Hi everybody!
I'd like to write a small "blog" about our trip to Florence.
I've been there for the first time and spent a weekend taking pictures and visiting the city.
Florence had serious trouble with the snow right the day before we arrived. We've been extremely lucky tho, since we've eventually been able to reach the city and we actually found it less crowded than usual. Plus, the snow gave us an incredible landscape and feeling, pretty rare in that city I guess.
On a side note, many pictures have some ghosts and flares. I don't dislike them at all, consider it my philosophy. They have been part of photography since the beginning, and so I'm not trying to photoshop them out anyway.
I hope you're gonna enjoy this topic and as usual I beg you to comment and give suggestions.
Santa Maria Novella basilica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Santa_Maria_Novella
If you're reaching Florence by train, this will probably be the first church you will see. This will be your view just outside the train station:
And here it is, as seen from its facade:
San Lorenzo basilica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Lorenzo,_Florence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentian_Library
This is one of the largest churches in Florence. I will skip the outside, but here is the inside of the Laurentian Library inside the church.
It was architecturally important since the stairs leading to the first floor are built as the outer part of a building. It gives you a feeling as if you were in the outside:
This is the library itself.
The books were placed on the desks and never moved from there. On the side of each seat there was an index of the books placed there.
It was planned by Michelangelo Buonarroti, who designed the seats to make them comfortable while reading. I guess people back then were quite smaller than today. I think I couldn't seat there for a long time without bleeding from my knees:
This is a detail of a seat's index:
Duomo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the most famous church in Florence, and possibly one of the most famous churches in the world.
This is the facade as seen in the morning:
Then we climed up the steple (or Campanile), and what a stunning view we had from there.
This is the dome, mighty watching over the city:
Time to leave the Duomo, but not before taking a picture during the evening.
And let's not forget that Christmas is closing in:
Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza Della Signoria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Vecchio
Another one of the most world-known buildings in Florence.
This is what you see from the place in front of the building.
Notice the famous Michelangelo's David in front of the palace. It's just a reproduction, but still amazing. The statue is meant to be viewed from below its feet, that's where the perspective reaches its perfection. The head seems way too big if viewd from its side, but is perfect if viewed from below. Get a read about that statue, it's interesting:
Here is Palazzo Vecchio as viewed from the Duomo's steple. That crane... too bad:
