The first time I saw the snow in Florence was 2005, and then it happened again! I took those few pictures the night of december 20th, when the snow was beginning to fall... it was really amazing, such a magical feeling watching the snow flakes falling over Santa Maria Novella!
The next morning I drove to my parent's house for Christmas, on a snowy and icy highway... end of the magic! :-(

the street where I live... one of the cars is mine :-)

snow on Santa Maria Novella

snow on the christmas trees in Piazza della Stazione

snowy christmas at Santa Maria Novella

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Piazza della Signoria is an square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Infact it was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio.
Piazza della Signoria is the heart and the core of origin and of the history of the Florentine Republic and today it still maintains its role as the political hub of the city.

Palazzo Vecchio stands proud in the square and give it its uncommon L-shape. Beside Palazzo Vecchio there's the Fountain of Nettuno (read this post about the Neptune fountain!) and a statue of Cosimo I de' Medici.

In front of the Neptune a marble placque remembers the exact place where Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned in 1498.

Just on the right of Palazzo Vecchio there's the Loggia dei Lanzi o Loggia della Signoria, whit several important marble sculptures, like il Ratto delle Sabine by Giambologna and the Perseo by Cellini.

palazzo Vecchio and Loggia dei Lanzi

palazzo Vecchio

fountain of Nettuno (Neptune)

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Here is Piazzale degli Uffizi, the long narrow square surruonded by the Uffizi Gallery. More infos on the Uffizi Museum are in this post :-)

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In the ancient times this square was the center of the roman city, the place where cardo and decumanus intersect. Now a column rise in this exact point to remember the past, and it’s called Colonna dell’Abbondanza (column of abundance).
From the year 1000 this square hosted the old city market.

The present appearance of Piazza della Repubblica is the result of the city planning done after the proclamation of Florence as the capital of Italy (1865-71). In this years large parts of the city centre were demolished to create the large squares and streets that a capital needed.

The decision to enlarge the square needed the destruction of several historical important buildings: medieval towers, churches, the corporate seats of the Arti, palaces, craftsmen's shops and thousand of houses.
The demolition was presented as a necessity, as the area's insanitary conditions were to be improved, but was in reality led above all to building speculation and to legitimization of the will of the emerging middle-class, protagonist in the events that bring Italy to unification.

The big arch in Piazza della Repubblica, called Arcone, remember with an inscription the huge demolition of the 19th century:

L’antico centro della città
Da secolare squallore
A vita nuova restituito

"The ancient centre of the city

restored from age-old squalor

to new life"

Colonna dell'Abbondanza, the exact place where cardo and decumanus used to meet in the roman city of Florence

the old carousel in Piazza della Repubblica

the big arch, with the commemorative inscription, called "Arcone"

the big arch of Piazza della Repubblica from the back

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The Piazzale Michelangelo is surely one of the most beautiful places to visit in Florence Italy. Placed high on a green hillside overlooking the city, visitors can enjoy a breathtaking view of the whole city: you can spot the duomo, Palazzo Vecchio with its tower, Giotto’s bell-tower, the Arno river that flows and tear the city in two parts, with its bridges in sequence.
Then turn around and look at the green hills around you, with classic and elegant Tuscany villas and the remaining ancient walls of Florence.

Piazzale Michelangelo was built in 1869 and designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi, when Florence became the capital city of Italy (for a short period) and needed big, magnificent public spaces to represent the power of the newborn Reign of Italy.
A replica of Michelangelo's Statue of David stands in the centre of the plaza.

San Miniato al Monte

Near Piazzale Michelangelo there’s a wonderful Romanesque church, San Miniato al Monte, that’s so beautiful that lots of people from all over the world come here to get married. Beside the church there’s a monumental cemetery, and it’s surrounded with a nice small cypress forest where is such a pleasure to take a walk!

the wedding of a japanese couple in San Miniato al Monte

the monumental cemetery of San Miniato al Monte

You can reach Piazzale Michelangelo from the historical center with bus, number 12 or 13, it’s about a 15 minutes ride.

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