We woke up early because we wanted to get to the Duomo before it opened its doors at 10. In this hotel, breakfast was not included, which turned out to be a good thing because we got to have a very nice breakfast at a caffe in Piazza de la Signoria.
In Italy, you have to be patient. The Italians are never in a hurry. Even though we wanted to get to the Duomo early, breakfast took forever. By the time we got there it was already 10. They still had not opened but the line already snaked its way all around the piazza. We made our way to the end of the line and prepared ourselves to wait. When they opened, the line moved pretty quickly. We were inside in just twenty minutes. The official name of the Duomo is "Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore." And it's simply beautiful both inside and outside.
A few blocks from there, in Piazza di San Marco, I discovered an even more beautiful place for my taste, thanks to the recommendation of my friend Alina. We visited the Monasterio di San Marco or also known as Fra Angelico's Monastery. Even though it does not have the magnitude and fame of the duomo, I felt in love with its simplicity. It also had an incredible treasure of frescoes. The bottom floor had lots of beautiful art work depicting scenes like the Annunciation, the Coronation of Mary, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, etc.
And on the second floor, each of the monks cells had a beautiful fresco painted on the wall.
My favorite of all was this fresco of the Annunciation which you encounter as you walk up the stairs.
Afterwards, we visited the Basilica di Santa Croce, whose outside architecture resembles that of the Duomo but in a smaller scale.
This church holds the tombs of important artists, like Michelangelo, and well-known scientists, like Galileo.
But to me, even more impressive, was finding that they had a piece of the clothing and cord used by St. Francis of Assissi.
And this beautiful statue of Mama Mary.
I also liked some of the works of art held there.
After lunch we walked over to Ponte Vecchio, where it seemed that all of Florence had congregated.
I personally like Ponte Vecchio more from the outside than from the inside. On the inside is just a street of shops, mostly jewelry stores. We walked over to Palazzo Pitti but there was long line standing under the hot Florence sun, so we decided to skip it this time around. We returned to our hotel through a different bridge, that way we could take some nice pictures of Ponte Vecchio.
At night, the hotel recommended a very nice restaurant for dinner, Il Locale. What we liked the most about it is that it's built among old buildings, so the bar uses the wall of a building as it's backdrop. Very original and beautiful.
And the food, like all food in Italy, did not disappoint. We began with a tray of seafood that was spectacular. Rafael chose fish and I went for the beef, a filet that was so soft I was able to cut it with my fork. And of course, dessert, coffee and limoncello.
Florence is truly a gift to the senses and God willing, we'll be back again someday.
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