Florence, The cradle of renaissance

River Arno and the city of Florence

Capital city of Tuscany now, popular those days as "Athens of Middle Ages" Florence or Firenze or Florentine is one fascinating city! The birthplace of renaissance, Florence has few world famous museums and IMO the Piazza della Signoria itself is an open air museum! The full-size replica of Michelangelo's David in its original position attracts the visitors most. The river Arno passes through Florence and flows into Tyrrhenian sea.

Replica of Michelangelo's masterpiece- David

The most memorable experience was to visit Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze (Gallery of the Academy of Florence). It is the home for many renaissance paintings and Michelangelo's sculptures- most popular being the David. To know why it is a masterpiece- one has to see it! Michelangelo has put life in that marble. It feels like that man is going walk next moment!

Gates of Paradise, actually the east doors of the Florence Baptistry. Created by Lorenzo Ghiberti which took him 21 years to complete! The gilded panels of these bronze doors depict the stories of Christ. Taking pictures of this door was impossible as hordes of tourists were trying to get their own pictures with the door. I too was one of them! After many trials my package-mate said he got a good picture of me. I was happy until I saw the pic- me looked great but there was no trace of the doors :( Well, I laughed aloud and thanked him :)

After a tour of Piazza della Signoria I got stuck with some touristy gold and leather shops which our guide took us for some show. I repent that because it wasted most of precious time in Florence. But I enjoyed the little time I got in Galleria delgi Uffizi (Uffizi Gallery) one of the oldest and famous museums in Europe. It is the wonder-world of art! Some paintings from Uffizi Gallery I still remember are as I saw are Doni Tondo by Michelangelo, Madonna of the Goldfinch by Rafael, Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and Madonna and the child by Filippo Lippi. Photography wasn't allowed and so I posted few Wikipedia links here :) 

Gilded panels depicting stories of Christ- Gates of Paradise

This Historic Center was declared a World Heritage Site in 1982. There are many other structures and monuments which should be in the 'must see' list.

Abstract of a sculpture in Piazza del Signoria

Well, this was just an introduction to Florence. There is much more to explore and enjoy. Many spend a lot of time to shop leather and gold. I too did a little bit of window shopping. I liked few leather jackets but, I do not buy much leather and it made me laugh thinking about where would I wear them in South India! 

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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.