Help! I’ve Fallen (in Love) and I Can’t Get Up!

I had really high expectations for Rome, and the city lived up to those expectations.

I had absolutely zero expectations for Florence, and it ended up being one of my favorite places yet.

Fun fact: 40% of the world’s UNESCO World Heritage sites are in Italy. 60% of those are in Florence (or Firenze, as it is called in Italian). This means that a whopping 24% of all of the UNESCO sites worldwide are in this city of about 370,000 inhabitants. The art in this city is absolutely ridiculous, and definitely my favorite that I’ve seen yet.

On Thursday morning, we took a train from Rome to Florence, arriving at our destination just a little after 10:30. We first found our hotels and then Daniel (our travel guide) took us to the city center so we could get lunch somewhere around there.

When you walk into the square, this is the sight that greets you- the Duomo. I cannot even explain how large this place is. It is almost incongruous in the square because it so easily dominates all of the surrounding architecture. Nevertheless, I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve yet had the pleasure of seeing.

 The Duomo was only the first of many masterpieces that we visited. After lunch (I had traditional Florentine soup called ribollita!) we met up with our amazing tour guide, Sasha. The first place we visited was the Medici Chapel. OH MY WORD. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in there at all, so here’s a picture I found on the internet:

 I’m not sure if the name of this specific room is actually the Medici Chapel. I think that’s the room we visited after this one, but when I looked it up, it seems as if this whole place is one big complex and there’s not necessarily a name I could find for it.

Anyways- this chapel was probably my favorite room I’ve seen in Europe. This picture doesn’t even come close to doing it justice. The walls and the floor are completely made of marble, but it isn’t the typical white marble. Instead, it is all dark green, black, ochre- deep, heavy colors that make the space incredibly grandiose. In this room are buried several Medici family members who were the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The history of the Medici family is SO neat, and unlike anything I’d ever heard before. This family clawed their way to the top and achieved “royalty” (the one thing they lacked) through devious methods. This place really showcased how rich and powerful the Medicis were.

Next, we visited the Accademia, which is one of the most famous museums in the whole world, mainly because Michelangelo’s David is here. I’m sure you’ve heard of the David- arguably the most famous sculpture to ever exist. The presentation of the statue is perfect- you turn a corner and there is a long hallway in front of you, terminating in a large room with David as the center of focus. The sculpture is much, much larger than I imagined, and the artisanship is truly otherworldly. It was neat to stand beneath this massive statue and hear about the its special quirks- how the sling goes across David’s back, how the right toe was damaged by an insane man, and how scholars cannot come to a consensus about whether the statue is portraying David before he slays Goliath or after.

Although David was incredible, in the Accademia I came face to face with what are now my favorite sculptures. Leading up to David is a set of “unfinished” sculptures by Michelangelo, called the Prisoners. I could have stood and looked at these for hours. Michelangelo famously believed that when he sculpted, he was not creating something new, but actually unearthing the figure that was already waiting inside the block of material. These Prisoners, then, are huge blocks of stone with figures struggling to fully appear out of them- to break free from their marble cages. The symbolism behind these statues is so deep and meaningful.

We finished our tour by going to the Ponte Vecchio, which is a famous bridge that passes over the Arno River. A group of us ended up heading back to this bridge the next night, and we spent over an hour sitting there listening to a street musician, talking, and people-watching. It was one of my favorite moments of the Italy trip!

 Looking out over the river from the Ponte Vecchio

 A secret passageway over the Ponte Vecchio used by the Medicis and once traversed by Mussolini and Hitler!

After our tour ended for the day, we all headed straight to the world-famous Florentine leather markets. To be quite honest, I probably spent about a third of my time in Florence in the .5 square miles of the central leather market. Most of us girls couldn’t resist buying a purse here (whoops), and there were tons of cute souvenirs or gifts to buy for family and friends. Haggling with the men and women was fun, but it could be so frustrating. These people were professionals!

The next day we visited more museums- the Bargello and the Uffizi (where we saw Botticelli’s famous paintings The Birth of Venus and Primavera). Let me tell you, I love art museums more than the average person, but I was absolutely SICK of Renaissance paintings after Florence. If I saw one more Madonna with the Christ-child, I think I would’ve bit someone’s head off. Even so, I’m really appreciative of all the masterpieces we were privileged to see, in both Rome and Florence. There’s something surreal about seeing a painting or a sculpture in a textbook and then seeing it with your own two eyes.

For our last day in Italy, we took a day trip to Siena. Siena is a typical Tuscan town- like what you see in all of the movies and pictures. It was very quaint, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite city in Italy. There just wasn’t very much to do. However, a bunch of the people in my group loved Siena even more than they liked Rome or Florence- so if you get the chance, go visit. It’s just not my cup of tea.

 Siena

That night, we all went together for our final goodbye dinner. The food was so yummy and then the whole group surprised Amy, Cole, and I by singing “Happy Birthday” to us, since our birthday was over fall break. It’s actually kind of a statistical anomaly, because in a group of 28 people, the three of us have the same birthday. So they sang and then we had the most delicious cake ever. I don’t even know what kind it was- some sort of almond paste or something, but I was obsessed. Everyone else left and I was still sitting at my table eating cake. Like, that is so embarrassing to admit, but I’m sure everyone at home who’s reading this is thinking, “Yup. That sounds like Moriah.” So I’ll just embrace it.

Herr Swann, Emily, and Daniel were all waiting for me to finish, and then Daniel did the kindest thing- he got the restaurant to box up an extra big slice of cake for me so I could eat it on my birthday. That seriously made my night (and as you’ll see in my next post, the cake came in handy).

I went back to the hotel, packed up, rested, and then Leah and I set out for Barcelona at midnight…I guess you’ll just have to wait until my next blog post to find out what happened there!

So, to recap: I fell in love with Florence. I fell in love with the Duomo. I fell in love with the town square. I fell in love with the leather markets and with the art and with the Ponte Vecchio. I got to spend some really quality time with some really quality people on this Italy trip, and for that I am so grateful.