Florence General Tips by PartyRambo

Favorite Thing: Just outside the Palazzo Vecchio, next to the Uffizi gallery, runs the Via dei Leoni, named after the lions housed in this street - mascots of the Medicis, they were previously housed in the Piazza della Signoria, but Cosimo I didn't like the smell & moved the stables here.
The photo shows the street from the Palazza Vechhio.


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Favorite Thing: Wander the streets of the central city - there are good examples of renaissance architecture, and some neat-looking buildings, too!


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Favorite Thing: At the Duomo, test your mettle climbing the steps of this 4th largest church in Europe - 277 steps (yes, I counted) from the ground to the gallery, and another 180 to the top of the dome. The view is definitely worth the admission and the effort (no elevator, sorry!).


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Favorite Thing: From the very top of the Duomo, you get a spectacular view of the city, as you might expect.

Fondest Memory: I could even locate my hotel room...
The slightly better-looking building is the Palazzo Vecchio.

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Favorite Thing: To sense the size of the Palazzo Vecchio, there are maps and an interactive CD-ROM available in the gift shop.


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Favorite Thing: The Palazzo Vecchio's enormous Salone dei Cinquento, built at the end of the 15th century as the Great Republic assembly hall, had daVinci and Michelangelo commissioned to work on opposite walls - Leonardo's test work fell flat, and Michelangelo got called out to Rome by the Pope before he got any of plans off the paper and onto the canvas, so a couple of other artists had to fill in. Michelangelo's Victory, facing the entrance door (the bottom-right statue on the right side of the photo) was given to the Medicis by Michelangelo's nephew.

**It was in this hall that Hannibal Lecter spent much of his time in the movie 'Hannibal'.**


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