Stair Master - Body by Florence

To close out our visit to Florence, my parents would branch off from us and visit Lucca, the birth city of my father's father. This was probably a prudent decision for them because they didn't show any interest in visiting the Uffizi Art Gallery and it was unlikely that they would join us on our ascent of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore's cupola.  We parted ways early in the morning, my parents took a cab ride to the train station while we walked towards the Ponte Vecchio en route to the Piazzale degli Uffizi.

East corridor of Uffizi Museum

Alessandro Filipepi Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

Some head off hair for just being born

When we arrived to the Piazza we were greeted with a line similar to the Colosseum - hours long.  As we did in Rome, we found a few private tour guides to facilitate a better means of avoiding the line without overpaying.  We found an affordable option that provided tickets, no wait on line, and a headset to follow the narrated art history.  Our tour started with a foreshadowing theme for the day - walking up several flights of stairs.

Raffello Sanzio - Self-portrait

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) - Medusa

Raffello Sanzio - Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi

We plodded up the four flights stairs to the east corridor where our guide spoke of the history of the museum and the Medici family.  Being a large museum, our tour highlighted the major works from featured artist - Botticelli, Caravaggio, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raffello.  The most impressive of the collection, the Doni Tondo, the only painting by Michelangelo during his epoch in Florence (1499-1505).  The painting was commissioned by Agnolo Doni as a gift for his wife and the work was completed in parallel with the sculpture of David.  After spending two hours in the Uffizi we cultivated enough art and culture in the past day that we wanted to explore the sites - namely, the Piazza della Signoria and Piazza del Duomo.

Michelangelo Buonarroti - Doni Tondo

Impressive light, color, and shadow detail

Leonardo da Vinci - Annunciation*

Tribuna of the Uffizi

On our walk from the Uffizi to the cathedral we stopped in the Piazza della Signoria - the location of the fountain of Neptune, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and a reproduction of Michelangelo's David (original location of statue before moving to Accademia Gallery).  After a brief visit, we continued onward to the Campanile di Giotto (Bell Tower) where we would buy our tickets for access to all the attractions in Piazza del Duomo - including admittance to ascend both structures (sans the Battistero di San Giovanni due to the restoration project).  The line to climb the stairs of Il Duomo was only ten people deep and it wasn't long before we embarked on our journey up the 463 stairs.

Fontana di Nettuno

Replica of David and Bandineli's Hercules and Cacus

Piazza della Signoria

Once atop the stairs and before you see the panoramic view of Florence - we passed through the catwalk below the fresco covered dome of the cathedral.  Giorgio Vasari designed the Last Judgment painting and it was largely completed with the help of his apprentice, Frederico Zuccari.  This was the second ceiling fresco we had seen in three days, the other being the Sistine Chapel - also complete with Michelangelo's The Last Judgement (on the altar wall by the museum entrance into the chapel).  To me, the Renaissance appears to be the height of Catholicism's fire and brimstone intimidation, both frescoes of the Last Judgment observed were fascinatingly wicked.

Giorgio Vasari's fresco seen from cathedral floor

Fresco seen from catwalk

Giorgio Vasari - The Last Judgement

Doesn't look so bad, at least it's warm

We made our way around the inside of the dome and headed outside of Brunelleschi's Dome.  The ascent wasn't arduous, say the difficulty-level of Cerro Chato, but it was indeed dizzying at times.  After climbing the final set of stairs, the top is a literal and figurative breath of fresh air.  The entire city is visible from the cupola, terracotta roof tops dominate the landscape, and the view gives a wonderful perspective of the city's layout.  We spent enough time atop the dome to justify our excursion and prepared ourselves for the nauseating affects of descending spiral staircases.

Campanile di Giotto view from cupola

Piazza della Repubblica view from cupola

Basilica di Santa Croce from Il Duomo

Looking up to Campanile di Giotto

Side of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Il Duomo)

Halfway up the Campanile di Giotto

When we returned to ground level I asked Julie if she wanted to go up the Campanile di Giotto.  Her facial expression was matched only by her absolute aversion to any more physical activity for the day - specifically more stairs.  We found a cafe in the Piazza where she could sit down and enjoy her water while I completed my Body by Florence workout of the day.  The nice part about climbing the Bell Tower is the exposure to open air, far less claustrophobic than parts of Il Duomo - albeit, the staircases are particularly narrow.  Another 414 stairs and I reached the apex of the Campanile di Giotto.  The view from the Bell Tower isn't much different than Il Duomo's with exception to the view of the cathedral - a wonderful sight to end the day.  Having gone up and down 1754 stairs, combined with an entire day of walking takes a toll on the body.  Nothing a bottle of wine and a good dinner couldn't cure.

Side of Il Duomo

Third level of Campanile di Giotto

Looking up from the ground

We reconvened with my parents, but would part ways again for dinner.  Before doing so, we spoke of our days - it was great to hear how well they traveled and most importantly how much they enjoyed the city of Lucca.  The second stop of our tour of Italy had come to an end - a visit we collectively enjoyed more than our time in Rome.  Next up, our last stop - Venice.

The sun made an appearance, Ponte Vecchio

Plazza della Repubblica seen from nearby ATM

*Leonardo da Vinci - Annunciation

Some cocktail information --- during our tour, we were told that the wing of Gabriel had been modified from da Vinci's original wing.  His design of the angel's wings resembled that of a bird and was smaller than traditional angel wings were painted at the time.  Hence, a slight difference can be detected in the wing that was added later.

Highlight of Gabriel's wing likely done by another artist