Walking Tour of Florence

This morning we had breakfast in the hotel, before setting off on a walking tour of Florence with a very informative local guide, a young woman named Irene, who was a bit late due to a small accident with her four year old son before she came. But all was well.
Irene was very passionate and knowledgeable about the history of Florence which made for a great experience over the three hours we wandered the medieval and renaissance streets with her in the lead, and our radios on tuned to channel 10.
She told us about the extent of original Roman town in the times of Julius Caesar, the tower homes during the dark ages when it was quite unsafe and also unhygienic to walk the streets. She told us about the emergence of the Medici family who took up banking and transformed the financial system of Italy and Europe. The Medicis became wealthy and influential, even providing four popes during their 300 years of rule, up until the 1730s.
The Medicis were largely responsible for the renaissance due to their patronage of the geniuses and artists that Florence has become famous for, including Donatello, Brunolesci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Galileo, just to name a few.
The piazzas of Florence were the places where the bonfires of the vanities took place when a conservative monk named Savonarola ruled the city for about four years and convinced the Florentines to burn all their books, artworks, clothes and other decorations in their homes. When the Medicis again took power, the renaissance continued unabated.
We walked past the copy of the statue David by Michelangelo, noting it’s anatomical accuracy, and then walked to the street outside the Uffizzi where, in 1993, the Sicilian mafia exploded a car bomb, killing five and injuring more, and letting the Florentine magistrates know that the investigation into the mafia, and the relevant witnesses who were then about to testify, were on borrowed time.
The tour ended in the main civic square where for five years after unification, Florence operated as the Italian capital until Rome was declared Capital in about 1871.
The afternoon was free and I visited a luthier shop where a group of three artisans were making violins, violas and guitars. I then went for a walk up to Michelangelo Piazza on the hill that overlooks Florence from the other side of the Arno. A beautiful scenic spot for a panoramic vista of the magical city.
Dinner was pizza and there was an evening concert in the main city piazza, before gelato and bedtime.Read more