Florence 2018: Piazzale Michelangelo

In the southeast corner of central Florence is perhaps the best panoramic view you can get of the city. Up on a hill is Piazzale Michelangelo, which is just a big parking lot, but it’s a parking lot with a great view and I sometimes refer to it as the best parking lot in Italy. I’ve been to Piazzale Michelangelo all three times that I’ve visited Florence and I’d recommend it to anyone who is visiting and can spare the time to get out there. For those that don’t have a car there are stairs and paved paths up the hill and you can think of the view as being your reward for the calories you burned to reach it. Just about any time of day is good for visiting Piazzale Michelangelo though sunset on a clear or mostly clear day can be particularly beautiful.

In today’s photo I tried to capture a wide view of Florence’s historic core. On the left you can see the Ponte Vecchio Bridge that is covered in jewelry shops. In the center are the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florence Cathedral, and you can see about half of the dome of the San Lorenzo church in the distant middle of the photo. On the right is the Santa Croce church, which somehow I’ve never checked out despite having visited Florence three separate times now. If you click on today’s photo it should enlarge to make it easier for you to see everything in it, unless I forgot to enable that feature, in which case just check back later and I’ll have it fixed by then.