My Favorite A — Z Travel Destination — Florence
The third stop on our three-week tour of Italy in 2009
We traveled to Italy in 2009 and visited Milan and Venice before our four-day stay in Florence. Our hotel was in central Florence, just a few blocks from both the Duomo and the Piazza della Signoria, the city’s most popular square.
Whenever we walked through Piazza della Signoria we would encounter our favorite classical guitar player. There he is on the left where the Piazza della Signoria meets the entrance to the Uffizi.
His name is Piotr Tomaszewski and we loved his songs, especially his renditions of Caruso, Cavatina , O Sole Mio , and Con te Partito (Time to Say Goodbye).
The cathedral’s bell tower is a separate building from the Duomo. The official name of the Duomo is Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of St Mary of the Flower). The Bell Tower is also called Giotto’s Campanile, after the artist Giotto de Bondoni who designed the building in the 14th century.
The Ponte alla Grazie from the Ponte Vecchio.
On our way to the bus stop for our winery tour, we stopped by and visited Santa Maria Novella.
This view of the Castello della Trebbio estate is from across the street from the old castle that is the principal winery building. Those are olive trees in the middle ground. The vintners also produce extra virgin olive oil.
The owners of the winery live in the old castle and rent out apartments in some of the farm houses.
Castello dell Trebbio is in the prestigious Chianti Rufina area of Tuscany. They make a fine Chianti from the Sangiovese grape and several “superTuscan” blends from the Sangiovese, Merlot and Syrah grapes.
The castle was built in the 12th century and was once owned by the Pazzi family and later taken over by the Medicis. It is near the tiny village of Santa Brigida, about 20 km northeast of Florence.
I never did get a picture of the old castle which is behind my wife when she took this photo. Most of the grape vines are on the other side of the castle.
The procession ended at the front entrance to the Duomo. Yes, there are more than 100 people in this photo. Do you see the one man who is smoking a cigarette?
There are three David statues in Florence. They wouldn’t let me take any photos of the real David by Michelangelo at the Accademia. The replica in Piazza della Signoria was covered up for restoration. I finally got to take a picture of the third David. The first two statues are made of marble. This one is bronze.
We took the bus to the Piazzale but decided to walk back. It was a pleasant walk from the Piazzale Michelangelo at the top of the hill to the river at the bottom of the hill, mainly because of the gelato we bought at the top of the hill and finished by the time we reached the bottom!
We crossed this bridge to get back to central Florence. No, we did not see any yogurt tub.
San Gimignano is about 38 km south of Florence. It is known for its many medieval towers.
The perimeter of this piazza is the site of the city’s famous horse race, the Palio di Siena, which is held twice a year. After lunch at a little restaurant just off this piazza our guide led us on a walking tour of central Siena which included the city’s cathedral.
Siena is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of San Gimignano and 78 kilometers south of Florence if you are driving.
Florence is on top of our second bucket list — places we would like to visit again. We stayed in Florence for four nights but our two bus tours took the better part of two days. Consequently, we did not have enough time to see everything on our wish list. So, someday we shall return!
Sometimes I wonder if Piotr is still playing his guitar on the Piazza della Signoria.
About these photos:
During my blogging days on WordPress several years ago (see here) I participated in a weekly challenge called Monochrome Madness. It was hosted by an Australian photographer named Leanne Cole and ran for three or four years.
Among the photos I submitted for this challenge were old versions of some of these Florence photos. All of the photos for this post were reprocessed with the latest version of Adobe Lightroom Classic and Topaz DeNoise AI.
So, what do you think? Should I show more monochrome photos in the future or would you like to just see them in color? By the way, if you click on any of the photos you will be able to see a larger picture.