Il fuoco di Firenze

I will concede – Firenze is a way more cool word than the English plain old “Florence.” And furthermore, Florence was an unbelievably amazing city. I hadn’t anticipated anything other than love for it, given all that I knew about its history, architecture and art art art – many of my friends who had been to Italy told me it was their favorite Italy destination.

As expected, I took many photos. So, I’ll chunk it out in two or three posts perhaps. Though, some of what I shot is already in my Street Art and More Street Art (Clet Abraham art) posts. So pop over to those as well for some Firenze love 🙂

For this round, I’ll just dare you to not jump on the first plane out, with a look at my favorite highlights.

 

Lovely Ponte Vecchio

Bargello. 2 Lions, 15th century

Many a street view of the eclectic skyline and Duomo.

Pappardelle with wild boar.

Duomo at night, the view from our hotel tower (formerly a castle!)

“Truth for Giulio Regeni”, a PhD Italian Cambridge student murdered in Egypt.

Duomo

Sunset view, Arno River, Ponte Vecchio. vantage point

Florence mercato centrale, spaghetti with truffles for lunch

Another pretty Duomo view

Ponte Vecchio reflection, Arno river

Florence view from hotel/castle tower

Restoring the Bargello ceiling. What a cool therapeutic job to have!

Restoring the Bargello interior ceiling

Duomo view

The best tiramisu we had, next to our friend Marco’s 🙂

Duomo view

Lovely pastries

Street art

Bargello courtyard. Loved this space. Dates back to the 1200’s, and was a prison in the 18th century.

Fancy Pants Vespas

Michelangelo’s David – as much as it’s pretty much one of THE main tourist attractions – was truly just stunningly beautiful artwork.  I was teary eyed upon first seeing him.

 

Lovely.

David. All 17 feet of him.

Beautiful bum. Seriously.

Really just amazing detail. I have zero sculpting ability, and can’t say much more than that!

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Volterra: Ancient Times and Fairy Tales

While it’s not easy – or even necessary – to choose a favorite place in Italy, I may have to put Volterra on the top of my list. Coming off of our first stop of Rome, and the city-esque crowds of tourists, Volterra was an incredible respite. And, an amazingly gorgeous hill town that left me teary-eyed from the overwhelming charm and history.

Volterra, historically, is a walled hill town dating back to at least the end of the 8th century BC. What’s amazing is, it’s believed to have been continuously inhabited since that time. AMAZING. This is a place where just being and sharing space with the beauty and history settled into my soul in a gentle, healing, humbling way.

Much of my pictography in this post is meant to convey Volterra in a simplistic way. The irony of simplistic is, here it is charming and beautiful, no matter where or how one ventures in this lovely classic Italy hill town.

Panoramic view from Volterra, beautiful Tuscany

Under the Tuscan Moon

Early a.m. view from my room window

Ombra della sera, “Shadow of the evening”, Etruscan museum. The statue represents a nude male, 22.6 inches tall, with very elongated body but head in normal proportions. It is estimated by archaeologists to date from the third century BC.  Quite humbling.

Wine cellar, the wine tasting fantastic.

Roman Theatre, excavated in the 1950’s, built in the late 1st century BC.

Volterra Cathedral

San Giusto, Volterra

Cute Italian dogs and cute Italian men 🙂

Etruscan Arch, entry into town

One of many, many quaint streets in Volterra.

Beautiful everything here.