Florence, Italy

Happy New Year (a little late)! I hope 2016 is off to a great start for everyone. We had an amazing Christmas vacation! I have so many pictures to go through and so much to share about our trip, but first I need to wrap up our trip to Italy over Thanksgiving. We had two full non-travel days in the Tuscan region of Italy, and we spent the first day in Florence.

Florence is the home of the Renaissance and is considered Europe's cultural capital. Artists like Brunelleschi, Donatello, da Vinci, and Michelangelo, just to name a few, left their marks all over this beautiful city. Both of our kids were extremely excited to see so many buildings and pieces of art they have learned about in school, and both of them had a specific must-see thing on the agenda for the day.

Our first stop of the day (after navigating the Italian train system which was its own adventure) was the Accademia Gallery. This was the one place Laurel, our lover of European art & history, couldn't leave Florence without visiting because it is home to Michelangelo's David, one of the most famous and most recognizable sculptures in the world. We made a bee line to see it once we got inside the gallery, and it's amazing. What shocked us all is just how big it is! At 17 feet, it's probably twice as tall as I expected it to be. Michelangelo was commissioned to carve the sculpture in 1501 out of a single block of marble. Incredible!

There were other Michelangelo sculptures in the gallery, like this Pieta, which depicts the body of Jesus being held up by two figures after His death on the cross.

After saying farewell to David, we headed to the Church of San Lorenzo, the parish church of the Medici family and the burial site of the Medici family founder, Giovanni. (Not that my knowledge of history comes from completely inaccurate television programs or anything, but if any of you watch the TV show, Reign, you'll recognize the Medici name as being the last name of Queen Catherine.) This church building was designed by Brunelleschi, an Italian designer who is recognized as the first modern engineer, and the interior was worked on by Donatello, a famous sculptor from Florence.

Also on the site of the San Lorenzo Church are the Medici library and the Medici Chapels where numerous members of the Medici family are buried. The library was one of Austin's favorite buildings of the day because of the intricate woodwork on the ceiling. It was incredible. 

The staircase leading into library was another of Michelangelo's works.

Michelangelo also designed the "New Sacristy" in the Medici Chapels which houses the bodies of four Medici family members, three of whom Michelangelo knew well as a result of spending his teenage years in the Medici household.

Leaving behind the Medicis, we made our way to Florence's Cathedral, the Duomo. This was Austin's must-see of the day. He loves engineering and construction, and he has been talking about seeing Brunelleschi's Dome since the moment he found out we were moving to Europe. The dome was designed and built by Brunelleschi in the 1400s after the cathedral was built and left with a big hole in its roof years earlier. The people of Florence wanted a grand dome to top the cathedral, but the technology to create it hadn't been invented upon completion of the church building. Brunelleschi created the dome that became the model for countless domes to follow, to include the U.S. Capitol.

In addition to having this spectacular dome, the exterior of the church itself is stunning. I think it is probably my favorite church exterior of all the churches we've seen.

Once inside the cathedral, you are able to get a look inside the dome, and it is beautiful! Don & Austin actually climbed up into the dome and were able to see, from the inside and the outside, how it had been constructed. It was a dream come true for our builder boy.

We went to a couple other museums and churches in Florence to finish out the day after we had checked off our must-sees. The day ended with a beautiful sunset and twinkly Christmas lights, as the city prepared to usher in the Christmas season.

We also got to walk past The Duomo one last time on our way to the train station, and it was even more magnificent by night!

As a whole, Florence may not be on my list of favorite cities in Europe, but wow, it sure does impress with its art and history!