09/06/2022
This morning was refreshingly cool. We were back in our element zipping about Florence. There was finally suitable weather to try our first Italian espresso.
Buzzing from the coffee we thought it would be a nice morning for a walk to Piazzale Michelangelo. We had done some research last night and apparently it was not suitable but doable with a pram.
It was a race to the top between the hare (Eloise) vs the tortoise (Lachlan).
It was not too far, the Batmobile had done it again. We are sure that Lachlan would even agree that the view of Florence was worth the trek.
It was our last full day in Florence, Super Mum tried her best to get Lachlan to walk here. Even bribing him with chocolate biscuits that the poor boy cannot eat.
The sun was starting to get stronger so we made our way down quickly with another Eloise snap along the way.
After all that running up and down Eloise had earnt another carousel ride.
It was a quick lunch where we managed to resist the urge of some extreme cannolis.
We made our way past the Equestrian statue of Ferdinando I de ‘Medici in Piazza della Santissima Annunziata to Florence’s most underwhelming building to see one of the world’s most famous statues.
There were lots of Michelangelo head sculptures, even some “special ones” we could not take photos of.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known simply as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work had a major influence on the development of Western art, particularly in relation to the Renaissance notions of humanism and naturalism. He is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century and several scholars have described Michelangelo as the most accomplished artist of his era.
We turned the corner and suddenly the gallery was much busier, we had stumbled upon Michelangelo’s Grandpa DAVE!
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17 ft 0 in)marble statue of the Biblical figure David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica. Because of the nature of the figure it represented, the statue soon came to symbolize the defence of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence,
The Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence is an Italian state museum, located in via Ricasoli next to the Academy of fine arts. The gallery exhibits the largest number of Michelangelo ‘s sculptures in the world (seven), including the famous David. Inside the museum there are also other sections, including the largest and most important collection in the world of pictorial works with a gold background, and the Museum of musical instruments, where many artifacts belonging to the historical collection of the Luigi Conservatory are exhibited. Cherubs .
After a quick break back in the hotel room, we hit the streets again. The girls could not resist a Nutella Cannoli any longer. The cafe had a serious coffee machine.
As we had no gelati yesterday, we had to get one today to ensure our GPD did not drop dangerously low below one. However, we can say, even these ones were more than we had bargained for, they were a bit big.
The rest of the evening was spent running through the back streets of Florence as Eloise’s sugar high was peaking. Super Mum picked up a souvenir to remember Tuscany. Eloise then thoughtfully decided she would choose wee gifts for her besties Emma and Juju, who she had been missing this week.
For dinner, Sophie continued her carbonara rampage. She is now convinced that she has found Italy’s finest carbonara. Lachlan is also improving his fork skills.
It was then back to the hotel for an early night before a big day tomorrow. We found some Lindt 100%, which actually came with a note inside. “To fully appreciate the intense cacao experience we recommend that you progressively develop your pallette through our range of high cacao content chocolate bars, starting with EXCELLENCE 70% then 85% and finally 90%”. Well, too late for that. It comes in much smaller Lindt sized squares. The taste was a bit meh. To quote Sophie “Liam, you ruined the night”.
Great post! Florence looks beautiful! And the pasta and gelati……yum!
I have loved reading your updates! Looks like you’re having an amazing trip! Look forward to seeing you when you return to Glasgow! Xx