Piazzale Michelangelo

Published on February 6, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

This is a bronze copy of Michelangelo’s David! It is at a Piazzale Michelangelo – which is very high on a hill! It overlooks Florence – Awesome!!! We walked from our Apartment across the river then up a very steep hill to see the Piazzale Michelangelo. It was worth it, but I was afraid I wouldn’t make it due to my very bad knees.

It rained the whole way and by the time we got to the top we were freezing and stopped in a very nice restaurant to have drinks. We got warmed up and dry then walked back to our apartment.

Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore: Day 3 in Firenza

Published on February 5, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

February 5th, 2018: Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower

The building started in 1296 and was completed in 1469 with the placing of Verrochio’s copper ball atop the lantern. The façade was finished in the 19th century.

still the largest masonry dome in the world.

Day Two in Florence: Accademia

Published on February 4, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Accademia in Florence is also called the Museum of Michelangelo. Created by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1784 as a place of study for students of the nearby Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia di Belle Arti) which was the first academy of drawing in Europe. The Academy Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence contains one of the most important sculptures by Michelangelo – “David.”

Accademia, though not easy to find, was absolutely amazing! I highly recommend going, if you go to Florence, Italy! It was well worth the entrance fee of 9 euros. The way they display Michelangelo’s David was extremely well designed. When you enter the corridor that houses David at the end. On each side of the corridor are unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo. The wall color and scale of the hall and dome are perfect to display the color of the marble.

There was also another display of plaster copies of sculptures in another large corridor off to the left of David that was very interesting. Here are some photos from that area of the museum.

Accademia Address:

Galleria dell'Accademia - Via Ricasoli 58-60 - 50122 Firenze, Italy

Sketching David

Published on February 4, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Day One in Florence – The Basilica di Santa Croce

Published on February 3, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

February 3, 2018: The trip from Venice to Florence yesterday was very easy. We left our excellent 5-star AirBnB (a review will be in another post) around 10:30 am and we arrived here in Florence (AKA “Firenze”). We took a taxi from the train to our new Florence 5-star AirBnB arriving at 4:40pm. We did a quick walk to the grocery story and found that food is a bit cheaper than in Venice. Makes perfect sense since Venice has to have everything transported in and carried to the stores on boats/by foot carts.

It was very difficult to decide what to do today; the list is way too long. Academia was first on my list, but with a bit of research I found that it is free on the first Sunday of the month, which is tomorrow!! So, we decided to visit Michelangelo and Galileo’s tombs, which are housed in The Basilica di Santa Croce (see my photo above). It was an excellent choice! Though it cost 9 euros each to get in we spent several hours looking through the main Santa Croce Basilica as well as touring through the Pazzi Chapel and even saw a leather making school(?).

To make a long day short… I took over 400 photos and to break it down for my future failing memory, I’m listing photos in sections below:

Photos from The Basilica di Santa Croce

The Tomb of Michelangelo’ Michelangelo It is currently being worked on, so it has a scaffolding in front of it. But I was still able to capture some photos.

The Tomb of Galileo Galileo Galilei

Other Tombs and Icons from Santa Crosa