Area Activities
FLORENCE
ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE ARNO, SURROUNDED BY THE
GENTLE HILLS OF THE TUSCAN-EMILIAN APENNINES,
LIES THE CHARMING AND ELEGANT CITY OF FLORENCE,
ONE OF ITALYS MAJOR ART CITIES.
FOUNDED BY THE ROMANS IN 59 BC, FLORENCE ENJOYED
THE MOST GLORIOUS PERIOD OF ITS HISTORY AFTER
1000 WHEN, WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FREE
COMMUNES AND THE SUPREMACY GAINED OVER THE ENTIRE
AREA OF TUSCANY, IT FLOURISHED ECONOMICALLY.
THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURY ARE
DOMINATED BY THE ILLUSTRIOUS FIGURES OF DANTE
ALIGHIERI - WHOSE INFLUENCE ON ITALIAN CULTURE
WOULD BE PROFOUND AND DETERMINANT - THE
ARCHITECTS FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI AND ARNOLFO DI
CAMBIO WHO, ERECTING MAGNIFICENT CHURCHES AND
LAVISH PALAZZOS, RADICALLY CHANGED THE FACE OF
THE CITY, AND GIOTTO WHO, WITH HIS SUMPTUOUS
DECORATIONS, INAUGURATED A NEW PICTORIAL IDIOM
WHICH WOULD AFFECT ARTISTIC EXPRESSION DURING
SUCCESSIVE CENTURIES.
DURING THE SHORT REPUBLICAN PARENTHESIS AND THE
SUBSEQUENT LORDSHIP OF THE MEDICI FAMILY, WHO
GOVERNED THE CITY WITH ALTERNATING FORTUNES FROM
THE MID-FIFTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL 1737, FLORENCE
WITNESSED AN EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTIC-CULTURAL
FLOWERING, BECOMING THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL RENEWAL OF ITALY, AS WELL
AS THE CRADLE OF THE SPLENDID RENAISSANCE
CIVILISATION.
TESTIMONY TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS PAST OF FLORENCE IS
ITS EXTRAORDINARILY EXTENSIVE ARTISTIC HERITAGE,
INCLUDING MANY SUMPTUOUS CHURCHES, AMONG THEM THE
HUGE CATHEDRAL OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE, WITH ITS
SPLENDID DOME BY BRUNELLESCHI AND SLENDER
CAMPANILE DESIGNED BY GIOTTO, THE FRANCISCAN
CHURCH OF SANTA CROCE, THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA
NOVELLA, ERECTED AT THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY, THE CHURCH OF ORSANMICHELE, AND THE
BASILICA OF S. LORENZO, A MASTERPIECE OF
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE* SURROUNDING THE
CHURCHES ARE THE OLD PALAZZOS, SUCH AS PALAZZO
VECCHIO, A BRILLIANT EXAMPLE OF
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY CIVIC ARCHITECTURE, AND
PALAZZO DEL BARGELLO, WHILE MAGNIFICENT SQUARES
OPEN OUT AMONG THEM LIKE THE SPLENDID PIAZZA
SIGNORIA. MANY OF THE PALAZZOS HOUSE SOME OF THE
OLDEST AND MOST IMPORTANT MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
IN THE COUNTRY THE UFFIZI GALLERY, THE MUSEUM
COMPLEX OF PALAZZO PITTI, THE BARGELLO NATIONAL
MUSEUM, WHICH MAKE THE CITY ONE OF THE BEST-LOVED
AND MOST POPULAR IN THE WORLD.
THERE ARE ALSO MANY FOLKLORE EVENTS DURING THE
YEAR, SUCH AS THE SPECTACULAR FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
IN COSTUME, TAKING PLACE DURING THE DAYS
DEDICATED TO ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST *LATE JUNE* AND
THE FASCINATING CEREMONY OF THE SCOPPIO DEL CARRO
ON EASTER SUNDAY.
AS FAR AS GASTRONOMY IS CONCERNED, THE FLORENTINE
FLAVOURS ARE QUITE UNMISTAKEABLE* WHILE ALSO OF
THE HIGHEST QUALITY WORKMANSHIP IS THE REFINED
CRAFT PRODUCTION, ESPECIALLY THE GOLDSMITH*S
WORK, WITH THE FINEST OBJECTS PRODUCED TODAY WITH
THE OLDEST OF SKILLS, THIS APPLIES ALSO TO THE
WOODWORK AND EARTHENWARE.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED ABOUT 55 KM FROM LEGHORN.
LEGHORN
ON THE TYRRHENIAN COAST, AT THE MOUTH OF THE ARNO
VALLEY, LIES LEGHORN, THE LARGEST PORT IN TUSCANY
AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN.
ALTHOUGH DEVASTATED BY THE BOMBARDMENTS OF THE
SECOND WORLD WAR, LEGHORN, LARGELY REBUILT
RESPECTING THE ORIGINAL URBAN LAYOUT, CONTAINS
SOME INTERESTING ARCHITECTURE INCLUDING THE
DUOMO, ERECTED BETWEEN THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ON THE PIAZZA GRANDE, THE
AUTHENTIC FULCRUM OF BUONTALENTIS PENTAGONAL
LAYOUT, THE FORTEZZA VECCHIA, MADE UP OF THREE
BASTIONS BUILT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY BY
ANTONIO DA SANGALLO, AND SURROUNDED BY A DEEP
MOAT, AND THE CISTERNONE, AN IMPOSING AND UNUSUAL
NEOCLASSICAL BUILDING, CONTAINING A HUGE WATER
TANK.
OUTSTANDING IN LOVELY PIAZZA MICHELI, IS THE
MONUMENT DEDICATED TO FERDINAND I DE MEDICI,
SCULPTED BY GIOVANNI BANDINI IN 1595 AND CALLED
THE QUATTRO MORI BECAUSE OF THE BRONZE GROUP
PORTRAYING FOUR MOORISH SLAVES, CREATED BY PIETRO
TACCA AND ADDED TO THE MONUMENT IN 1626.
IN THE PICTURESQUE MARITIME QUARTER - CREATED BY
VENETIAN CRAFTSMEN AND THEREFORE KNOWN AS NEW
VENICE - CRISS-CROSSED BY A DENSE NETWORK OF
CANALS, STREETS AND SQUARES LINKED BY BRIDGES,
THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHURCHES OF SANTA
CATERINA, ON AN OCTAGONAL PLAN AND EMBELLISHED BY
AN ADMIRABLE DOME AND LANTERN, OF THE ASSUNZIONE
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