Florence - Under the rule of the Medici family - the greatest patrons of Renaissance Europe - Florence's artists and thinkers were instigators of the shift from the medieval to the modern world view, and the churches, galleries and museums of this city are the places to get to grips with their achievement. The development of the Renaissance can be plotted in the vast picture collection of the Uffizi, and charted in the sculpture of the Bargello, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the guild church of Orsanmichele.

 

While wandering the streets we came across this bike wreck - someone had apparently run into this rack of bikes.

                      Galleria dell'Accademia
Florence's first academy of drawing was founded in the mid-sixteenth century. In 1764 it was transformed into a general arts academy. Twenty years later the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo founded the Galleria dell'Accademia filling its rooms with paintings for the edification of the students. Later augmented with pieces from suppressed religious foundations and other sources, the Accademia has an extensive collection of paintings, especially of Florentine work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Yet the pictures are not what draw the crowds in numbers. The real attraction is Michelangelo, and more specifically his sculpture of David- symbol of the city's republican pride.

Some of us just aren't cultured enough.

In the 13th century it was decided that a new cathedral was required to do justice to the wealth of the city and to put the Pisans and Sienese in their place. The plan was drawn up by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1294, and was to be the largest church in the Catholic world. Arnolfo died 8 years later and a succession of architects took over the project.

Filippo Brunelleschi was also given the task of devising a way of building the dome. On March 25, 1436 - Annunciation day, and the Florentine New Year- the completion of the dome was marked by the consecration of the cathedral. It wasn't until 1446 that Brunelleschi completed the top lantern- the gilded ball and cross were hoisted into place.
 

Marble quarried from three different sources was used to clad the exterior of the duomo (left) - white from Carrara, red from Maremma and green from Prato. The colors of the patterned exteriors make a startling contrast with the dun-toned buildings (below) surrounding the cathedral and other buildings.

Top views of the city from the clock tower.

Heading towards the Piazza Della Signoria and the Uffizi.

Ammannati's Neptune Fountain, a tribute to Cosimo's prowess as a naval captain. This was one of a few statues on the Piazza.

The Uffizi

The Uffizi is housed in what was once a government office block, built by Vasari for Cosimo I in 1560. After Vasari's death, work on the elongated U-shaped building was continued by Buontalenti, who was asked by FrancescoI to glaze the upper storey so that it could house his art collection. Each of the succeeding Medici added to the family's trove of art treasures, and the accumulated collection was preserved for public inspection by the last member of the family, Anna Maria Lodovica, whose will specified that is should be left to the people of Florence and never be allowed to leave the city.