The Renaissance City of Florence

Where Rome is a chaotic city, fully embracing its history and the overwhelming amount of tourists, Florence is still trying to drag itself along – ignoring the tourists when it can… Some people come to Florence to appreciate the fine art and sculptures, while others simply come to appreciate cheap wine… and something tells me it's been that way since the beginning of the Renaissance.




Despite the fact that Matthew and I where in Florence for four days, we really didn't see as much as we wanted to.. we arrived exhausted from a sleepless overnight train (and I don't use the term lightly) and I was/am still sick which slowed us down considerably when it came to walking around (Raining, as per usual with our trip so far).

Highlights (with photos):

Train Station: Circa 1930s, built by Mussolini and with no great renovations it still keeps its retro art deco style rocking into the year 2013… (No Photo Uploaded yet, sorry)

Ponte Vecchio: Seen a picture of Florence? 50/50 it was this historical bridge lined with shops – very much the same as the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

Duomo: If Ponte Vecchio wasn't the picture you saw of Florence, then this should be it! The facade is three different colours of marble – but this facing is only from the 1870's so not quite Renaissance. The thing which makes this church really special is the artwork which fills it's various halls, chapels, and additional buildings surrounding it… pictures of the painted dome are beautiful, if very different from the styles used in Rome. As a geeky note: This church was in Assassin's Creed II

Example of the tri-coloured facade and bell tower

Perspective - in floor!
The marriage of Art and Math 

Painted Dome... note the style and various light / darker shades portraying the status of life
Very nontraditional at the time for a church painting

There is also the Piazza Signoria which houses several sculptures including a copy of Michelangelo's David:

The copy (right) and the other statue... which I have entitled :
"The other statue with the dude forcing the other dude to admire David"

We also did several foodie things while in Florence including a Pizza and Gelato making night(that's right, Matt was cooking!), dinner at the well known Prosciutto Bar (complete with hooves), and some more Gelato..

Check soon for the update on the TrippyFood Blog for more on this!