Before leaving, I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of the Venetian mirrors from the Hotel.
And visiting the ruined, yet still impressive, stables at the Villa.
We set off early, making just one stop at an Autogrill on the way to Florence. After finding our room at Hotel Donatello -- take the lift to the 2nd floor, walk along a corridor, turning left, right, left, right, across a walkway between the two buildings over the smoking courtyard, and take a lift to the 3rd floor and there you are! -- we went for a three hour walk around the centre of medieval Florence.
This church was never finished -- was this when Michelangelo was called back to Rome by the pope? -- and you can see the slots in which the marble decoration was going to be placed.
However, on to the really big churchy stuff, near the Piazza San Giovanni / Piazza del Duomo. This is the Baptistry ... 11th century, then the cathedral, now an acre or so devoted to baptism.
On the right below is Giotto's tower, built in the 14th century.
The cathedral was built starting from 13th century. Making the dome was a problem so it was put out to tender in the 15th century and an engineer came up with a new solution, echoing the Parthenon in Rome. The facade, matching the tower, was only added in the 18th century.
Some people are hard to get away from!
We met up with Nina and had the best gelato.
This is the replica David. Very impressive. Wait till we see the real one.
Inside the old palace.
This bridge is part of a passage the Medici's built across the city so they did not have to go through the plebs or get wet when walking back to the old palace from the new work, keeping up an important distinction between work and home.
More of the Medici passage across the Ponte Vecchio bridge. They also got rid of the tanneries as they smelt too much. Only jewelry was allowed to be sold here.
Don trying to get good luck!
One of the street artists.
Dinner -- you do want to hear about dinner? -- was at a little local restaurant for pasta with shrimp and zucchini, followed by a beef and pea stew. For some, a digestive ...
- Posted a whole day later
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