Today marked our departure from Rome, but there wasn’t much to be sad about because we were heading to Florence! The bus ride was about four hours, and we stopped once at a gas station to get snacks and drinks to help the time pass. Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany, and the drive was gorgeous. I wasn’t able to get photos that fully capture the beauty, but the views certainly helped the drive time feel briefer.
Once we arrived in Florence, we had about 30 minutes before we met with our tour guides for a walking tour of the city. During our free time, I finally tried Italian gelato and was not disappointed! I got one scoop of caramel and one scoop of cherry in a cone, and it was delicious. So delicious in fact that it was gone before I thought to take a picture! When we reconvened with our guides, our tour began in Santa Croce Plaza. Santa Croce is a stunning basilica (in English Holy Cross), and while we didn’t get a chance to go inside, our guides did tell us some brief history. Rather than housing tombs of bishops or cardinals, Santa Croce is the final resting place of famous Italians such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Rossini (one of my all-time favorite composers for piano). The basilica is very large as well, but it paled in comparison to the next church we saw.
The Florence Cathedral is impossible to capture in one photo from ground level. At the time it was constructed, the Tuscan city of Siena had undertaken its own ambitious construction project, so an attempt was successfully made in Florence to outdo the cathedral in Siena. Construction of the Florence Cathedral spanned from 1296 to 1436, and the iconic dome was the largest in the world. It remained as such until modern architectural innovations increased building capabilities, and to this day it is still the largest brick dome ever constructed. While looking at the cathedral, I tried to balance my focus between the dramatic overview and the stunning smaller details on the exterior, including statues, varying shades of stone, and stained glass. Other highlights of our walking tour included seeing the area in Florence where Dante was raised and viewing the Arno River that cuts through the city from the Ponte Vecchio (translated as old bridge).
After our afternoon in Florence came to a close, we got back on the buses to head to our lodging for the next few days. We are staying in and performing in a smaller town about an hour northwest of Florence called Montecatini Terme. I’d never heard of Montecatini Terme before this trip, but the area is beautiful! The town only has a population of about 20,000 (though it does still get tourists), so the smaller crowds compared to Rome and Florence are a welcome reprieve. Tomorrow, we have a morning walking tour of Montecatini Terme and then free time until our evening concert. I drafted today’s blog sitting on our hotel balcony, and while the nighttime photos don’t do it justice, I hope you can still appreciate the beauty. Thank you for reading, and I’ll look forward to telling you more about Montecatini Terme and our concert tomorrow!
