Arrived this morning in the port of Livorno.
Livorno is the principal
town in the province of the same name, which lies in the region called
Tuscany. It is Italy’s third
largest sea port and serves as the gateway to the cities of Florence and Pisa.
Boarded a tour bus to take us for the 30 minute drive to
Pisa, to see the famous Leaning Tower…. Due to the type of soil,
the tower leans and the cathedral beside it is now also beginning to sink.
Next we drove into Florence – which means ‘the flowering’ –
a place known as ‘the jewel of the Renaissance’. A beautiful town with a large university population and
apparently some 250 000 scooters on the roads! (often with no helmets) We were taken to the state Academy of
Fine Arts to see The David as our tour
guide called him – Michelangelo’s statue of David. A magnificent work of art explained in detail by our tour
guide, to our appreciation.
Barbera then took us downtown into Florence and a walking
tour of places of interest:
The Duomo and Baptistery – the Cathedral of Santa Maria del
Fiore; the Piazza Della Signoria –
the center of Florentine political life;
the Church of Santa Croce – the final resting place of Michelangelo,
Machiavelli and Galileo; and my favourite – the Ponte Vecchio – Florence’s most
famous bridge which is also home to the medieval gold and silver guilds (the
jewellery shops were indeed glittering!).
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