Florence, Italy (September 17, 2009)

On Thursday morning we had to say goodbye to Giuliano, Michelle & Sophia. We jumped on the train & made our way back to Florence to meet up with Christi and her mom, Cathey. We met them at the train station and checked in our hotel room.

This is a shot of the Badia Fiorentina bell tower from our room window. It is famous for being the parish church of Beatrice Portinari, the love of Dante's life. Dante grew up across the street in what is now called the Casa di Dante. In 1373 Boccaccio delivered his famous lectures on Dante's The Divine Comedy in the church.

It was founded as a Benedictine institution in A.D. 987 and was one of the chief buildings of medieval Florence. Between 1284 & 1310 the Romanesque church was rebuilt in Gothic style. Unfortunately it had to be rebuilt in 1307 because part of the church was demolished to punish the monks for non-payment of taxes. It underwent a Baroque transformation between 1627 & 1631. Sadly, the bells Dante wrote of in his Paradiso no longer toll the hours. The tower has been silenced due to serious structural problems.



We took off to explore the city. I just love the bicycles all around the city.



We made our way over to the Piazza della Signoria to see a copy of David as well as other famous sculptures. The piazza was born from struggles between the nobles, the Ghibelline, and the middle class, the Guelph, in the 13th Century. The nobles lost control of the city and the Guelph partly destroyed their palaces.

After the struggle, the city leaders called on Arnolfo da Cambio to design a suitable building to house the new government. His answer was the Pallazzo della Signoria, the Palace of the Lord. The palace gives it's name to the piazza. When the Medicis returned to power the name was changed to Palazzo Vecchio.

The piazza is accented by Plazzo Vecchio's Torre d'Arnolfo.



A copy of Michelangelo's David sits in front of Palazzo Vecchio.



This is a shot of Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus from the Iliad.



Christi taking pictures in the piazza.



Cathey & Rachel in the piazza.





We made our way over to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (commonly called the Duomo). It's a Gothic style cathedral that was started in 1296. This is a shot of Brunelleschi's dome which was engineered in 1436.



The building was covered with so much art it was overwhelming.









The cathedral is currently being cleaned so half of it is white marble & the other half is dark grey from exhaust soot.