Firenze, the crown jewel of Tuscany
- Matthew Boyce
- Apr 12, 2022
- 4 min read
Founded by Julius Caesar in 59 BC, Firenze (Florence) is the capital city of the Tuscany region of Italy and a beautiful city that is larger than life.
After Roma, we took a speed train north where we settled in to a HUGE flat directly across from the Mercato Centrale, or Central Market. Our flat was positively ancient, only in the best of ways, with gorgeous exposed brick and thick wooden beams lining the ceilings.
Being in Italy over the Christmas holiday was magical, the streets were lined with lights and decorated Christmas trees glittered in the squares. The entire city of Florence was alight, having their (I can only assume) annual F-Light festival, showering many of Florence's iconic vistas with projected holiday spectacles that were truly a delight for the eyes.
We began our tour of Florence in the Piazza del Duomo or Cathedral Square, home to the Cathedral of the Santa Maria del Fiore, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, which was just a short walk from our apartment. This basilica stands a whopping 380 feet high at its highest and is adorned with marble covering its exterior. Standing just off to the side of the main entrance is Giotto's Campanile, a 278 foot high bell tower. Walking up to this impressive display of sculpted marble stopped me in my tracks. It's very rare that I am speechless but it truly took my breath away. Greg had been here before and decided we wouldn't tour the inside, which was a good thing because the line to get in wrapped around the building. Allegedly, while the outside is brilliantly ornate, the inside is quite lackluster in comparison, according to Greg, they ran out of money (I don't necessarily know if that's true but 🤷♂️). The piazza is also where you'll find the Barristero di San Giovani, a minor basilica about a third of the size of the Duomo covered in the same marble façade.
Continuing on our walk we arrived at the Piazza della Signoria. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also known as the Palazzo Vecchio the town hall of Florence which has roots dating back to 1299. While relatively unassuming from the outside, the Palazzo Vecchio is quite palatial on the inside, housing impressive courtyards, the expansive Salone dei Cinquecento hall, and an upper floor containing the Apartments of the Elements, Priori, and Eleonara of Toledo. The Piazza also houses the Loggia dei Lanzi built in the 14th century, an outdoor arched gallery of sculptures that date back to the 1500's.
The Medici family was an Italian banking family who founded the Medici Bank in the early 1230's, cementing their dynasty as one of Italy's most powerful families until the mid 1700's when the patriarchal line died out. The Medici's produced 4 popes along with 2 French queens. Credited with the invention of the piano and opera, the family were patrons of some of Italy's most famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo and scientists such as Galileo, Francesco Redi, and philosopher Machiavelli.
Medici chapel is the polar opposite of the Duomo in my opinion. While fairly bland on the outside, the interior spared no expense. To the left, you see the Chapel of the Princes, built by architect Matteo Nigetti and designed by Don Giovanni de' Medici as a monument to the lavish greatness that was House Medici. Covered in precious gemstones and marble, stately sarcophagi of the Grand Dukes topped with massive bronze statues line the walls. Work on the chapel took hundreds of years, with the fresco in the dome completed in 1828 by Pietro Benvenuti.
Our last day in Florence brought us to the Uffizi Gallery, just off the Piazza della Signoria. Established in 1581, the building was originally used as offices (Uffizi) for magistrates but over the years, more and more rooms were taken to house the collections and commissions of the Medici family. Over the last 30 or so years, the gallery has been renovated and expanded to more than double the available display space to allow for additional pieces to come out of storage for public viewing.
The Uffizi Gallery is the most visited art gallery in all of Italy with peak visitorship reaching over 2 million in 2016 however due to the covid pandemic, that has steadily declined. You are now able to view a "walking tour" of the gallery by using Google Arts and Culture to take a street view look inside and check out a majority of the exhibits!
A visit to Florence wouldn't be complete without visiting The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. This pharmacy can trace its roots back to 1221, making it one of the oldest pharmacies in the world. Decked out in dried flowers, this beautiful shop is now one that sells perfumes, balms, soaps and other skincare items and has locations all over the world, many of which are in the United States.
Steeped in history and while centuries old, impeccably maintained, I think of all the cities we've visited, Florence is probably my favorite. If you want to see all of the photos from our trip, please head to our gallery page or click on any of the images below and make sure to like and subscribe to get updates on all of our travels!
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