Ciao! Stop three was the port of La Spezia, Italy.
La Spezia is one of the main military and commercial harbors for the Italian Navy. It also was the key departure point for the survivors after WWII from Nazi concentration camps. More than 23,000 Jews managed to leave Italy secretly to Palestine through La Spezia. (This was information not shared to us by Samuel, our inept tour guide, whom I could not understand his accent nor was his information that he shared enlightening. He made La Spezia sound like a podunk of a city.)
A two-hour coach ride from La Spezia to 'Firenze' or Florence making a stop at...
Pierotucci Leather Factory... Florence is the leather capital of the world!
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| Leather makers hard at work! |
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| A sampling of the many many leather products on sale.. and yes they were out of my price range! |
Then off to the crowds!
Florence (the capital city of Tuscany) is famous for it's history. It is the birthplace of the Renaissance and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. Florence originated as a Roman city.
Our first stop was the domed Cathedral of the City, Santa Maria del Fiore or the Piazza del Duomo with the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile.
The 600-year-old Duomo is the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world.
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| Want to know how big this dome is? Check out the tiny people on it's ledge.. that's how big it is! |
The facade of the cathedral was my favorite.. so immense with it's polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white with an elaborate 19th century gothic revival facade.
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| The cathedral |
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| Giotto's Campanile (puts CAL's campanile to shame) |
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| Octagonal Baptistery of St. John, one of the oldest buildings in the city (1059-1128) built in Florentine Romanesque style |
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| The one of the baptistery's bronze door, the Gates of Paradise |
The gilded bronze door by Ghilberti which Michelangelo dubbed, "the Gates of Paradise"
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| The detail was amazing! This panel depicts a story about Joseph. |
The above door is actually a copy of the original doors which are located inside the Duomo Museum. The bronze scenes depict various scenes from the Old Testament- from the Creation to the reign of Solomon.
The Palazzo (square/plaza) della Sigoria, the city's largest square, was so crowded that it was difficult to follow our guide. There were literally tons of other tours going on at the same time in different languages. Thankfully we had a personal guide with us who did an awesome job keeping us together!
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| Our personal tour guide, my cousin Cheryl, facing the Loggia dei Lanzi |
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| A replica of Michelangelo's David in it's original position and location before the real one was moved indoors to the Academia Gallery in Florence |
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| The Uffizi Gallery is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world. This is the narrow courtyard between the Uffizi's two wings which creates a short street where many amateur artists sell their paintings/drawings. |
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| All along the courtyard were these 'statues'.. that were asking for donations. :) |
We saw the Basilica (church) of Santa Croce, known as Italy's Westminster Abbey for the Italian monarchy that is buried there. Michelangelo is buried here as are Rossini, Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei.
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| The church exterior is covered with polychrome marble facade added in 1863. This church was severely hit by the flood of 1966, a tide mark shows how far up on the pillars and walls the water went. |
Next we checked out the Ponte Vecchio 'old bridge' which is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River. It is believed that the bridge was first built in Roman times.
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| View of Arno River from the bridge |
Butchers originally occupied the shops on the bridge; Currently there are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. During WWII, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike the other bridges in Florence due to an express order by Hitler.
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| In front of Ponte Vecchio |
Along the Ponte Vecchio, there are padlocks affixed in various places which is a tradition that is practiced in Russian and Asia. It is popularly connected to the idea of love and lovers: by locking the padlock and throwing the key into the river, the lovers become eternally bonded.
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| We did not add a lock; apparently there is a 50euro penalty for doing so! |
Did I talk about the food?
We ate at Ristorante Pizzeria "S.Croce" and ordered.. pizza and pasta!
The pizza was delicious.. the Pizza Margherita is the most popular pizza in Italy.. why?
In 1889 while Queen Margherita of Savoy was visiting Naples, Chef Esposito created a pizza resembling the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (basil) and named it after the Queen.
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| Pizzza Margherita |
Kyle and I ordered the seafood pasta.. oh so so yummy!
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| So flavorful and the seafood was so fresh! A Great choice! |
A meal is not complete without dessert!
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| pastries.. tarts galore! |
And GELATO!! Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream. It is a soft ice cream containing little or no air. Ice cream includes 10%+ butterfat and 12-16% sugar; Gelato (dairy-based) contains 3.5%+ butterfat and 16-24% sugar. The sugar content in gelato is balanced with water to act as an anti-freeze to prevent it from freezing solid. Thus you get the soft smooth texture of gelato.
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| I had the Nutcream (vanilla with nutella) Oh it was heaven!! |
And non-dairy fruit gelato!
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| It's hard to ignore their beautiful displays of these treats! |
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| This is a small scoop.. of chocolate for Emily! |
Pinocchio was everywhere... and our tour guide never really explained why.
Apparently, the creator of Pinocchio was Carlo Lorenzini who was born in Florence in 1820.
NEXT UP: Make A Wish and Be in Awe
2 comments:
okay, i'd say that Florence has to be my "favorite" city you saw...so far!
NOTHING puts Cal's campanile to shame. things may be taller, more beautiful, more famous, but nothing is better...
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