Venice and Pisa are not the only beautiful places in Italy, in fact, this country has many more beautiful places from different categories. Of course, it has a lot of beautiful nature, but we cannot but agree that Italian architecture is a separate section in the beauty department. And on the way to Hivefest, we were able to visit a place that was seemingly created to separately show everyone the beauty of Italian architecture itself and let them admire it without interfering with nature. Florence is not just a city, it is a work of art that looks like it came straight from a picture. A city that was made purely of architecture, a pure stone city. It is simply a living open-air museum. No, I did not come up with this name myself, it is really called an open-air museum, and this time, we decided to check out the sophistication of this city.
Upon arrival, we immediately went for a walk around this city, because we did not have enough time. We parked and headed to the entrance. The entrance was an extremely long street. At the beginning there was a crossroads, and we took the right road. The street continued and continued like an endless corridor. After a few minutes of walking we reached a large square with many cafes. On the side on a gentle slope there was a massive building. We decided not to stop here and go further. Then the city begins, the houses are quite beautiful, on this sunny day the city was covered with tourists like flies. There were a lot of people. Many stalls with ice cream and various sweets were open near us. The heat was terrible. Therefore, after visiting this street, we were already walking around eating ice cream that we bought on the way. When we reached the end of the street, the real views began. Here we finally saw the real Florence. Before us opened a view of a huge river, over which a bridge was built, and in that bridge there are many multi-colored houses built, which are difficult not to notice looking from the outside of the bridge. It's so extraordinary, can you imagine what it's like to live in a bridge?
Then we continued our way to the bridge, where there were many people taking pictures against the background of the water. There were also singers on the bridge, and we finally saw people entering their weightless hanging huts.
Walking further, we finally understood the essence of the whole city.
We walked in the middle of hundreds of columns and arches, and in front of us was a huge building made of beautiful white materials and columns. It looks like from the ancient times of the Roman Empire. It's so majestic and the style of this building looks very interesting.
So majestic and the style of this building looks very interesting. I don't know what this building is for, but some main street leads from it, and a view opens up of some beautiful glowing tower.
I found out that this tower belongs to the Palazzo Vecchio building. This is an art-historical place that keeps statues and paintings inside. Most of the statues that can be seen here are made by Michelangelo. This place also has gorgeous and majestic-looking drawings inside up on its walls.
Of course, this building was interesting, but we decided to continue walking along the road near the river. After walking a few meters, we came across a place that represents the 12 signs of the zodiac, there were twelve separate tiles on the floor, each of which was glowing and carried the symbol of one of the zodiac signs. We took a photo with our sign and went on.
During the walk, there were many tall old houses and beautiful architecture around.
After a few minutes, we came to one square, and you won't believe it. We came to the very same building, Palazzo Vecchio. It turns out that it is located on Piazza della Signoria. This time we were able to see the entire building in its entirety. Its height was impressive.
On the side next to it was a kind of gallery of various statues. It is called the Loggia delle Lanzi. More than ten different works stood under the roof of the building. They were in the Renaissance and Mannerist style. One of the statues that we remembered there was "The Abduction of the Sabine Women". In this statue, an older man is holding a young man and a woman, whom this young man is lifting. The statue depicts the dramatic moment of the abduction of the Sabine women by the Romans.
On the other side, in the middle of the square, there was a statue of a man on a horse. This is the "Equestrian Statue of Duke Cosimo I". It is made of bronze, which is why it is now green. It was created in 1594. The statue symbolizes the power and grandeur of the Medici dynasty.
Also, another of the most important statues stood in the middle of the water. I didn't even know when I walked there, but it is the Fountain of Neptune. Nevertheless, for some reason it didn't work. But even in itself, this artistic creation has its own magic. It was built from 1565 to 1575. Neptune is made of white marble, and its lower part is surrounded by bronze statues of tritons, nereids and sea creatures. So diverse!
All these statues were very interesting, and we were fascinated by them, until we heard a magical sound. A man stood at the intersection of two streets and began to sing in his strong voice so that he didn't even need a microphone. It seemed like we were in an opera. His powerful, loud and resonant voice was hard not to notice. You could listen to him and listen to him. It was like a real concert. Thank God we were able to capture this magic and you can also listen to his performance. It's above this text if you want to listen ⬆️
Further walking we saw tourist horses enjoying their hay. They are so cute, but probably riding annoying tourists all day is not the most fun thing.
After exploring the main square, we found a quiet alley, on the wall of which there were lip prints. I love such aesthetic things. Hundreds of kisses with different stories. You can see the wall on the photo about this one, on the left side.
Then we explored the streets of Florence, slowly walking to the car. The shops had many interesting things, such as various handbags, in different designers. Also on the way we met the police who were watching, waiting for someone to break the law.
On the way back we decided to eat at a restaurant that happened to us on the way.
Anyways, the exploration of Florence was a really nice and instructive experience and It was great to learn so much about the world of architectural art.
Bye bye everyone! 🏛️⛲🗿