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Florence, Italy: cradle of the Renaissance

Florence's museums, palaces, and churches house some of the greatest artistic treasures in the world. The most popular and important sites in Florence include the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Uffizi, the Bargello, and the Accademia. The churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce are veritable art galleries, and the library of San Lorenzo is a magnificent exhibition of Michelangelo's architectural genius. Wander some of the oldest streets in the city until you reach the Arno River, cross the Ponte Vecchio, and experience the "newest" area of Florence, the Oltrarno.

The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. Underneath the bay on the far left is the bronze statue of Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini

The Loggia dei Lanzi

Lungarno Acciaiuoli

Lungarno, Palazzo Castellani, Museo di Storia della Scienza

Lungarno, Palazzo Castellani, Museo di Storia della Scienza

Lungarno, Il Ponte alle Grazie, 1957

Lungarno Generale Armando Diaz, Palazzo della Borsa di Firenze

Lungarno Generale Armando Diaz, Palazzo della Borsa di FirenzeLungarno Generale Armando Diaz

Piazza Mentana

Lungarno Generale Armando Diaz, Il Campanile di Santa Croce, Biblioteca Nazionale Firenze

The original Ponte alle Grazie was constructed in 1227. It was rebuilt in 1345 with nine arches, making it the oldest and longest bridge in Florence. Two of the arches were filled in during 1347 in order to widen piazza dei Mozzi. Structures were built on the bridge, much as can be seen on the modern Ponte Vecchio but these were eventually abandoned and were removed in 1876 to make way for railway track.

Ponte alle Grazie

Ponte alle Grazie

In August 1944, the bridge was destroyed by the retreating Germans as they withdrew before the advancing Allied forces in World War II. Following the end of the War, a competition was held to create a new design for a replacement bridge. The new bridge was completed in 1953.

The Ospedale degli Innocenti ('Hospital of the Innocents', also known in old Tuscan dialect as the Spedale degli Innocenti) is a historical building designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, who received the commission in 1419, it was originally a children's orphanage. It is regarded as a notable example of early Italian Renaissance

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), L'Adorazione dei Magi, 1488, Spedale degli Innocenti

Domenico Ghirlandaio Self portrait

Chiostro degli Uomini, Brunelleschi, Spedale degli Innocenti

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), L'Adorazione dei Magi, 1488, Spedale degli Innocenti, Detail

Andrea della Robbia

Centro storico

Chiesa Santo Stefano al Ponte,

sede dell'Orchestra regionale Toscana

Via Tornabuoni Palazzo DudleySir Robert Dudley (1574 –1649) was an English explorer and cartographer. He left England in July 1605. Dudley designed and built warships for the arsenal of Tuscany and became a naval advisor to Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1608 Dudley convinced the Duke to send the privateer galleon Santa Lucia Buonaventura to Guiana and northern Brazil in the only tentative of Italian colonization in the Americas.

Ponte Santa Trinita

Ponte Santa TrinitaPalazzo Spini Ferroni

Palazzo Spini Ferroni is a building in piazza Santa Trinita, the grandest private medieval house-palace in the city. The palace was built from 1289 for the rich cloth merchant and banker Geri Spini, on the lands he had bought from the monks of Santa Trinita, after the 1288 flood of the Arno.

Ponte Santa Trinita, Palazzo Spini Ferroni

View of the Arno and Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence by Thomas Patch (Exeter 1725 - Florence 1782)

Lungarno Corsini

Palazzo Spini Ferroni and Ponte Santa Trinita

Palazzo Spini Ferroni and Ponte Santa Trinita

Palazzo Corsini located Lungarno Corsini. The Corsini family rent it out to The Antiques Biennial Show every two years

Palazzo Corsini located Lungarno Corsini.

Ponte Santa Trinita

Ponte Santa Trinita

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Santa Trinita and Ponte Vecchio

One of Florence's most photographed landmarks, the Ponte Vecchio is Florence's most famous bridge. The Ponte Vecchio, which spans the Arno River from Via Por Santa Maria to Via Guicciardini, is also Florence's oldest bridge, having been spared from bombing during World War II.

In 1944, the retreating Germans decided to blow up the bridges along the Arno linking the district of Oltrarno to the rest of the city, thus making it difficult for the British troops to cross. However, at the last moment Hitler ordered that the Ponte Vecchio must not be blown up, as it was too beautiful.

Instead an equally historic area of streets directly to the south of the bridge, including part of the Corridoio Vasariano, was destroyed using mines.

Since then the bridges have been restored exactly to their original forms using as many of the remaining materials as possible, but the buildings surrounding the Ponte Vecchio have been rebuilt in a style combining the old with modern design.

Ponte Santa Trinita and Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte alla CarraiaPonte Amerigo Vespucci

Ponte Amerigo Vespucci

Sound: James Galway - Saverio Mercadante - Concerto in E minor - II. Largo

Text: InternetPictures: Daniela Iacob & InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda