The Entrepreneur's Travel Log

Florence Italy & the Medici Palace

Florence, Italy is rated the #1 European vacation spot by Travel & Leisure Magazine (Aug 06.) I can tell you why. It is absolutely, positively the most captivating city I've ever been to. Maybe it's because I'm such a history addict and I love books on the European history. I've recently been reading many fiction books on the 13th Century Italian culture. So visiting Florence and the Medici Palace felt like I was stepping into one of my novels.

To get to Florence from our cruise ship, we took a train through the Tuscan Countryside. I can see why it is such romantic area to visit -- the grapevines, Tuscan villas and terrain is absolutely delightful. We weren't able to stop but it is a must-see for our next trip to Italy.

The bridge has a legend -- apparently Hitler decided NOT to bomb it because he thought it was so amazing. The bridge links old Florence to the Medici Palace -- where the ruling royalty lived and is now a museum. The bridge used to be filled with butchers but because they threw out their meat cuttings into the water and polluted the river, the government kicked them out and now hundreds of little tourist shops exist.

It was a rainy day in Florence so to get warm and nourish our bodies a bit, we ducked into a wonderful little cafe. We ordered these gastronomic delights -- little sandwiches with mozzarella, ham and tomatoes that we could have eaten the rest of our trip -- and real Italian espresso.

Our next stop was the Medici Palace museum. Now luckily (or not, depending on your view of crowds) we somehow arrived in Florence on a national holiday where all the museums were free. Unfortunately it made it quite difficult to get into all the museums we wanted to see but it could be a blessing in disguise because we spent HOURS at the Medici Palace.

We couldn't take pictures inside the museum but each room was filled with art and remnants of the Medici rulers and their significant guests. The frescos (wall and ceiling paints) were breathtaking. I've been reading about them forever and it was just amazing. Each room had a sign that explained what the room was used for, how lived in it and it's history. Wow. I was standing where Kings and Queens slept. =-)

One of my favorite wings was the Costume Gallery. Outfits that they wore in the 17th century and beyond were preserved. Then, we moved on to the gardens. This was absolutely one of my most favorite experiences on the whole trip. The gardens were more expansive than the palace itself. There were wooded walking areas, fountains, groundskeepers homes, statues, rose gardens. Just beautiful. Everything has been preserved from the original landscaping when the Medici wife modeled her "backyard" after her famous Parisian friends.







Check out the hedges and the view from the balcony of one of the garden buildings. We could have spent an entire day at this one place. But we had many more areas we wanted to experience before we left. I'll post more on Florence soon!

posted by Melanie Strick @ 8:25 PM