This one goes back a little ways. When Amy’s Dad and Uncle visited us in Italy we took our first weekend and went to Florence and Pisa, one day for each. As a matter of fact an Italian told us to spend more time in Florence because, “for Pisa, 2 hours…”
So we’ll start with Pisa, even though that’s not technically where we started. I will shamefully admit that I really didn’t know exactly what the “leaning tower of Pisa” was supposed to be originally. As it turns out it was supposed to be a bell tower for the church it’s sitting next to (that I didn’t know was there…oops). The church and surrounding buildings have that “larger than life” quality that a lot of architecture here does.
As for the tower, it turns out that they didn’t realize just how unstable the ground was under the foundation. The tower took a long time to build in the first place so the “leaning” didn’t happen after it was finished. It actually happened about half way through the construction (awkward) and they tried to fix it by adjusting the weight on one side as they built it. This left the finished tower slightly banana shaped…and still leaning. To this day the architect of the tower is “unknown”, which was pretty convenient I think…you know…for the guys career as an architect.
Then there is Florence. The Italian name is “Firenze”, which means flower, and it’s aptly named. So far this city is the best looking of all the ones we’ve been to in my opinion. Historically speaking Florence was a financial, business, and cultural hub. Apparently the banking system as we know it today was invented there. One of the big reasons for this is location, location, location. Two Roman roads crossed there so it was like a good spot on the Interstate, everybody passed through.
One of the most impressive sites there is the “Duomo” or the church in Florence. It’s a little unreal to see up close honestly. The pictures we took doesn’t do it justice. Not that I didn’t try.
There is also a beautiful bridge in Florence that’s been around a while. Originally it was the meat market and at the end of the day the scraps were dumped over the side into the river. However, some of the well off in the city owned houses on the other side of the river and decided they wanted a private covered walkway so they bought up the space on one side and made a 2nd story walkway over the river. It’s straight except for one spot where a guy refused to sell so they literally built the walkway around his house. Now it’s where you can buy a lot of beautiful gold jewelry…I did not let Amy wander too much.
In several places were some really large family homes built in the city that have since become government buildings. Most of them were built by bankers of the day or really successful merchants. When you walk through one it makes you think of a hotel with a courtyard in the middle. Here, multiple generations of families would live under one roof with enough space that they didn’t kill each other in their sleep, which I think would be an important feature.
One of the most well known things there is of course, the statue of David. It actually used to be outside in a square with a lot of other statues that turned out to be the originals when people got to studying them (everyone was shocked that they hadn’t been carried off). He was, of course, moved inside for preservation (though he was still in good shape as they had put a coating of wax on the statue). It’s not easy to put into words how big the statue is. You can look at pictures but the scale of it is something that you don’t really expect until you see it in person.
During our first few hours we had a tour guide who was taking us around the city and she did a good job of giving us enough history that we actually understood what we were looking at. The tour ended at the David statue and we were left to roam for a little while until the evening where Amy had made a special request for her birthday (a particular milestone birthday whose number shall remain untyped). That night we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe so she could enjoy some American style Mexican food (you can’t get it in Italy). If you ask her, it alone was worth the trip.
There were of course a number of other things to see in the city but I don’t remember all the important particulars about them.
The Flower of Italy is actually still a bustling and prosperous city, whether that is the location or just momentum from its history I don’t know. Still, if you’re ever in Italy and want to see and old but still beautiful city, make time to spend a day or two here.
