As a traveller myself, I like to visit some of the world’s most beautiful places. A lot of these places are hidden and unknown or too far away, in the middle of nowhere. But this place is not hidden at all. It was right in front of you all the time. Florence in Italy is probably one of the places in Europe with the most impressive architecture all build in the Renaissance time. Read through this article and you will understand why Florence is a must visit for all adventure seekers planning to do a trip.

The River Arno (Fiume Arno)

In the middle of the city Florence is a river that crosses through the city. This river is 241 kilometers and the longest of Tuscany. The river doesn’t only go through Florence but also the big cities Pisa and Empoli. On the sides of the river in Florence people used to catch a lot of fish. That’s why on the most famous bridge there, the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) build in 1345 and on the sides are cabins that are old fisherman’s homes. On the bridge, butchers and leather specialists used to sell their items during the period of 1500-1600 AC. The bridge nowadays is still famous for the bridge where all kinds of trades were made. At this moment there is a gold smith on the bridge and luxury watch stores like Rolex, Audemar Piquet and Rchard Mille so if you like to go to Florence and see some beautiful architecture and beautiful jewelry this is a must visit. On the pictures below you can clearly see the difference between the Ponte Vecchio now and back in the Renaissance time.

Florence Dome Architecture

Florence Cathedral, formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is the most famous building from Florence? Why? If you would have a visit you would notice this building is probably one of the biggest cathedrals you will ever see. It is also one of the major tourists attractions in Italy. Because the building is so big, the dome on top remains the biggest dome ever build in the entire world.

The first stone of the Florence dome was laid in 1296. In 1418 only the dome still had to be finished. But the architecture and building took 122 years to be completely finished. Next to the dome a tower is build that is 6 meters lower than the dome, which makes is 91 meters. There is a tour inside the Dome and you can take all of the 260 stairs to reach the top. This will give a beautiful view of Florence. For this, you do need to buy a ticket that would only cost you about 5 euros.

I already told some famous goldsmiths were located in Florence and its funny that a goldsmith also made the plans for building the Cathedral. The administrators of the project didn’t really believe in the plans of Brunelleschi’s (the goldsmith) dome. Ghiberti was another big architecture that already made the bronze doors of the cathedral and was his biggest rival. Brunelleschi’s ideas were eventually chosen because he claimed he could do it without the wooden bars that would support the dome during the building of the dome. Wood was still very expensive at that time, because they had to import it.

Art and Architecture Florence

Galleria dell’Academia

This is a well-known museum in Florence, over here they have Michelangelo his works. The most famous piece of art from Michelangelo they have over there is the ‘David’. Which is a statue you would like to see if you love art and historical events.

The Uffizi Gallery

At this Gallery they have a lot of work from Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli and old sculptures. For the people that are also very interested in paintings I would recommend you to go there. The art shown there takes you back to the Renaissance time and lets your mind explore what it would be like at this specific time.

Renaissance architecture in Florence

Basilica of San Lorenzo.

During the renaissance time a lot of building were built. The importance of design was as important or maybe even more important than at this time. Every detail had to look good. This church was from the Medici family and family member are buried at the church. The architecture of this church was also done by Brunelleschi. To build this church an entire neighbourhood of the city had to get removed. Very fast there wasn’t enough money for Brunelleschi to finish the church and Antiono Manetti was chosen to finish it. Michelangelo was chosen by pope Leo X to finish the last parts, so he did a lot of designs but until nowadays the church didn’t get finished completely.

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.

The basilica of SMN, is near the Firenze SMN which is the central train station of Florence. If you have a visit at the shopping mall than I would definitely recommend the basilica. The holy trinita (three piece) is also in this church. That’s a famous painting from the renaissance time. It is Maria and Johannes focussing on the Christ figure that’s hanging on the cross. The most beautiful part of the painting is that it has a three dimensional aspect in the painting, which is unusual for this time.

The Pitti Palace- Palazzo Pitti

This palace was bought by the Medici family which was also build during the renaissance time. It is very close to the Ponte Vecchio with luxurious items In the palace. Later in the 18^th century this was Napoleon his power base. Right now it is the biggest museum of Florence with 32000 squared meters. The most beautiful thing is if you like all of these renaissance art and architecture everything is so close to each other that walking is not a problem at all. The impressions of Florence will take you back in the Renaissance time and when I was visiting it we were eating on the Ponte Vecchio were at that time a party was busy with Opera music. So for the romantic people I would definitely suggest to take your loved person to Florence as well.

When you go to Florence on a trip I would suggest a tour guide to take you to all the hot spots.