Firenze, Italia: Days 3 and 4

Florence, Italy

Day 3: Saturday, 12/4

We started off the day in Piazza del Duomo again. We hadn't yet had the chance to go inside the Duomo before closing hours, so went inside the cathedral and also into the crypt. We then climbed the hundreds of stairs up the bell tower. The Campanile, bell tower, is commonly called Giotto's Campanile since the first story was designed by Giotto.

 View of Florence from the bell tower
(You can see Santa Croce and Palazzo Vecchio here)

We had some lunch at Trattoria Za Za where I had the lasagna al forno and the flourless chocolate tort with pudding. We then walked by a square (I can't remember the name) where there were many carts and vendors set up. There is also a small statue of a boar here. Legend goes that if you rub its nose you will have good luck!

 Caption

We then went to Santa Croce, in Piazza Santa Croce. This is the largest Franciscan church in Italy and holds the tombs of several important Florentine's including Michelangelo and Dante. The vast interior contains stained glass windows and frescoes. One of Brunelleschi's most important works, the Cappella dei Pazzi, is in Santa Croce.

Set up in the piazza was Florence's Christmas markets! It wasn't incredibly impressive, mostly because the majority of the products were surprisingly... from Holland. Around the piazza are also several leather stores that we walked around in.

 Santa Croce

We then headed back to the city center and passed through the Ponte Vecchio again where we saw all the jewelry stores. In the main square by the Duomo there was some sort of parade with people playing instruments.

A parade

After a day of sight seeing we had some dinner at Tratorria Anita where I had la ribollita, a Tuscan bread soup with vegetables.

Day 4: Sunday, 12/5

My last day in Florence was pretty low key. I had some packing to do and we slept in. We later stopped by a cafe and I had a pizzette with prosciutto and mushrooms. I also picked up a small panini with arugula, roasted mushrooms and mozzarella for the plane ride later. Alex then took me to the train station so I could catch the shuttle to the airport for my 5:30 pm flight. This time, I landed in Munich on time at 7:30 - with more than enough time to spare until my connecting flight at 9:30! Fast forward to 10:30 and I had landed in Prague... where it was of course snowing!

Firenze, Italia: Days 1 and 2

Florence, Italy

Day 1: Thursday, 12/2

On Thursday I headed to the Ruzyne airport after having class from 12-3 for my 5:30 flight. I was there with plenty of time to spare... but inconveniently enough, the plane ended up being delayed by an hour. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except for the fact that I was supposed to land in Munich at 6:30 to catch a connecting flight to Florence at 7:35. I landed at 7:30. Hyperventilating, elbowing suitcase toting passengers, and sprinting across the Munich airport, I made it to my next gate - with about 90 seconds to spare before the shuttle left for the plane. The flight then took off and I landed on schedule in Florence at 9:30.


I met up with Alex (my college roommate who is studying with NYU in Florence) at her apartment that is located in the city center. We spent the night hanging out, catching up, and meeting her friends!


Day 2: Friday, 12/3

We woke up on Friday to do some sight seeing. We first went to Yellow where I got my first authentic Italian meal! I went traditional with a margherita pizza. Alex then took me to the Piazza della Signoria, which is Florence's most famous square. It's in the heart of the historic center and there is a free open-air sculpture exhibit. The Loggia della Signoria holds some important statues including a copy of Michelangelo's David. The piazza has been Florence's political center since the middle ages and Florence's town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, sits on the piazza

Next up was the Galleria degli Uffizi, which holds the world's most important collection of Renaissance art. The Uffizi holds thousands of paintings from medieval to modern times and many antique sculptures, illuminations, and tapestries. Artists whose works you'll see include Michelangelo, Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, and Raphael. Most notably, I saw the Birth of Venus by Botticelli here.

 Piazza della Signoria: Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi, and Loggia della Signori

After going to the museum we walked by the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), which was built in 1345 and was Florence's first bridge across the Arno River. It's is the only surviving bridge from Florence's medieval days (others were destroyed in World War II). The Ponte Vecchio is still lined with shops selling gold and silver jewelry.

 The Ponte Vecchio and Arno river

We then walked by Florence's most popular site - Duomo, the Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore. The huge Gothic duomo was begun in 1296, consecrated in 1436, and holds 20,000 people. Its exterior, made of green, pink, and white marble, has several elaborate doors and interesting statues. The inside of the Duomo is a vast space and contains only a few works of art. Among these are its 44 stained glass windows, which were designed by some famous Renaissance artists, including Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, and Paolo Uccello. The Crypt contains the archeological remains of the ancient cathedral of Santa Reparata. Also in the crypt are the tombs of past bishops of Florence and the tomb of dome architect Brunelleschi

 Duomo

We then took an ice cream break and got gelato. I got the cioccolata extra noir (extra dark chocolate) and stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate chips) before boarding a bus to visit NYU in Florence's campus. For NYU in Prague, we live outside the city center and go to school in 2 buildings located right off of Old Town Square. For NYU in Florence, they live in the city center and go to school in an estate that was converted into a small campus.

Part of the campus

We spent a while there walking around and crossing the bridge where there were views of the city. We later took the bus back and had dinner at Ristorante La Grotta. We all split bruschetta, and Alex and I split a spaghetti with meat sauce and chicken with asparagus in white sauce between us. I finished off the meal with tiramisu in a cup and then it was back to the apartment for the night!