Day 32 - Oltrarno

Dividing Florence is the Arno River, you have heard me talk about this before. The other side, opposite from where I live, is called Oltrarno meaning simply 'across the river.' This is definitely the more authentic side of Florence. There are not as many tourist attractions here, however, plenty of things to see in one day and that's exactly what I did.

Visuals. They always help me!

I started the day with Alexis. Her and I walked north on our side of the river to purchase ballet tickets for Saturday night (flash forward: Alexis and I saw "A Mid Summer Night's Dream the next evening. It was pretty awesome). We crossed the river 3 bridges north of the Ponte Vecchio. After grabbing lunch at her favorite deli and a cup of coffee just down the road, Alexis ran off the the studio and I found myself ready to start my 'across the river' adventure.

My first stop, the Brancacci Chapel. This chapel is located in Santa Maria Del Carmine. The beautiful fresco-ed walls of the chapel depict the life of St. Peter (same guy who the basilica in the Vatican was named after). These frescoes were painted partially by Filippino Lippi.

Front of Santa Maria Del Carmine. Inside is the Brancacci Chapel.

Brancacci Chapel

Brancacci Chapel - Right Wall

Brancacci Chapel - Left Wall

Brancacci Chapel - Ceiling

Next up, I was headed back to Palazzo Pitti. One of my newer room mates told me that the other half of the visit (if you remember, I only bought one of two ticket options upon first going to Palazzo Pitti) was worth viewing. Palazzo Pitti was where the Medici Family moved to after leaving the San Lorenzo area. Once they headed across the river, other aristocrats followed. The palace has since been inhabited by other families and much of the original architecture and design of the rooms has changed. They don't allow photos in this area of the palace because it now houses an art gallery. A quite impressive one at that.

However, those of you who have followed me on this blog might recall a fountain. 'Street corner fountain, Florence.' Sound familiar? Well, I hit up the internet again prior to my journey to attempt to locate Street corner fountain, Florence. However, my new directions led me awry, yet again, and I decided that faulty internet leadership would cause my hunt to wait another day. As I began the walk to Palazzo Pitti, I was having one of those meaningful moments, trying my best to enjoy strolling down Florentine streets when I happened to look up:

Boom! FOUND! Good moment..

I spent a lot of time climbing to the top of "things" while in Italy. Whether it was a bell tower, church, hill, steps, you name it. I calculated that I walked up more that 1,000 stairs while I was in Italy (not to mention the 4 flights to reach my room every day). When I was at the top of multiple monuments in Florence, one distant building caught my eye.

 Hard to see here, but this picture was taken from the top of the Giotto's Bell Tower. 

This was taken at the top of the duomo. What is this?!?! Across the river... Large white, marble faced building... AHH!!!

None of my travel books highlighted this building so I had to dig a little. But the effort paid off. This church, San Miniato al Monte, is located high atop a hill. So, I hoofed it up there and, well, the pictures get better.

And there it was. The illusive white-faced structure I had seen many times but from a great distance. 

 San Miniato al Monte 

Mosaic of Jesus centered on front of San Miniato

While walking through the church, taking pictures and exploring, I stumbled across an elderly gentleman dressed all in white as the figures above. This was a mural painted hundreds of years ago and turns out the clergy men of San Miniato still dress the same. I said, "Boun giorno" but he shuffled off. I think I scared him. 

View of Florence from San Miniato.

I was told by many, including my Mom before she left, that one location to visit was Piazzale Michelangelo. So I made it my last stop of the day. I'm not even going to bother trying to explain what I saw because it is, just, absolutely, indescribable.

Florence at Sunset

Ponte Vecchio, River Arno, and Florence

Replica of Michelangelo's David resides in Piazzale Michelangelo

Needless to say, I saved one of the most beautiful views of the city for one of my last days in Florence. I had a wonderful day, walking the streets, enjoying the culture and people, spending time with those I knew I would miss and taking in as much as I could.

I was determined not to take this city for granted, as I only had a few more days until my arrival back in The States.