"Beautiful Firenze!" a Florence Travel Page by GuitarStan

We stayed at Hotel Ferretti, which is within walking distance of the Santa Maria Novella train station. Florence is not large, if one is reasonably fit, you can walk everywhere with no need to use public transit. We stayed in Florence our first night (of 2 weeks) in Italy. It was actually fun trying to find our Hotel amongst the small narrow streets. We had a very good map but, the street was partially barricaded closed due to construction so we had a bit of a time right off the bat.

This Piazza is a continuation of the mall area of the Uffizi Gallery. It is lined with great caffes/restaurants, most with outdoor seating. It has recreations of great statues and some originals, a great place to people watch! The Uffizi (The World's first Gallery) is a must! Get your tics in advance/reserved and avoid the lines, a sensory overload of art within! In the backgound of the photo you can see the Duomo of Santa Maria de Fiore.

Climb the 444 steps in the Dome. It's not that bad because for much of the way one simply has to stop and let others pass by to go down. This dome is not as refined on the inside as St. Peters in Rome. Most of the passageway to the top is very narrow and confined. It is amazing it was built hundreds of years ago and I believe not much has changed. This is great fun climbing to the top and one is rewarded with a absolutely great view of Florence with it's tile roofs dominating the view. The entire ceiling of the dome is covered with fresco's. The church, like most in Italy, is still an active church and was being used at the time for some sort of service, so show respect when entering and remember some churches have dress codes.