Ciao from Firenze!

Today we were up bright and early for breakfast at Hotel Grifone, after which we had our usual class at 9 am and then went off to explore the city of Florence. While getting on the bus, our group was too big to get in all at once, so we got split up, and Claudio had to wait for us at the next bus stop.

Once we got to the city center, we visited the Accademia Gallery and saw the sculpure of David together, and then explored the rest of the museum for a while until lunch. We split up for lunch and a lot of us ate at I’ Girone De’ Ghiotti, where we got amazing Tuscan-style sandwiches.

After lunch, our class met up again at the Opera del Duomo Museum, where we saw models and sketches of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore before going to the Cathedral and walking up the 463 stairs to the top of the Dome. Walking up the last few flights of stairs, you could see and feel the outer shell of the dome curving in on you, and some of our classmates commented on how it made them dizzy. From an engineering perspective, it was fascinating to see the interior shells of the Dome, built using Brunelleschi’s signature herringbone brickwork that allowed it to be built with no centering. It was equally amazing to be able to see the frescoes on the inside of the Dome from up close.

Once we finally all made it to the top of the Dome, we took some more group photos of our Tommie Family, and I had way too much fun waving the flag around and trying to hold onto it in the wind, which admittedly brought most of the rest of the group a lot of anxiety.

The view from the top of Santa Maria Del Fiore was like nothing else – it was a completely clear, beautiful day, and we could see the entire city surrounded by mountains.

 

Buona notte,

Larissa