Florence, located on the Arno River in Tuscany in the north part of the Italian peninsula, is best known as the center of the Italian Renaissance, particularly in art and architecture. It was originally founded in 59 BC by Julius Caesar, who set it up as a town for retired soldiers. The city became wealthy in the Middle Ages through its successful merchants, especially in the wool industry, and through the pioneering of its own monetary system. Much of this money found its way into extravagant homes, churches and public buildings, and into some magnificent art with which to decorate all of it. Some of the artists who spent time gainfully employed in Florence include Botticelli, Donatello, Ghiberti, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, among many others. Other pursuits were represented as well, with residents such as Dante, Boccaccio, Galileo, Machiavelli and Amerigo Vespucci. Beginning in 1434, political power in Florence was essentially held by members of the Medici family for the better part of the ensuing 300 years.

The early Medici preferred to run things from behind the scenes, not holding public office in the Florentine republic. But their influence extended well beyond Florence, at times including all of Tuscany, the papacy and beyond. When the Medici died out in 1737, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was inherited by Austrian Dukes. The Austrians were eventually overthrown in 1860, and Florence became the capital of the newly-united Kingdom of Italy in 1865. But this only lasted a short time, as the capital was moved to Rome in 1870.

Our train from Venice dropped us off at the Santa Maria Novella train station (named for the Santa Maria Novella church across the street), and we exited the station through a tunnel running under the street toward the church.


We'd heard warnings about pickpockets and petty thieves frequenting the end of the tunnel, but did not have any problems. We decided to walk to our hotel (the Strozzi Palace Hotel), as it was only about a half-mile from the station. We completed the trek without incident and checked into our room for four.

After a brief rest, we headed out to the Piazza di San Giovanni, considered the spiritual heart of the city, as it is the best location from which to view the main cathedral, known as the Duomo, and the baptistery just across from it. Our experiences in and around the Piazza justify a page of their own (see next page) and will not be described here. But after spending some time in the area, we headed north in search of food. We ended up at a table in front of the Ristorante Pizzeria Canto de'Nelli, just across from the San Lorenzo church and surrounded by the San Lorenzo street market.




As usual throughout the trip, the food was excellent, and our waitress even spoke very good English, despite her handicap of being American. We walked off our meal by returning to the hotel and rested up for the next day.