As you read about during the last few entries on our blog, while spending time in Italy (during our 1st Mediterranean Cruise) we visited some beautiful places like the town of Amalfi on the famous Amalfi Coast, historic Pompeii and ever popular Rome and now visiting Florence (the capital of the region of Tuscany) definitely added to the Beauty we experienced in Italy!
No wonder Forbes named Florence as one of the most Beautiful cities in the World!
That’s the highlight of this city… all the amazing Art & Architecture that’s been created there… and being home to some of the world’s most important works of art.
Because of this, Florence (who’s historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and sees over 1.5 million visitors each year) is known as being the birthplace of the Renaissance era… bringing literature, science, art, religion, and politics into the forefront after the middle ages… oh ya, fashion is really big there too! 🙂
Some of the main highlights in Florence??
1. Florence’s main Cathedral… the “Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore”… also known as the “Duomo”… no doubt the highlight here is the huge Dome that sits atop… check out the picture and video below.
(Here’s some footage of the Cathedral’s Famous Dome)
2. The “Ponte Vecchio” bridge that spans across the Arno River… the unique point being all the shops that span across it… something you don’t see on bridges these days.
3. Michelangelo’s famous “David” statue… below you’ll see the replica which sits in a public square outside the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence’s town hall) but the original is still in the Accademia Gallery
Of course, these are just a few of this magnificent city’s highlights but there are many others like the Uffizi Gallery which is home to some of the most important pieces of art in the world.
To us though, the real charm is walking around the historic centre of Florence and taking all the beautiful sites and architecture in like this one…
…and doing lots of people watching and food sampling along the way. 🙂
Visiting Florence, Italy… definitely a highly recommended thing to do by Nancy & Shawn!! 🙂
See more of Florence in our Florence & Mediterranean Cruise photo & video gallery.
We appreciate you!
Nancy & Shawn
Your Trusted Cruise Experts!