Metalsmiths in Florence, Part II

In my last post, I focused on our fabulous class. But Florence is an incredible and magical place, and I wanted to share some of my experiences. Although, to be honest, it’s very difficult to pick just the highlights since everything was just incredible!

During the time of the class, my friend and I stayed in a beautiful hotel located in a castle from the early 1500’s. Our room was at the top of the tower, and the view was beautiful. The hotel itself was situated on the third floor and there was a terrace where we ate breakfast every morning and would have a cocktail in the evening.

The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone bridge over the Arno River. It was the only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War. It was common practice for shops such as butchers, tanners, and farmers to be located on the bridges. Today it is home to jewelers, artisans and other shops. When the shops close up at night, they have unique shutters that come down to cover the shops.

We walked. A lot! It was wonderful! We saw the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the beautiful gilded bronze doors (made using chasing and repousse) of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, lots of artisan shops (and some super high end shops that I wasn’t brave enough to walk in to), the Galileo Museum, the DaVinci Museum and took an awesome pasta making class at Pasta Class Florence. There was so much more I would like to do there and I can’t wait to go back!

This is the third time I’ve been to Italy, although my first time in Florence. I fell in love, again. The Italian people, the food, the history, the beauty… I loved being able to walk down the street and see local shop after local shop, many of them filled with artisans. I also love seeing the continuity of history. I hope I can go back soon. I have so much more to see and so much more to learn!