436 using Brunelleschi’s unique design that included two domes without a supporting structure. “The Dome consists of two distinct domes, one internal, more than two meters thick, with a deeper angle than the other and consisting of large arches held together by ribs and made of bricks arranged in a herringbone pattern.” (See duomo.firenze.it)
The bronze replica of David was glowing in the golden hour light. It was a lovely contrast to the original statue of David that we had viewed the previous day in the Accademia Gallery in Florence.
Leaving the Piazzale Michelangelo just as the sun was setting, we walked along the Arno River, crossing it at the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The bridge was built in the 13th century. The name means the “old bridge” but it is also referred to as the “gold bridge” since the Medici family converted it into a place for jewelers and gold salesmen. The jewelers are still there, so if you need a piece of gold jewelry before leaving Florence, this is the place to stop.
The bridge was crowded with people moving across the bridge in one direction or the other. We stopped for a moment to view the Arno river from the Ponte Vecchi and then we started our walk back to the Duomo area.
You don’t have to be in a setting as beautiful as Florence, Italy to get beautiful golden hour photos. All you need is that golden light just before sunset and just after sunrise. Find a subject, then stand and wait for the light. You will be delighted with the results.
Show me your golden hour photos. I would love to see them.
