Florence Italy

After a great week in the French Riveria, we decided to take a detour and stop in Florence for a night before heading back to Lugano.

On the way to Florence we decided to make a quick detour of our initial detour and stop over in Cinqueterra for the afternoon.


Looking down into the village of Riomaggiore.


Strolling through town.


Envious of these guys.

A bite to eat.

Back to the car and off to Florence.

Arriving at our hostel in Florence with our boxed wine in hand.

A night on the town.

The enormous Basilica di Santa Maria is where the Easter celebration took place the following morning.

The Santa Maria from our room.

The Easter tradition in Florence is held in the Piazza Duomo. It is called the 'Burst of the Carriage' where The Holy fires comes on a carriage hauled by six white Ox. Than the carriage is lit with a special fuse called the “colombina” by the Arch Bishop and if the “explosion” (fireworks) is well done, it will be a good year for Florence. It kind of looked like the Wicked Witch of the West was making an appearance.

After the fireworks, the parade of uniquely dressed Florentines made there way out of the piazza.

I'm definitely adding one of these outfits to my wedding registry.

The rooftops of Florence from our room.

Although strictly forbidden, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Michaelangelo's David.

It is far bigger and more impressive than I had imagined. If you stare at it long enough you feel as if he is breathing.

Next stop, home again home again....or at least home as we know it out here, Lugano.