Birth of the Renaissance
Day 1: After a quick taxi ride from the train station to the Hotel Accademia, I got checked-in and settle into my comfortable room. I went down to the lobby to meet our tour guide Martin, and the rest of the tour members. After introductions and picking our "travel buddy" we took a Renaissance walking tour of the city's historic center. We made our way through the streets of Florence to the Piazza del Duomo to see Brunelleschi's cathedral dome. Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the formost achitecs and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. In the same piazza is Giotto's Bell Tower (campanile). We arrived in the piazza in the early evening and the lighting was perfect for photos of The Duomo, The Campanile and of Ghiberti's Baptistery doors. We had our first dinner together at a nearby trattoria. After dinner some of us went out on the town and found an enoteca to get more acquianted before heading back to the hotel.
Day 2: This morning we headed for the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery. This massive U-shaped museum overlooks the banks of the Arno River. It is home to the breathtaking Renaissance art of the finest collection of Italian paintings anywhere — including masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I was especially excited to see two works of Sandro Botticelli: The Allegory of Spring, also known as La Primavera, andThe Birth of Venus . and Leonardo da Vinci's pencil sketchings Head of Young Woman. I had studied these works as part of an Art Appreciation class required back in my days at St. Frances, a Catholic girls high school.
Next it was the Accademia Gallery to marvel at works of sculptural genius, Michelangelo. There were some rough and incomplete works of his such as Prisoners, and of course his most well known masterpiece, David. Seeing David upclose had been a desire of mine for sometime. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was reduced to tears standing in the presense of this magnificent piece
The rest of the day and evening was ours to explore Florence: The San Lorenzo Market, Ponte Vecchio, and more. I ventured out with two other travel companions to the Mercato Centrale and purchased food and wine for a picnic at Piazza di Santa Maria Novella We spent the rest of the evening getting lost and found before ending up at Piazza Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno area for a late night meal and more wine!
Click the "Play" button below for a slideshow.
Day 2: This morning we headed for the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery. This massive U-shaped museum overlooks the banks of the Arno River. It is home to the breathtaking Renaissance art of the finest collection of Italian paintings anywhere — including masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I was especially excited to see two works of Sandro Botticelli: The Allegory of Spring, also known as La Primavera, andThe Birth of Venus . and Leonardo da Vinci's pencil sketchings Head of Young Woman. I had studied these works as part of an Art Appreciation class required back in my days at St. Frances, a Catholic girls high school.
Next it was the Accademia Gallery to marvel at works of sculptural genius, Michelangelo. There were some rough and incomplete works of his such as Prisoners, and of course his most well known masterpiece, David. Seeing David upclose had been a desire of mine for sometime. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was reduced to tears standing in the presense of this magnificent piece
The rest of the day and evening was ours to explore Florence: The San Lorenzo Market, Ponte Vecchio, and more. I ventured out with two other travel companions to the Mercato Centrale and purchased food and wine for a picnic at Piazza di Santa Maria Novella We spent the rest of the evening getting lost and found before ending up at Piazza Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno area for a late night meal and more wine!
Click the "Play" button below for a slideshow.
