Michelangelo & Galilleo

Without having to worry about travelling, trains, or flights, this felt like my first proper day of sightseeing without being tied to a schedule. I had booked myself onto free walking tours of the northern side of the Arno River, so I decided to spend the morning exploring the southern side, where my accommodation was.

There was still plenty to see, and I’m glad I split the city up this way because I managed to fit almost everything I really wanted to see into the day. My plan was to head up the hill for the views, make my way back down to the river, and then finish the afternoon exploring everything further west on the southern side. The day started with a fairly long walk up the hillside, but the view at the top made it completely worthwhile. The red-brick roofs, colourful buildings, and colossal monuments protruding above the intricately detailed rooftops created an incredible skyline. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Basilica of Santa Croce, and countless other landmarks stood out above the city.

Once again, the photos don’t do it justice. It was genuinely incredible.

After some more aimless wandering, I stumbled across a war memorial park. The atmosphere was quite sombre, but it also offered some amazing views of the Italian countryside stretching out to the south. Florence is actually a surprisingly small city, but it feels incredibly compact and functional. After completely circling the strange stone structure that the park was built around, I somehow ended up at the entrance to the Basilica di San Miniato by complete accident. Unfortunately, the Basilica itself was undergoing restoration work, which made getting a good photo more difficult, but even walking through the graveyard and into the church was an experience in itself. The interior was so incredibly well built and maintained that it was hard to believe it dated back to the 11th century. This is likely to be the first of many churches I see during this trip, but if they’re all like this, I certainly won’t be complaining.

I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to take photos in the cemetery, so I held back at times, but I still managed to get some good ones. The size and extravagance of some of the burial sites were unbelievable. This wasn’t something I had planned to see at all, but I’m very glad I stumbled across it. After visiting another smaller church and walking through Piazzale Michelangelo, which provided equally incredible views over the city, it was time to head back down the hill towards the river.

But not before stopping to admire the incredible statue standing in the centre of the beautiful piazza, providing an almost perfect foreground to the view of Florence.

It was a replica of the famous statue of David, created by none other than Michelangelo himself. The original statue, built and preserved in Florence, can be seen inside the Accademia Gallery—but more on that later. On the way back down the hill, I came across something that I wasn’t expecting at all: extraordinary waterfalls built into the architecture and the natural gradient of the hillside. There were no rivers running down the hill, yet these waterfalls seemed to appear from nowhere, flowing alongside the path as I descended. For whatever reason, I found them fascinating. The water eventually fed into a large pond filled with fish, creating a really cool little feature that I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been walking around aimlessly. I can barely describe it properly, so the photos probably do a better job.

Eventually, I reached the river and started looking for somewhere to grab some lunch. Before that, however, I was tempted by something I hadn’t expected to see: the house of Galileo. It wasn’t far away, but it was very steep. I had fairly high expectations for what was supposed to be the home of one of history’s greatest scientists. When I finally arrived, however, it was… just a house. You couldn’t walk through it, there was nothing particularly exciting to see, and I almost completely missed it. If Google Maps hadn’t told me I was standing directly in front of it, I never would have guessed. There was a picture of Galileo outside, but other than that, it looked like an ordinary house. I’m fairly sure people still live there.

From there, I made my way to the famous Ponte alle Grazie, where houses and shops are built directly onto the bridge, often overlapping one another. It was incredibly cool to see, although predictably very busy. Most of the shops were jewellery stores, so I didn’t have much reason to stop, but it was still fascinating to walk through.

I then tried to visit the Medici Gardens, only to discover that they closed at 7pm.

With not much else planned for the afternoon, I decided to call it there. I found myself a calzone for dinner and headed back to the apartment for an early night.
A pretty successful first full day in Florence.Read more