Florence, Late April 2016

[fumobici]

I've done a couple of reports on Florence here before. It's the nearest city most Americans have heard of to where my family lives and I do tend to visit there.
I know to a lot of people Florence is considered too touristy etc., and of course it's plenty touristy no doubt. But, like a lot of tourist cities, it's touristy
for good reason and the worst of it is obviously confined to the summer. For me, every time, Florence is wonderful and almost unfailingly surprises me in the best
ways. I found a cheap open jaw airplane itinery that had me headed home from Florence having arrived in Italy in Venice, so I planned for a couple of days there before I flew out.

The pretty morning train ride along the Arno into stazione Santa Maria Novella from Arezzo was through showers but also brief clearings. I found a nice place
across the street from the Medici Chapel, which is attached to the huge and impressive Basilica di San Lorenzo and so two blocks from the Piazza Duomo and
a short block from the Mercato Centrale. I get settled in and head out into rain. It's a little nasty but I don't think it will remain so for long given
the blue sky showing. I duck into the nearby Palazzo Strozzi's courtyard. There is often some interesting installation there and the covered walk around the
open center of the courtyard isn't the worst place in the world to kill a few minutes waiting for the shower to pass.



The boy mugging with the umbrella for his father standing beside me saved the video. The people are in line to enter a modern art exhibition, the weather wasn't
quite bad enough to join in the line, but almost.

Of course i get impatient and leave before it stops raining. I turn up my collar, press on and when it begins to clear again I find myself in piazza S. Croce.



S. Croce is interesting to me. It is close to the piazza Signoria and the Uffizi etc. but it is also just a couple of blocks to the East of a very real
neighborhood so you get tourists and associated sellers etc. and you have students from the large University not far away, and you have just regular Florentines
of all sorts that happen to live in the neighborhood and are out shopping or whatever.



I'd never gone behind the church before. There's a leatherworker's guild situated there.



I wander out on nearby Ponte alle Grazie to get a feel for the Arno today. The Arno is the backbone of Florence, its mood and the sky's describe thcity's mood of the moment.
The skies are leaden but brightening; the river is full but still commodiously so.





I cross to the oltrarno (south) side of the river and walk westward towards the Ponte
Vecchio. It might not be too slammed on a still puddly late April afternoon.



This band is playing a nice set on the middle of the span. What a wonderful surprise to walk upon.

I'm going to do a stroll around the Duomo, this miracle of renaissance engineering and architecture never gets old to me.



Yes, it's raining again but the marble cladding of the structure looks by far its best when wetted, the colors of the stone come to life.
I once again marvel at the beauty and incredible workmanship of Andrea Pisano's cast bronze baptistry doors.







I do a lap of the cathedral in the rain.



As I complete my circumnavigation, a procession of people singing in a call and response song march by headed inside.



The skies are quickly clearing, it's time to visit the Piazza Signoria and wander down the river from there as sunset approaches.

[fumobici]

Fixed the bad formatting and added a couple of photos I had forgotten to include.

[htmb]

It's wonderful! Super start and very interesting, fumobici.

You're right about the music. How nice it must have been to hear it in person.

[Deleted]

Even though you didn't plan it that way, I find it quite inspired to see a report of Florence in the rain. Believe it or not, I can get quite tired of blue skies after a while.

[fumobici]

By the time I arrive at Piazza Signoria, the clouds have broken and the sun is shining on the Palazzo Vecchio.





Dominating the square is an art installation, an enormous bronze turtle sculpture in high polish.





I'd read about this being the subject of a minor controversy in the local edition of the newspaper La Repubblica. Apparently some thought it a little out of place here. I leave you to be the judge. It certainly got my camera snapping.













There was another sculpture by I presume the same artist of a man standing on a stepladder holding up a straightedge or something.







The coach driver and surely Poseidon have I'm sure seen stranger things here before.







David seems equally impassive.









I am drawn back to the river.











The river as dusk approaches has a special charm.



These were shot at the Pescaia di Santa Rosa, a weir constructed to redirect the river's flow for the hydraulic powered mills than once lined the Arno's banks here. If you have stereo speakers you can follow the ambulance siren from screen right all the way behind the camera and off to the left in the video below.



As the dusk deepens I soak it in and take a last few photos of the river.

[htmb]

This is wonderful, fumobici. I'd be drawn to the river, too!

I kind of like the turtle, both for its size and its modern look. Maybe it's a nice contrast to its surrounding?

[bixaorellana]

Magnificent! Thank you for persevering and getting those photos in the rain, as they have their own special beauty.

This lovely report could also be used as orientation for visiting Florence. And this comment is most convincing as a reason to visit:

Aug 17, 2016 3:45:05 GMT fumobici said:

For me, every time, Florence is wonderful and almost unfailingly surprises me in the best
ways.

I loved the boy with the umbrella and adore your photos of the baptistry doors. Your architectural shots are excellent, as always, and your love for the river is beautifully shared with us.

Looking forward to more!

[mossie]

A wonderful effort despite. or perhaps because of, the rain. I also really like the tin turtle, genius.

[fumobici]

The following day dawned bright and fresh, I planned to make the long walk up to S. Miniato al Monte to again take in the view down on the city, but first I wanted to see a Liberation Day celebration that was planned for 1 PM in the Piazza Signoria.

The Duomo is looking very different in the bright morning sun than it had yesterday.





The turtle in Piazza Signoria where the ceremony will be held later held forces me to take another photo.



The river looks very different today as well.







I find lunch and wander back over to the Piazza Signoria to see the Liberation Day celebration. The day celebrates the liberation of Italy from fascist control in 1945.







The tiny little lady at the microphone gave a fiery speech about the evils of fascism and never ending struggles of workers against the ruling classes.



Below is a short video I took of the scene. Sorry about the wind noise.



One more of the turtle, I just can't stop myself.



I stroll around the centro a bit before crossing the river to climb the hill. Piazza Repubblica-



Santa Maria Novella near its namesake train station-






The first time I came here to this church, the piazza out front was full of shady characters and a little dodgy. It no longer is.

I'm off towards oltrarno.



I've decided the apartment on the end of the little lane here up against the city wall just up the hill from Porta S. Niccolo is where I want to live next.



A little park with a fountain on the way up the hill to S. Miniato-



On a little footpath up to the church I find myself behind two women talking loudly in American accents. One is going on to the other about how much she despises her fabulously rich husband and gleefully describing how her and her lawyers plan to take away everything they can so she can keep the house here in Florence as well as the ones in New York City and in San Francisco and Hawaii. Anyway, this is the terazzo in front of the church I was headed to.



I just adore the views from up here. You may remember this place from an earlier thread I posted here. This is the place with the fancy cemetery behind the church I took unwittingly forbidden photos of. The church itself is really sensational inside and out, a fine example of early 13th century architecture. The interior of the church is likewise off limits to photography but other people were snapping away. I however was not.









Next I stroll down the hill towards town and stop at the Piazzale Michelangelo to get some more views down on the city closer to the river. If you look closely you can see snow still remains on some of the higher hilltops surrounding the city.











And finally a stop at the rose garden between the piazzale and the S. Niccolo neighborhood. This was once a really nice spot to enjoy a quiet time looking at the city or to have a picnic, but seems to have been "discovered" since then. Still a nice place, but I wasn't tempted to stay today.









In our last photo of this report you can see the city with the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio and Brunelleschi's dome in the background.



I shall return, Florence enchants me always. I headed down to the Mercato Centrale to find some dinner (report I did here: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/5067/florence-mercato-centrale ) where the ground floor I showed you in my earlier report is undergoing renovation, but the first floor above is set up with restaurants all around the perimeter of the huge room with bars in the middle and many tables between. I wish I'd taken photos or video, but I was focused on getting fed. Highly, highly recommend it if you find yourself nearby, it's informal and inexpensive but the food and drink is absolutely first class, even if you *are* eating it from a paper plate. After dinner I was off to have a few beers at a wonderful little dive bar called one Eyed Jack's just across the river that actually has a first class beer selection on tap including a couple of American West Coast IPAs, which are basically unobtainable in Italy. Then in the morning off to the airport and a flight to Frankfurt, and from there Vancouver BC and home.

[htmb]

What fabulous views from up above. Absolutely wonderful!

[Deleted]

Your sunny pictures are just as perfect as your rainy ones.

However, the main thing that I notice is that you are just as enthralled by the views of the Arno as I am. The Arno in Florence is just as photogenic as the Seine in Paris.

I also note that centuries of strict urban planning have completely preserved the city from any modern high rises, even around the edges.

[bixaorellana]

Not only lovely to look at, but most interesting. Even though I know how far north Florence is, the snow-topped mountains still somewhat surprised me.

[lagatta]

Italy sells itself as sunny (and in general, it is, especially when one is arriving from the Netherlands) but it is very hilly and often downright mountainous, and I'm not talking only of the Alps. There are very high mountains in Abruzzo (due east of Lazio on the Adriatic side). Even in Perugia we got quite a bit of icy conditions and some snow in the winter, and the streets are cobbled and often very steep.

I've also been above Florence, but don't remember whether the high hill where I was staying was that one or on the other side.

I also remember the seedy and sometimes dodgy individuals around that railway station, but there was a tavola calda with decent food served by courtly, elderly waiters. Now there is crap fastfood there, including a McDo (and not one of the nicer McCafés with actual food).

The last time I was in Florence the Mercato centrale was closed, but there is also a market near Santa Croce. I like that area as well.

[fumobici]

The high points in the Apennines often keep their snowcover well into the spring or even summer. The mountain you can see with snow in late April will be on the Tuscany-Emiglia border, probably near Monte Cimone, which is the local high point but is covered with military and telecommunications stuff around the summit. I think there's a ski resort nearby too.

K2, the city has the usual rather unaesthetic sprawl in parts of its perimeter but not too bad. It's at least not highrise and the worst is confined towards the airport downriver.