We started off our day around the corner from our B&B at the Bargello Museum. (Literally, it's one block away around the corner. A very handy, central location to stay for a decent price!) The Bargello museum focuses on sculpture, which is where the Renaissance began, and boasts the best collection of Florentine sculpture. The highlight is definitely Donatello's David, the first full-round nude sculpture made since antiquity. During the time when I was in Florence years ago, this piece was on loan to another museum so I was really happy to have the opportunity to view it during this visit!
Next we headed over to the Galleria dell'Accademia. We arrived about an hour and a half after the museum opened and already the lines were super long. With our Firenze Card we were able to skip the regular line, but we still had to stand in a line with other card holders. Thankfully our line was much shorter than the other line and moved more quickly. The Galleria dell'Accademia was designed specifically to house Michelangelo's 17-foot-tall David when it was moved from the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio in the 1800's. We all know this work is big, but I think it surprises everyone when they actually experience how tall it is in person. Having seen it before, I enjoyed watching Russ experience it for the first time.The rest of the collection displayed here was much smaller than I remembered. I think there may have been some closures (though I didn't see any indication of it) because there were only pre-Renaissance works displayed and I believe they usually exhibit Renaissance works as well.
Leaving the Accademia we crossed Piazza di San Marco to visit the Museum of San Marco, which houses the greatest collection of fresco by Fra Angelico.
I don't know what the actual translation of this sign is, but what Google translate returned was "Find medieval wall paintings under the floor." Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in, but I found this hilarious since the holes in the floors showing the underground paintings were very obvious and weren't hard to "find."
]
By this time our stomachs were growling so we paused for lunch at Pasticceria Robiglio, a nice cafe with sidewalk seating for lunch and corridor view of the Duomo. It was a lovely break from the museum hustle.
Then we were back at it with a visit to the Uffizi Gallery. Here again our Firenze card allowed us to skip the regular line and, instead, join a line specially for card holders. Just as with the Accademia, this line moved more quickly than the regular line and we were inside in about 20-30 minutes. The galleries were crushed with tour groups, but we managed to squeeze in to view the highlights: Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Botticelli's Allegory of Spring and Birth of Venus, and Leonardo's Annunciation.
A bit museumed-out at this point, we left the Uffizi, wondered around some shops, and headed to the Oltrarno neighborhood for dinner. We ate at a restaurant on Piazza di Santo Spirito called Borgo Antico, which had been recommended to us by a friend. Florence is know for its steak (bistecca alla fiorentina), which we had been meaning to try. Well, this was the place to try it. it was AMAZING! Probably the best steak we've ever eaten.
Of course, we still had room for gelato so we walked over to Il Gelato di Filo. Supposidly this place has some of the best gelato in Florence. It was quite good, but doesn't surpass Suso in Venice for us.
Gelato in hand, we hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo, a square over looking the city from the Oltrarno side of the river, and watched the sun set (accompanied by a couple hundred other tourists). After making it back down to the river we headed back to our B&B to pack. Tomorrow we're off to Siena!
Review of the Firenze card:
Here are my thoughts on the Firenze card. It costs 72 Euro, is valid for 72 hours from your first museum activation, and covers 72 museums (how are there even that many?!). This covers all admission, including special exhibitions, and special entrances at the major sites (Uffizi, Accademia, and Duomo) often saving quite a bit of time vs. waiting in line and gives you the flexibility to visit at whatever time it is convenient for you, rather than having to book a timed reservation at the big sites. These are the sites that we visited within the three days and their costs:
Uffizi Gallery- €12.5
Accademia- - €12.5
Palazzo Vecchio Museum and tower- €14
Bargello- €4
Museum of San Marco- €4
Duomo sights (combo ticket for all)- €15
Pitti Palace- €13
Santa Croce- €6
Total cost per person for all of these sites would have been €81. And, honestly, the flexibility of the pass combined with the expedited entry for the busiest sights would have been worth it for us even if the card didn't pay for itself strictly through admission costs. It also opened up some smaller sights to us that we probably wouldn't have visited had they not been included in the purchase price. That being said, it was A LOT to do in three days. We enjoyed it, but are thoroughly exhausted now.
That sky though 😍
ReplyDeleteIt was beautiful!
Delete