Wayback Wednesday: September 12, 2018 ~ Florence, Italy (Piazzale Michelangelo)

I arrived in Florence to find that the rainstorm that had dumped on me in Milan had apparently followed me south but by the time I got to my hostel the rain was finally coming to an end. After settling in, one of the first things I did in the city was to walk over to Piazzale Michelangelo, a plaza up on a hill on the south side of the Arno River. Half of Piazzale Michelangelo is a parking lot while the other half is an open area that usually has a few vendors selling stuff to tourists, and in the middle of it is a bronze replica of Michelangelo’s famous David statue. None of those things are particularly remarkable, but what is notable about Piazzale Michelangelo and is the view it provides of Florence. Today’s Wayback Wednesday photo is the shot I captured there in 2012 with my little point-and-shoot Canon camera.

Clouds covered the sky and Florence was still very wet but the historic core of the city was in plain view. On the far left was Ponte Vecchio, the city’s medieval bridge that is covered in jewelry shops. A little to the right of it was Florence’s old town hall, Palazzo Vecchio. In the center was the duomo, (cathedral) the central landmark of Florence and the place around which the rest of the city was oriented. I’d be visiting these places and many more in the coming days. Going up to Piazzale Michelangelo and seeing them from a distance was almost like getting a preview of Florence before actually diving into the city. It was also a good view and I made a point to return there when I was back in Florence in 2015. Piazzale Michelangelo’s location makes it a little troublesome to get to from the central part of the city, and depending on the weather and time of year it can get a little crowded up there, but it’s worth the effort to capture one of the best views in Florence.