Florence, Italy

Today was our day trip to Florence. We left at 8 a.m. and returned at 6:30 p.m...
Livorno is actually our port today….but it is completely industrial and not attractive. However, that is not their fault. It was bombed over 100 times by the Nazi’s in WW2 – destroying its entire heritage. It is a great gateway from the Mediterranean to Florence, Pisa and all of Tuscany.
Our captain told us that today was to be the BUSIEST day of the YEAR in this port of Livorno….with 9 cruise ships in port on this one day!
On the way to Florence, we drove through Pisa and were able to see the leaning tower. Cool and unexpected! We also drove through a mountainous region and could see where the famous Carrara marble is quarried. This marble is the purest white form of any marble and has been used in all of the statues and monuments in Italy. It has been used since the time of ancient Rome. In addition to the renaissance statues we saw in Florence, the Pantheon in Rome is constructed of Carrara, too. It is one of the most expensive building materials in the world!
When the new kingdom of Italy was formed, Florence was its first capital in 1865 to 1871. Then, Rome stole the capital away in 1872.


We started our tour at the Santa Maria del Fiore Duomo….the famous and extremely large Cathedral...


... made of several types of marble. For instance, in our photos – you will notice the white Carrara marble from the Florence area, the rose colored marble from Sicily and the green marble from Morocco.


The Duomo was started in 1296 but was not finished until 1434.


It is difficult to grasp its size and its greatness.


Beside it stands a huge baptistery. It is the oldest building in Florence and was built in the 4th and 5th centuries when it was a Roman town. Improvements were made to it in the 13th century…adding marble figurines and gold panels on the doors.
Behind the Duomo is a very old and famous leather market. The Franciscan monks began to stretch and tan hides hundreds of years ago….and these products are still going strong today.


On to the statue of David. (It doesn’t get any better than this, ladies!) David was sculpted by Michelangelo in 1501 and he completed it in 1504. Did you know that David’s private parts were covered with gilded leaves until 1545? It’s true!


Another thing that Stu and I really enjoyed seeing today was the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It is a bridge that was constructed in 1345….and not just any bridge! It has shops on both sides of the bridge that cantilever out over the Arno river, the private Medici crossing 3 stories above it and fun shopping, too, as only jewelers and goldsmiths are allowed to keep shop there! Interestingly, most all of their bridges were like this – with shops on each side of their busy traffic-ways. ****This was the ONLY bridge NOT blown up by retreating Germans in WW2.


Finally, we did a spot of shopping in the leather district and Stu found a leather jacket he loved. In our photo, you’ll see that the owner brought Stu the bolt of tanned hide that they had made the jacket from! Pretty cool!
Somehow, we are tired again tonight…..but it was another great day of touring. Tonight we set sail for Portofino, Italy…..a very chi-chi resort town on the sea!
Our weather continues to be FAB and we are grateful!

We are living the good life….La Dolce Vita!