Florence

Today we arrived in Florence on a fast train from Venice. As all the carnival celebrators were coming into town we were heading out.  Florence is a city famous for Gothic and Renaissance buildings, art galleries, museums, and parks. Michelangelo Park, provides a glorious view of this historic city and all around you can see signs of the influence of Michelangelo who was not only a sculptor and painter, but an architect and poet as well.  The city is dominated by the towers of its many palaces and churches and by the huge dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The Uffizi is a fortress-like building that houses the Uffizi Gallery. The gallery’s large collection includes works by artists such as Raphael, Titian, and Botticelli.  The other major museum of town is the Academia.  It houses Michelangelo's David, one of the artist’s best known creations.  One of Lane’s art professors was commissioned to do restoration work on the Sculpture and as a part of the arrangements was given the opportunity to make a cast of it that is in the cast hall in the Museum at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art.  The Santa Maria Novella in Florence is one of Florence’s most beautiful churches. The church, built from the 13th to the 15th century, sits on the north bank of the Arno River and houses many famous frescoes and paintings of the late 1400s and early 1500s.