I ws extremeley excited to visit Florence. It is after all one of the most important city states that brought about the Renaissance May experts proclaim it to be the actual birthplace of the Renaissance. And it was a base for some of the greats like Michelangelo, DaVinci and Galileo.

Here is a woodcut of Florence that was published in 1493. Michelangelo was 18 years old when this was published!

A couple of things we can notice in this image:

First off you can see it has a wall going all the way around it. Secondly we can see that the river and water is a very important feature. And third we can see those four bridges that cross the river from one part of the city to another part of the city.

Another feature you can see in the woodcut is the big building with the red dome. That is the Florence Cathedral also known as The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower.

This woodcut is simply wonderful. And being 500 years old it comes to us directly from the Renaissance! I have a larger version of it right here. It will open in a new tab.

For me, Florence was all about the Renaissance greats and I got a good sampling of them including a visit to the DaVinci musuem, the Galileo museum and I witnessed the city and a whole lot of amazing architecture and sculpture.

First let's take a look around the city then we will peek into the museums.

One of the most important parts of Florence is a plaza called The Piazza della Signoria. It is where you can find an amazing array of sculptures and it is where the Uffizi museum can be found. That museum is the tenth most visited in the world and it is where many profound works of art can be found including Michelangelo's David. On the left edge of this picture you can see a building that is where the famous Uffizi museum is.

One of the sculptures in the piazza (Perseus and Medusa) and the second picture is the entrance to the Uffizi.

Note that I have a page with more of the sculptures at the Piazza Della Signoria right here.

Here is another view of the Piazza.

The Ponta Vecchio - This is a medieval arched bridge over the river and it also has a whole series of buildings and shops on it.

In this picture we are on the Ponta Vecchio.

There are a lot of wonderful shops like these:

The Signum shop was particularly interesting to me, it raised a feel of glee and creativity in me. This shop has some wonderful stuff.

A view down one of the many beautiful old world streets. That big building in the back is The Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo). aka the Florence Cathedral.

This is The Duomo.

Here is the front door.

There are two musuems in Florence that I visited. Here is a picture from each and a link to full pages with lots more about each.

The DaVinci Museum is a very hands on museum. It has replicated many many of his inventions into actual working machines. It's kind of cool. Click on the thumbnail to go to my webpage with more about this museum.

The Galileo museum is all encompassing and it has everything Galileo and even the actual telescope that changed the world with his observations of Jupiter's Moons.

I have a page with lots more about this museum. Click on the thumbnail image below to visit.

I spent a day and a half in Florence. It was a wonderful time for me. But, I had a lot of other things to see throughout three countries in Europe. So, my second day came to a close and I retired for the night, so in the morning I could continue my pilgrimage. The next stop being Pisa.

(Sunset over Florence)