Originally, Florence wasn’t on our itinerary at all. However, when we realized how easy it would be to come here on our train route, we decided we had to stop! I’m glad we did because even though our time was less than 24 hours, Florence was still my favorite city in Italy. I think partly this is because Florence ended up being less crowded than other Italian cities we visited and the other reason is because it houses the most beautiful building I have ever seen ever. The Florence Cathedral or Il Duomo di Firenze in Florence, Italy was the center of medieval history and the wealthiest city at the time; it makes sense because the architecture is jaw dropping.
I have never seen the level of detail on a building like I did here. If you’re trying to decide if you should visit a Florence even though you have less than 24 hours, I hope this helps convince you this trip is more than worth your time.
THE FLORENCE CATHEDRAL
The Florence Cathedral or the Il Duomo di Firenze, as it was originally called, is a sight to behold. I feel like I have been to a lot of places, but I’ve never walked around with my jaw hanging open because a building felt so huge. If you book a visit to Florence, Italy in advance, you can even book a tour to see the city of Florence from the top of the Florence Cathedral (and trust me, we regret not knowing about this before!).
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As you can see above, the building has marble panels with green, pink, and with white borders. My husband is color blind and we had a pretty funny moment when he said in all seriousness, “Wow, it is amazing how they use so many different shades of brown!” After a minute, I realized that he was really serious because that is really how the building looked.
We want to be able to go back to Florence just so we can see the interior of the Florence Cathedral as well 🙂 .
OTHER BEAUTIFUL SITES WE SAW IN FLORENCE, ITALY
Loggia dei Lanzi
The Loggia dei Lanzi is an open door museum that was open while we were walking around at night. Bonus: there were a lot of musicians and street buskers that were pretty awesome. According to Wikipedia:
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines that Michelangelo proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria.
Florence Baptistery
This building is conveniently located right across from the Florence Cathedral. According to Wikipedia:
The Florence Baptistery (Italian: Battistero di San Giovanni), also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto.
The Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style. Although the Florentine style did not spread across Italy as widely as the Pisan Romanesque or Lombard styles, its influence was decisive for the subsequent development of architecture, as it formed the basis from which Francesco Talenti, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and other master architects of their time created Renaissance architecture. In the case of the Florentine Romanesque, one can speak of “proto-renaissance”, but at the same time an extreme survival of the late antique architectural tradition in Italy, as in the cases of the Basilica of San Salvatore in Spoleto, the Temple of Clitumnus, the church of Sant’Alessandro in Lucca.
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence. For more interesting information on this builing, you can check out Visit Florence.
Fountain of Neptune, Florence
This statue can be seen in the left hand corner of the picture above too! Something that is fabulous about Florence is that if you don’t have a lot of time, you’re still able to see a lot because everything is close in proximity. For more technical information though, according to Wikipedia:
The Fountain of Neptune (Italian: Fontana del Nettuno) is a fountain in Florence, Italy, situated on the Piazza della Signoria (Signoria square), in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Made of marble and bronze, the fountain was commissioned in 1565 and designed by Baccio Bandinelli. It is the work of the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannatiwith some elements created by collaborators. For example, the bronze sea-horses are the work of Giovanni da Bologna, often called Giambologna.
OUT AND ABOUT IN FLORENCE, ITALY
Funny story about the gelato above. I asked for a different type of ice cream, looked away, and began talking to Devin. I ended up with a tiramisu ice cream; for religious reasons, we don’t drink coffee or alcohol and this had both! I took a bite of the ice cream and told Devin something felt off. My tongue started buzzing really weird and I told him it tasted really off. I ended up having to throw away my gelato and was pretty sad. We were running to the train station and there was no time to order something else.
My dear husband shared some of his ice cream with me as we walked. #Keeper Now you’re have heard everything only time I’ve ever tried alcohol 😂. (The only time I have ever tried coffee, it was because one of my special education students brought me a coffee instead of my hot cocoa from the school coffee shop).
Florence, Italy is absolutely beautiful. We plan on going back because even though everything was very centrally located, it was impossible for us to visit everything we could in the short time we were there. I’ll let you in on a secret. Out of all of the Italian cities we went to, namely Rome and Venice, Florence was hands down our favorite.