Potere per sapere Firenze

What better to enjoy a full day to explore Florence aka Firenze for the first time than on a beautiful sunny day.   Within minutes of leaving  the Grand Hotel Mediterraneo, I was snapping pictures of the magnificent views that Florence has to offer.   There are views stretching down for miles, that although it may not be evident as to what they are, they are still worth a picture with.  The architecture, atmosphere and culture of Florence aka Firenze is different compared to Milan.

Locks representing love.
There were 2 of these, some had names and some had date.

 Walking along the river from the hotel to Ponte Vecchio, I noticed that Florence is an artistic city.  Aside from the art history such as the Duomo and statues that are in the museum like the famous statue of David, there is a lot of contemporary culture around Florence.   The artist painting these beautiful views of Florence from Ponte Vecchio, caught my eye with their fast paced skill in creating  magnificent colorful abstract paintings.   There was another contemporary art, which was a bunch of locks cluttered on a chain; this was my favorite because it was a unique way to symbolize love.   Couples lock a lock on the chain and throw the key into the river to represent eternal love(pictured below).  There was also art on the ground.  Artist were painting well known historical art images on the ground with chalk and paint, such as the two cherubs and the portrait of "the girl with the pearl earring".  It really takes great talent for someone to be so skilled and patient to be able to do something like this, it look exactly like the actual painting, it was unbelievable. Both Milan and Florence exude art all around the city, but in different forms.  Milan has both classical art which is shown in architecture on the building and graffiti, which is actually accepted and encouraged(unlike the graffiti we are familiar with in the U.S), and can be found in any part of the city.  Florence is also classical and contemporary, but its contemporary art is more symbolic like the locks on the chain.           

                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                            

Florence also has a Duomo which is located in the center of all of the shopping, it is called the  Santa Maria del Fiore duomo.  It was great to see another Duomo of a different style.  I thought the color made it look so beautiful, but to me the Duomo in Milan is still my favorite.

    Coming to Florence, I knew that there would be a selection of shops to go to, just from hearing people previous visits there.  Florence is known for its leather and its gold.  Ponte Vecchio begins with a long street of all jewelry boutiques, primarily of gold.  These windows allure tourists to window shop and the luckier tourists to go shop.  It was unique to see that these windows, unlike typical jeweler displays, were cluttered with the merchandise, yet still looked perfect.

      Along the side streets was a store called Mannelli , which was a boutique that sold genuine leather and 24kt plated gold, all made in Florence.    It was a great place to buy a gift for someone since it is Italian made.
There was also a market that sold great Florence souvenirs.  Some sold genuine leather made in Italy and others were knockoffs.  Shopping in the market was a great cultural experience, it was very similar to the pace of Canal street in New York.  It was a very colorful and lively place to be.    It can be an overwhelming atmosphere to shop in but once you start it is hard to stop.

      The day was busy and tiring starting at 9 and ending around 10 pm,  but worth the while.  There is so much art, culture and history in Florence, which makes it such an adventurous place that many travel to (I was surprised to see so many American tourists),  I would definitely make another weekend visit.