Hello everyone. It was such a gorgeous sunny day, so I decided to head out for a little wander around Florence. I always give my friends a bit of advice when they’re here for the first time. When walking in Florence, you should turn your head in every direction. Don't just look at the massive, eyecatching monuments, but also examine the small, inconspicuous details. As you’ll gather from my today’s post, I want to tell you not just about Florence's visible beauties, but what it offers us when we look right beneath our feet.
At the start of my journey, I made my way toward the Cathedral square. Let me share a striking fact about Florence’s roads. Florence was way ahead of its time. It was the first spot in Europe to paved the streets with stone. That whole idea of having clean, walkable roads started right here and then everyone else just followed suit.
This urban revolution actually began after a tragic event. In 1333 a great flood hit Florence. Buildings were destroyed and the city was in ruins. A new order was established in place of the old. The famous Ponte Vecchio, located nearby was also built during this post-flood period.
I’ve arrived at Cathedral square. Right now this massive Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral is literally towering over us. But back in the day there was a way smaler church here called Santa Reparata. If you head to the front right across from the Baptistery, keep an eye out for those different looking square plaques on the ground. When you look at them, you realize just how tiny that old church actually was. For a city of a hundred thousand people, this main square was quite narrow and modest back then. They show you exactly where the old church wall's used to stand.If you want to see the actual ruins, you’ve got to head down to the excavation site right under the cathedral.
I ended up walking around to the back of the cathedral, right by the choir. Here we can see a white marble circle on the ground. This circle has a very interesting story. At the very top of the cathedral's massive dome sits a gold plated copper sphere weighing about two tons, crafted by the sculptor Verrocchio - Leonardo da Vinci’s master. During the Middle ages a massive lightning bolt struck the city and knocked this giant sphere loose. It rolled down from the tower and crashed into the square. That marble disk on the ground marks the exact spot where the sphere fell.
I headed down Via del Proconsolo. Florence actually started out as a Roman colony. Although we see very little left from the Roman era today, the markers on the ground guide us. For example, two gold colored metal rings you’ll see on the pavement symbolize exactly where the ancient Roman city wals and the remains of a tower were located. Most people just walk right past it without even realizing it’s there.
Once I got to Piazza della Signoria I checked out another plaque on the ground ryght across from the Fountain of Neptune. This is where Savonarola, one of the most famous and controversal figures in history here was executed. People here stil leave flowers and hold a ceremony every May the twenty third to remember it.
I wrapped up my walk here at Piazza dei Giudici, right in front of the Galileo Museum. There is a massive Sundial Meridiana here. Thanks to the markers on the ground and the standing metal column or gnomon, you can tell both the time and the current zodiac sign and season just by looking at the shadow.
Thank you all for joining me. See you on the next walk.
