"Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish."---Michelangelo
Day 10

         Florence

From Piazzale Michelangelo

We said goodbye to lovely little Levanto as our bus climbed the steep and winding road up and over the coastal mountains and back into Tuscany. We arrived at the picture perfect Piazzale Michelangelo on another beautiful day. After  a couple dozen photos of this amazing city laid out below us our bus driver took us about as far as he could go into the old town, navigating the very narrow streets like a champ.  But even a champion driver like Massimo couldn't get us to our hotel, so we dragged our suitcases a couple short blocks over cobblestone older than the United States times ten.   
Andiamo Italia
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the fast
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And the hilarious

Our City Walk Begins

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After a couple hours on our own to grab lunch we reconvened for our group city walk.   Our hotel was so centrally located that within five minutes Caterina had us standing in Piazza della Signoria staring up at the Palazzo Vecchio.  We were introduced to the wildly successful and somewhat ruthless Medici family through the stories she told of conquest, fame, fortune, and political intrigue. We saw the exact spot on which a Medici enemy was executed. Having just recently been to Volterra we recognized the very similar design of the two town halls. Volterra's is older and was supposedly the inspiration for the Palazzo Vecchio.

The Accademia

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From one "Wow" moment to another we continued our city walk to the Accademia where David awaits.    Not my David, Michelangelo's. Visitors were funneled down a corridor eventually leading to a long narrow gallery showcasing David in a specially design niche under a beautiful scalloped dome. He was "WOWderful" and taller than most people imagined. The almost equally compelling unfinished sculptures of the prisoners and an emotional pieta lined both sides of the gallery and there was a mock-classroom set up displaying the tools, plaster models, and sketches once used by the students at the Accademia.  

Hotel Torre Guelfa

Our amazing hotel, Torre Guelfa, was built somewhere around the 12th century.  We scored a huge room with an even larger bathroom. Mammoth windows overlooked the narrow street below and the ceiling still retained a portion of its original frescoes.  We were sleeping in Italian history. The hotel boasts one of the tallest towers in the city which is now used as a wine bar. The climb to the top was worth the effort because the view from the tower was phenomenal.

The Florence Cathedral
 aka The Duomo or 
Santa Maria del Fiore

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Of all the "wow" moments we experienced to this point, unexpectedly coming upon Santa Maria del Fiore elicited the biggest simultaneous "Wow" of the trip. Which was followed by a few gasps, an "Oh my", and a couple "Holy Cow's". The narrow streets leading up to the piazza gave no indication of what lay beyond.  It just seemed to jump out and surprise us. The massive size, the elaborate colored marble exterior, and the spectacular egg shaped red dome were like nothing we'd seen so far. The Renaissance at its finest was on display and simply wonderful. Not on display was the octagonal baptistery which was covered in scaffolding, but luckily still revealing Ghilberti's stunning bronze doors, the "Gates of Paradise".

On our own in Florence

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We were let loose after   our city walk and wandered through the marketplace near San Lorenzo to the Mercato Centrale.  We loved the young   hip   vibe  and  the   modern warehouse style architecture. We had a great dinner from  an over the counter deli style eatery and did some shopping for our group get-together back at the Torre Guelfa tower. Everyone had something to contribute to the evening's menu of cannelloni, cantucci, salami, and a lot of wine.  The view from the tower at night was romantic. The conversation was lively and the company of our fellow travelers was, as always, very entertaining.  Was there more singing?  I can't remember. 
Did you know? 
 The following items were Italian inventions: 
  • typewriter 
  • thermometer
  • piano, cello,  & violin 
  • optical eye glasses
  • espresso machine
  • radio
  • ball bearings
  • battery (electric)
  • liposuction
  • opera
 Along the Way:
After leaving the Accademia we ran across an artist's workshop owned by the Scarpelli family. They were creating the most amazing landscapes using intricately cut pieces of semi precious stone.  The process is called pietre dura. 
A Blast from the Past
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My mom, me, my sister and brother at the Gates of Paradise
In hindsight:  We wish we had bought one of the small landscapes at the Scarpelli Bottega d'Arte workshop.  They were expensive but would have been a beautiful reminder of our visit to Florence.  Another, "next time". 
UPDATE:  Fast forward to 2016--Haunted by those beautiful Pietra Dura stone paintings we left behind, we
contacted the Scarpelli workshop and through a long email exchange managed to order three small paintings. Katia Scarpelli sent us photos of several different scenes, asked what our budget was, and helped us pick out the three we liked the most.  She was wonderful and so helpful. Our stunning little stone paintings arrived quickly and now have a prominent place in our home.