Coaching for Pizza: Beautiful Florence: Day XI Euro Adventure 2022

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Nothing but blue skies and sunshine to start our day, perfect for the two hour drive from Verona to Firenze, a.k.a., Florence.

We walked a few blocks from our nice hotel in Verona in search of our usual cappuccino and brioche for breakfast.

Along the way we saw some

bikers out for a morning ride

We were on our way at a reasonable hour and were making good time when we all started getting hungry again.

We decided to stop and enjoy one of Italy's finest roadside dining experiences, the Autogrill.

They sell just about everything

you could think of in an Autogrill

At the Autogrill's restaurant, we each had solid meals of either lasagna, pasta or fish. We were all fully satisfied with our menu choices and the FitzGerald's were able to cross off "Eat at an Italian Autogrill" from their Bucket Lists.

Getting to our Air BnB near Florence's Ponte Vecchio proved a bit harrowing as navigating the city streets here is a nightmare due to massive street repairs and narrow one way streets chock full of people walking in the streets.

I am more than positive that I racked up lots of driving into limited access camera tickets along the way including one for almost driving into the piazza surrounding Florence's famed Duomo!

Eventually, we made it to a parking structure near our accommodations none the worse for wear.

Our Air BnB in Florence is our best stay yet being both spacious and in a perfect location to easily walk to all of the major tourist sights.

Our Air BnB even has a crest

It also has a glassed off

chapel in our bedroom

After 20 minutes to compose ourselves, we were off on our newest exploration foray into the city that once gave birth to the Renaissance.

The Palazzo Vecchio in the historic

core is Florence's City Hall

In its adjacent Piazza delle Repubblica, the site of the original Roman Forum, and there are lots of noteworthy statues near it.

This is not just a grand statue of Neptune,

it is a fabulous fountain as we

would see later into the evening

They may have had coed oil

wrestling in Roman times

Actually it is titled The Rape of the Sabine Women.

Colorful flags on the Palazzo Vecchio

This lion has HUGE paws

Perseus who just decapitated

the Medusa

Again, the Palazzo Vecchio

in the background

So many statues like . . .

. . . a David, not THE David

Lots of violence depicted

in these statues

Just a few feet from the Palazzo Vecchio

sits one of the world's greatest art museums,

the Uffizi Gallery

We will enter it on another day, today we just walked around its outer courtyard which includes statues of the great power brokers, artists, writers, explorers and warriors with Florence roots like Cosimo de Medici seen here.

The base describes him as The Father of Our Nation.

Lorenzo II the Magnificent

This Medici's title says it all.

Not the Ninja Turtle

The one and only

Leonardo da Vinci

Easily Italy's best known author

Exiting the Uffizi Gallery's

courtyard onto the Arno River

A famed Florentine warrior

Giovanni was a Medici and leader of the Black Bands who fought fiercely for of his relatives, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII, in the War of Urbino and the War of the League of Cognac.

One of Florence's iconic sights,

The Ponte Vecchio

Nothing but high end

jewelry for sale on the

Ponte Vecchio

Perfect for our two veteran,

worldly shoppers

The possibility on the Ponte Vecchio

are, unfortunately for me,

ENDLESS!

Cover them, they're going in!

I opted to take another photo

of the Ponte Vecchio from the back side

In Florence, lots of bridges

span the Arno river

However, none of them are like

the Ponte Vecchio

Gold to our ladies . . .

. . . gold to me

So much gelato, so little time . . .

Traditionally, rubbing this hog's

snout brings good luck

I know her

Street art is a big part of the Florence scene even today.

See what I mean

Seeing Florence's Gothic Duomo

for the second time today

We saw it from right over there

when I nearly drove into the

piazza surrounding the Duomo

This love couple made it

to one of Italy's finest cities

The Campanile Tower to the right

This bell tower was designed by Renaissance genius Giotto.

The Duomo's main entry doors

Across from the Duomo's

entry doors sits the Baptistry

The Baptistry's golden doors were designed by then 24-year old Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Let's take a closer look . . .

The Catholic Church again using

art to relay biblical stories to

the largely illiterate masses

Such amazing detail

Ghiberti spent 27 years (1425-1452) working on these door panels.

What we see here are copies, his original door panels are on display in the Duomo's museum.

Grand, simply GRAND!

The Duomo's namesake dome

created by the one and only

Filippo Brunelleschi

When the Duomo was first constructed the site of this dome was left as a huge hole in the ceiling. The Duomo was built in the Middle Age by architects who left it unfinished on purpose.

They knew that they wanted a dome in this spot but lacked the technology to build one of such huge dimensions. They simply decided that at some point in the future, someone would come up with a feasible construction plan.

After nearly 100 years of waiting, enter Filippo Brunelleschi in the 1400s.