Florence, Italia

Written by Ben on August 24, 2006 |

The main reason I wanted to visit Firenze (Florence) was because of its Renaissance history. So I sped into the city for a very last minute couch offer for August 16-17th. I arrived late in the evening to my host’s home in the city, and I went straight to bed in anticipation for a long day ahead.

I got up early the next morning so I could see as much of the city as possible. I started off at the Firenze Santa Maria train station (main one in the city) and started walking. It only takes 15 minutes to walk from the station to either the Uffizi or Galleria dell’Accademia museums, a fact which gave me great flexibility in wandering about before making my museum reservations. The streets were flooded with vendors and tourists; they were lined with old buildings and Churches; they were lined with gelaterias.

I finally ended up in the central market. It is a place were one can buy fresh foods of the day, and it was where I picked up some cheese, fresh bread, meats, and fruits for a picnic lunch. I parked myself in San Marco plaza, sat soaking in the hot weather, and had a peaceful lunch.

I made my reservation– a 10 minute wait opposed to the two hour normal wait– and entered the Accademia. I walked inside to the first room, turned a corner, and– WHAM– was hit by the view of Michelangelo’s David towering down at the end of the hall:

Believe all the hype you hear about seeing Michelangelo’s David, believe it all; this towering statue lives. The stone on David didn’t seem like stone at all; I saw flesh in his muscle contours, veins, tendons, balanced stance, flexed wrist, and staring eyes. I spent a good half hour circumnavigating the statue wondering how such a genius was able to carve out such a statue. Seeing this statue completely justified a trip to Florence.

And after that, I headed off to the Uffizi where I passed by David, a copy, standing in its original spot. The plaza by the palace was, again, packed with tourists and street merchants. I did find a poster I liked, a reprint from an oil on canvas. The artist was “Filipe Bouday”, name misspelled. The merchant first asked for 20 euro. I walked away, yet he kept pestering me to buy; kept on asking me to name a price. I just played hard ball, kept walking; and he kept on trying to corner me. He finally went down to 5 euro. I didn’t really care to buy the poster, but I was struck by these merchants’ mindsets: how gullible they think tourists are (overpriced cheap mass reproductions) and that they really really want, any or all, your money.

I spent a good deal of time in line, only to enter a museum with art that failed to impress me. The palace itself, built by the Mediccis, was far more interesting to me– an influence from watching way to many PBS documentaries. And as I think about it more, I think I had a better time by the bridge (south of Uffizi) eating delicious gelato:

I finish everything by 7pm; I had a quick dinner; and went back to my host’s apartment to pack and sleep; I left the next morning for Rome. In all I spent just two nights, and one full day of touring in Florence.

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Posted in Travel