Tour of Italy 2019 – First Stop: Florence

Florence is the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region and is the first place I visited on my short tour of Italy. Florence is well known for masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture with its most iconic site – Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. With its fascinating terracotta-tiled dome and complex structures, this gothic style church is the third largest in the world and is an unmissable part of Florence. It is situated in the Piazza del Duomo (“Cathedral Square”) and comprises three buildings, the cathedral itself, the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile (bell-tower). The main reason why this cathedral is so famous is because it helped inspire artists and engineers across Europe.

The next famous site we visited in Florence was the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval stone arch bridge over the Arno River. It is unique for having shops built along it, originally occupied by butchers, but now, jewellers, art dealers and souvenir shops cover the bridge.

The last famous site we observed in Florence was the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence. The Palazzo Vecchio overlooks the bustling Piazza della Signoria, the main square in Florence where a copy of Michelangelo’s David statue is placed. David is a biblical hero and a favoured subject in the artwork of Florence. Michelangelo, an Italian sculptor, painter and architect was the most famous artist of the Italian Renaissance, a period of Italian history beginning in the 14th century and ending in the 17th century.