Panorama from Piazzale Michelangelo

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Spring has really sprung in Florence this week and we popped back to the Bardini Gardens to see how the wisteria was progressing.

The wisteria will ever even lovelier in a few days, but we won’t, sadly, be here.

From the gardens, we walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo for supposedly the best view of Florence. (If ‘piazzale’ is a new one for you, as it was for me, a ‘piazzale’ has at least one open side, whereas a ‘piazza’ is enclosed on all sides).

View of the Cathedral from Piazzale Michelangelo

The Piazzale was one of the projects undertaken when Florence was chosen to be the new capital of Italy after re-unification. (Unfortunately this elevated status was only to last for six years from 1865-1871). The Italian Government donated a bronze statue of David for the centre.

David in Piazzale Michelangelo

Today the Piazzale is popular with locals, tourists and souvenir sellers.

The Piazzale today

The balustrade, made of cast-iron and painted to look like stone, has just been restored. It has undergone restoration twice previously – once in 1882 and then again in 1938, for Hitler’s tour of Florence.

Bridges across the Arno. The one with the buildings along it is Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge to survive the retreating German army in the Second World War.

A good view of some of the Florentine walls – I think they look as if they are taken from a picture in a child’s book of fairy tales. To the right of the wall are the Bardini Gardens.

After a good look at the Piazzale and the views, we climbed further up to San Miniato al Monte, the highest church in Florence.

San Miniato al Monte
Ceiling in San Miniato al Monte
Small free-standing chapel, thirteenth century
Fresco

Behind the church is a cemetery, where, among others, Carlo Collodi, creator of Pinocchio, is buried.

Cemetery. A lovely place, but very different to an English churchyard. The memorials are all very close together.

A lot of steps again today. While we’ve been in Florence we haven’t used public transport at all and have averaged 14,222 steps a day since 18 March, when we were still on Capri.

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Published by tortoisesontour

My husband, Mark, and I have just sold our house and are taking a year out to have an adventure before we settle down to retirement. We decided on a journey through Italy as it has the perfect combination of good weather, interesting history, great wine and wonderful ice-cream! As we will be starting our journey in January, we are beginning in the very south of the country.

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2 thoughts on “Panorama from Piazzale Michelangelo”

  1. Hi Anne,
    Have just caught up with you. Wow! What distance you’ve covered and what beauty you’ve seen both natural and arty! I’ll give you a test when you get back!! All well here if very cold though you’ve probably heard about the warm spell a while ago. Re your travel essentials – moisturiser and lipsalve!! Xxx

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  2. Hi Rosemary, Gosh, a test. I don’t know about that. As new stuff gets stored in my brain, I think the old stuff is pushed out. Talking about weather – it’s gone downhill since yesterday and it’s poured all afternoon. Mark’s already talking about S. E. Asia for next year where at least it’s warm all year (simplifies the packing no end). xx

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