Verity Petraits Goes to Florence, Italy 23rd-29th May 2023: Part 1
Me (left) and my Sister Liana next to me, just a year in age apart!
It’s not every day you bump into your sister on holiday…its a small world after all! We actually discovered the night before our trip that my Sister Liana was spending a single day of her month long Honeymoon in Florence, the day we arrive there too!
It was an early start in the morning for my boyfriend and I. We arrived at Gatwick Airport in London at 08.00am for our 08.50am flight to Florence. I managed to get a widow seat which I was really excited about. It was amazing to look out the window and see the snowcapped mountains of Switzerland as we travelled. We arrive in Florence around 13.00pm and it was at least 28 degrees outside!
Below is a photo of our Air BnB that we rented in the region of Via Delle Ghiacciaie, on the outskirts of Florence. This was just a short tram ride away from the Airport. Joe and I only knew a tiny bit of Italian and we were both relieved that many in Florence spoke English (although I tried my best to speak in Italian and probably failed, and I accidentally spoke in Spanish a couple of times!). We were within walking distance to the City centre.
My Sister that day had a full on schedule for her Honeymoon and could only see us as soon as we arrived, and so we quickly unpacked and met Liana and her Husband, Mark, at a Caffe in the City centre. It was lovely and reassuring to see someone we know abroad as I was a little nervous (I’ve not been abroad for 5 years or so). Liana gave us recommendations on where to go which put us at ease, we hadn’t booked anything up to that point!
Me sitting with my back to the infamous Ponte Vecchio Bridge
As you can imagine we were eager to explore the city on foot. We made a beeline for the River Arno to see the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge which is the oldest Bridge in Florence, first constructed during the Roman period, aprrox 123AD. I was immediately struck by the serene beauty of the River Arno and the vibrant buildings around us. I particularly liked how narrow and windy the streets were!
On our way to Ponte Vecchio we came across a beautiful Church Courtyard. Unfortunately we couldn’t go into the actual Church because we didn’t cover our knees that day, but we were able to see the courtyard and all it’s amazing Frescoes.
The next day we booked to see the Uffizi Gallery in Central Florence. This gallery is famous for its Middle age to Modern art collections. The building itself was constructed between 1560 and 1580 and was designed by the Architect, Giorgio Vasari. This was the main attraction for Joe and I as we are both art nerds! In the image below you can see parts of the Uffizi Gallery either side of the image, and the famous Duomo Cathedral in the background.
Marble statues lined all the halls. Some of these originated from Roman times and others from Renaissance periods.
There were a lot of stunning Renaissance portraits on display such as the ones below
Below is my favourite Leonardo Da Vinci of the collection. I particularly liked seeing hints of his sketches in this seemingly unfinished but masterful piece! I love how unabashedly raw he makes the facial expressions of both the animals and people.
Another masterpiece!
The painting below was my favourite of the whole collection, Medusa by Caravaggio, 1596-1597. It caught my attention because of its striking presence in the room, something that I cannot replicate with a photograph. The painting depicts a moment from Greek mythology in which Gordon Medusa is killed by the demigod Perseus.
Lastly, I couldn’t leave out the Roman stone reliefs of some Horses!
After Uffizi, we rushed to find a bar or two because of the thunder and lightning. Fortunately, the storm was very brief and so we got to enjoy dinning out and taking in the breathtaking night scenes of Florence.
