Firenze, San Gimignano, & Siena

The day after the highly successful Coffee House, we woke up early and headed to Florence, the city of the Renaissance. Our first stop was Piazzale Michelangelo for a panoramic view of the city. We quickly jumped back onto the bus and headed to our hotels. The boys stayed at the Adriatico and the girls at the Rivoli.

View from Piazzale Michelangelo

After dropping off our luggage we went on a walking tour of the town. We walked along the Arno River to toward Ponte Vecchio, then passed the Uffizi to Piazza della Signoria. There, we saw some of the most famous statues of the Renaissance including the Fountain of Neptune, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes.

Piazza della Signoria

Fountain of Neptune by Ammannati

We grabbed a quick gelato and walked to the Duomo. The church took 140 years to complete and has the largest brick dome in the world.

Outside of the Duomo

From there, we walked to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David, probably the most recognizable statue in existence.

David by Michelangelo

On Friday we woke up early, grabbed some breakfast, then headed to the Uffizi. "Uffizi" translates to "offices" and it was here that the Medici family governed the city state of Florence. Now, it houses the most important paintings of the Renaissance.

A terrace at the Uffizi

Primavera by Botticelli 

Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Madonna of the Goldfinch by Raphael

Later, we split up and had "tours by choice." These included Mr. Smith's tour of Museo Galileo, Ms. Tozzi's visit to the Boboli Garden, Mr. Stephens's walk through The Museum of Natural History, Mr. Simpson's ever popular Murder and Mayhem walking tour, and Mr. Rovere's climb up the Duomo. 

View from the top of the Duomo

View from the top of the Duomo

We had free time in the afternoon for more sightseeing, gelato eating, and shopping in the market.

On our last day, we left Florence and headed to San Gimignano, and then Siena. San Gimignano is famous for its towers, built by rivalling families to show off their wealth. We were allowed to climb to the top of one of these towers and had a magnificent view of the Tuscan landscape.

On to Siena... the city of the Palio. The Palio is a horse race that occurs twice in the summer. Ten of the seventeen contrade, or neighbourhoods, compete in this bareback competition. The race lasts for only 90 seconds as the riders circle the main piazza three times. It's not unusual for riders to be knocked off of their horses. Our first stop was to see the location of the race, and then we went on to see Siena's Duomo.

The Duomo in Siena was to be the largest church ever built. However, before it could be completed, the city was hit by the Black Death in the mid 14th century.

We got back to Lanciano by midnight. While it was nice to be back in town and off the bus, it was sad to think that this was our last trip and that our summer at CCI was coming to a close.