I arrived in Florence on a train from Venice on New Year’s Eve of 2024. The train station is an enormous hub in the center of the city bustling with activity. As I had found previously in Rome and Venice, there were plenty of pedestrian streets to get to my apartment for my stay but navigating the streets with cars, busses and trams was a bit confusing.  It seems every time I arrive in a new destination in Europe, I get disoriented; but I eventually found my apartment. Since I knew that New Year’s Day was a holiday, I was quick to go to the local market and pick up some essentials assuming that they would be closed the next day.  My experience has been that all museums, stores and monuments are closed on holidays but many restaurants are open.  I had booked a few excursions prior to arriving in Florence and was excited to see what the city had to offer.

On New Year’s Day I walked to my pasta making class which was about a half mile from my apartment. It was supposed to rain that day so I was happy that it wasn’t raining when I arrived at the location. My instructor, Simone, took us up to the rooftop kitchen just 500 yards from the magnificent Duomo. I was in a class that had a mother and her two adult daughters from Connecticut.  The four of us learned to make pasta, bruschetta and tiramisu from scratch all while admiring the 360-degree view from the rooftop. It was nice to get my bearings by overlooking the entire city and all its landmark palaces and cathedrals. Even though I’m an accomplished cook, I learned a lot of new tricks like how to get the best of a garlic clove (i.e. never smash, cut the ends off and remove the heart) and the importance of texture and feel as you knead and roll out the pasta dough. I learned that you roll out the dough on semolina flour so it doesn’t stick to the dough while rolling and cooking. I had had a pasta class in Rome and I have to say that my pasta was much better in the class in Florence. I think the difference was rolling out the dough on semolina instead of 00 flour (which we used in Rome). I also found that they use an amazing amount of salt and oil in food like the bruschetta. It was best tasting bruschetta I have ever had although my doctor might be chagrined. I had selected this experience on New Year’s Day because it was one of the few things I could do on the holiday but I have to say that it was a terrific start to the New Year and my stay in Florence. 

The next day, I went to the Uffizi Gallery and the Académie Gallery on a guided tour of both. Unfortunately, it was raining and the group of us stood in the rain for about 45 minutes waiting to get into the Uffizi. I have been so fortunate to have terrific weather in cities like Lisbon and Venice but I feel like standing for an extended period of time made me appreciate the contents of the Uffizi. There are two Botticelli masterpieces that had been commissioned by the Medici family, The birth of Venus which is an enormous painting depicting Venus rising out of a shell and then there is the Primavera which also features Venus and Cupid above shooting arrows. I was most struck by the Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the Annunciation which is when Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she is pregnant. I had recently seen a documentary of Da Vinci and most of his masterpieces were never finished so seeing this rare example of his mastery of contour, shading and perspective where wonderful to experience in person. Then there is the painting Tondo Doni by Michelangelo which practically jumps off the wall with its sculpture like appearance. The Uffizi is an enormous gallery and I wish had more time but the tour was continuing on to the Académie Gallery. 

We waited in a similar line for the AcadémieGallery but at least it wasn’t raining anymore. This is the place for the original David by Michelangelo. There is a replica of David that stands near the Palazzo Vecchio which is impressive but seeing David at the Académie being lit from above it all its perfection is breathtaking  They say that Michelangelo personally picked his marble and he believed that the sculpture was already “alive” in the marble.  To see this statue alongside the various incomplete statues was informative. They included his last incomplete statue called Bandini Pietra it’s a marvel that he completed the David as these sculptures took years to finish.

My last full day in Florence was spent going through the Duomo Museum and the Duomo itself.  The Duomo is a massive cathedral in the heart of Florence.  It was conceived in 1293 and it took over 140 years to finish. Filippo Brunelleschi conceived its dome which is the world’s largest masonry dome. The museum for the Duomo has a lot of the exterior doors and sculptures that were originally on the Duomo but now are protected from the elements. It feels like hundreds of artists and sculptors worked on the tile floors, a multitude of artwork and sculptures. The mesmerizing exterior of the Duomo and its tower is made from white and green marble from around Tuscany. It’s the third largest cathedral in the world.  It’s quite something to experience the inside of the dome and the various religious stories represented high above your head.

I made a short side trip across the Ponte Vecchio. The original bridge was built in 996 and it spans the Arno River in the heart of Florence. It’s been swept away several times over the last 1,000 years but its current form is from 1345.  From the Uffizi Gallery you can see that there is a separate enclosed walkway on top of the bridge which the Medici’s built so that they could walk from Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti.  There are stores and shops across the entire bridge.  Apparently, they made a decree to ban butcher shops from the bridge (who threw waste into the river) and to only allow goldsmiths and jewelers. 

Florence is a remarkable place steeped in history and the heart of the Early Renaissance art that exploded in Italy in the 15th Century.  The Medici family backed many artists and it feels like they all left their mark here including Pisano, Giotto, Donatello, Da Vinci. Brunelleschi and Michelangelo. It’s remarkable to see so many beautiful buildings, artwork and sculptures throughout the city some 500 years later.  I’m so glad I got to experience it.