Florence revisited

Tuesday 20 June 2017 - Florence is only just over an hour's drive from the villa, so the villa people wanted to see the crucible of the Renaissance. I tagged along, even though I had just spent a week there. It's hard to get too much of a good thing. After delays due to closed roads, and terrible service from the hop-on hop-off bus, it was lunchtime, so we headed directly to Piazzale Michelangelo. Here's a view from the terrace.

It's designed by Giuseppe Poggi and created in 1869. He designed a monument base dedicated to Michelangelo, where copies of Michelangelo's works, including the David and the Medici chapel sculptures from San Lorenzo, would be displayed.

When the terrace was finished, Poggi designed the hillside building with a loggia as a museum for Michelangelo's works. However, the building never fulfilled its original destination and today it houses the Ristorante La Loggia - we're grateful for this turn of events, because we had a sumptuous lunch there. By coincidence three groups from the villa all ended up there at the same time (well, I had recommended it).

This is a view of the Boboli Garden which extends up from the Pitti Palace.

After lunch, went walking around Florence and took yet another photo of the Ponte Vecchio.

Later that night, at dinner, some of the boys modelled the leather gear they had bought in Florence (sorry no photos of that, chaps).