Discovering the Beauty of Tuscany – Part 1

A walk through Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance

Our first stop was Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. After a six-hour drive, we arrived at our accommodation, unpacked, and drove closer to the city centre. We parked near a train station and started our exploration.

The city is huge, and the exploration–or so it seems–never ends, as every hidden alley reveals something new, wonderful, and unknown. We wandered through the streets that led us past museums, squares, palaces, past the Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella to the Piazza del Duomo, where the magnificent Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore stands. Its dome is the largest masonry dome in the world, designed by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi. There is a bell tower and a baptistery next to the cathedral. All the sacred buildings have, in addition to the white and green stone, extraordinary relief decoration, and every pillar, statue and ornament is so meticulously detailed that it makes you wonder how something so remarkable could have been achieved so many centuries ago.

We passed the Medici Palace, a family credited with the development of the Renaissance and Florence, and headed to their basilica and library. On the corner of Piazza della Signoria, we admired the beauty of the ancient and Renaissance statues in the open air of the Loggia dei Lanzi, evoking ancient myths and legends. Piazza della Signoria is surrounded by Renaissance gems, a fountain and the Vecchio Palace. At Fontana del Porcellino, we rubbed the bronze boar's worn out snout, which supposedly means that the traveller will return to Florence one day, and I can confirm the legend to be true. We walked to the Arno River and crossed it through the Ponte Vecchio bridge, visited the Pitti Palace and the gardens of Giardino di Boboli.

We ended the day in Piazzale Michelangelo with a panoramic view of the city at sunset. The square, designed by local architect Guiseppe Poggi, dates back to 1869 and is the best place to enjoy unforgettable views of the distant mountains and the brick roofs, and bell towers. A replica of Michelangelo's David stands proudly in the centre of the square. The square is a meeting point for tourists and locals alike, as it's a nice place to have dinner and a beer to the sounds of "Sarà perché ti amo" and other Italian evergreens by the famous guitarist who is said to have played Italian songs here every night.

Lucca - City of a hundred churches and preserved medieval walls

The next morning we drove to Lucca. Lucca is famous for its many churches, so it is often called the city of a hundred churches. The city is full of narrow, maze-like streets. The main attraction is certainly the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which can be reached through four passageways. The circle of buildings surrounding the square follows the elliptical shape of the former Roman amphitheatre. The square is surrounded by two- and three-storey narrow houses with green wooden shutters and a yellow façade, which is what makes it so breathtaking and special. During our visit, Lucca was hosting a book and flower market, mixing tourists with locals, filling the town with a mixture of languages and filling the bars to the brim.

Pisa - More than just a city of the Leaning Tower

In the afternoon, we visited Pisa, parked in a large free car park and then walked to the walls. We saw the Piazza dei Miracoli from a distance, as the view of the leaning bell tower of the Torre Pendente began to unfold in front of us. Unlike other "town" squares, this one is covered in grass with low chains instead of a fence, and has a cathedral (duomo), a baptistery and a sloping white marble bell tower, with walkways between them. Even though walking on the grass is forbidden, it's tempting to lie in the grass in the sunshine, looking at all these white "wonders", and there are plenty of tourists trying to capture the tower in a photograph, propping it up so it won't topple over.

We visited a restaurant on Borgo Stretto for a late afternoon lunch. Then we drove to the port city of Livorno, where we stayed the night.

In the next issue, read about our adventures exploring the Tuscan countryside, where we found the most beautiful views and indulged in the medieval charm of these special Tuscan villages.