Views of Firenze

Panoramic view of Firenze - Firenze, Italy (Click to view a larger version)

On our first evening in Firenze we decided to wonder up to Piazzale Michelangiolo, which was a comfortable 3 km walk from our hotel in Oltrano. When we got up to the piazza, at around 4.30 in the afternoon, it was packed with tourists and I had a to wait a while before I could get up to the wall and set up my tripod. I had a bit of time until the light changed, so I wasn't too fussed.

The Panorama above was a 23 image stitch. The Ponte Vecchio can be seen on the left hand corner of the image while the Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) is on the right. The tall bell tower in the centre of the image is Palazzo Vecchio.

Read on for more images and info.

The Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) - Firenze, Italy

The Duomo, which was built in 1296, is right in the middle of Florence and an image of it lit up at twilight and taken from Piazzale Micelangiolo was on my shot list. I ended up spending about 4.5 hours waiting for the light to change and as a result I've got a number of images of the Duomo in varying light conditions! This is one of my favourites as the Duomo really stands out while a bit of detail is visible in the background. The fact that the buildings around the Duomo are comparatively dark also helps isolate it. I will cover the Duomo and a bit of its history in a later post.

The Ponte Vecchio - Firenze, Italy

The Ponte Vecchio is one of the most famous landmarks in Firenze. It is a medieval bridge that spans the Arno at its narrowest point. The bridge is first mentioned in documents dated to 996. It is famous for having shops along both sides of it. These shops were initially occupied by butchers but they are now jewellery stores. The bridge that appears further downstream from the Ponte Vecchio is the Ponte Santa Trinita. I'll share more images of the Ponte Vecchio in a future post.

The Duomo & Santa Croce - Firenze, Italy

The image above is of Santa Croce and the Duomo. The Arno can also be seen in the foreground. The Basilica of Santa Croce is the main Franciscan church in Florence. It is also the burial place for a number of famous Italians including Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. The church is home to a number of frescoes painted by Giotto and art works painted by Canova, Donatello and Vasari. The Franciscan friars also founded a leather school on the premises. The school / factory is still in operation and a store is open to visitors. More images of the leather factory and Santa Croce will be uploaded in future posts.

All these images were taken with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens from Piazzale Michelangiolo.