Europe 2013: Florence

Florence - Day 3

Our projected program for day 3 Saturday was to get tickets for the Ufizzi for Tuesday morning and to spend some time in the Piazza della Signoria. We did the Ufizzi thing but much more... We walked over from our apartment towards the Piazza della Signoria

Statue of Cosimo 1 de Medici in front of the Palazzo Vecchio the home of the d' Medici

The loggia outside the Palazzo Vecchio housing amongst other statuary,
the famous Rape of the Sabine women

Palazzo Vecchio and tower

Entrance to the Palazzo with a copy of Michangelo's David.
This was the original position of the David.
It is now the main attraction of the Museo dell' Accademia

We returned from the Piazza to the Bargello which we had passed on our way to the Piazza. This is a very old Palazzo and now is a museum of statuary and other objects, not really including paintings. Photographs were not permitted in the section that houses a number of Michangelo's works and a number of his scale models. But as a consequence of being alerted to this I did not take any pictures within this museum.

The had a number of interesting exhibits, one in particular, showed some of the major coins of the various reigns. The gold Florin was for quite a long time the key coin for large scale transactions throughout Europe.

As we were leaving I took a picture of the courtyard of the Bargello palace.

After our visit to the Bargello, we sat down in the Piazza della Signoria and had lunch. It was a lovely day, quite warm sitting in the sun. The Piazza was crowded with tourists, only some of whom were japanese.

The Baptistry ceiling more detail.
(Out of order but I can't seem to move it)

The tourist office

Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria next to the Palazzo Vecchio

The Baptistry ceiling more detail.
(Out of order but I can't seem to move it)

After lunch we decided to visit the Plazzo Vecchio museum. Entering the building we were taken by the fountain and frescoes of the first courtyard.

On my left is the entrance portal. All the walls were covered with frescoes

One of the lions guarding a fountain inside the Palace

The frescoes were painted by George Vasari in 1576 and
are of the Austrian Habsburg estates painted for the wedding of the
son of Cosimo 1 and Johanna of Austria, sister of the Habsburg emperor, Max 1

the Ufizzi is left and right and ahead

After browsing a bit we returned to the piazza and walked down Via degli Ufizzi, got our tickets and decided we had walked enough today so it was back to the apartment.

About 5:30pm we had recovered enough to consider venturing out again. This time it was back to the Piazza del Duomo and the Baptistry.

What a magnificent building is the Baptistry.