Pronto!

I am particularly attracted to Florence city in central Italy. Florence is famous for its rich history, its Gothic and Renaissance buildings, art galleries, and museums. Florence's art and architecture can compare to Rome. It's the city where Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael hail from.

Accademia Gallery is one of the best known museums in Florence, because it houses famous sculptures by Michelangelo, including the "David", "The four prisoners" and the "Pieta of Palestina". There are also many paintings collected by the Grand Duke Peter Leopold to help the young Florentine artists. I found a cafe and had home-made very rich and creamy ice cream in the midst of cool weather.

The Uffizi Gallery is another museum which contains masterpieces by Italian and foreign artists from the 13th to the 18th century, such as Cimabue, Giotto, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Caravaggio, along with Rubens, Rembrandt, Dürer, Goya and many others. Modern day artists wannabes line the streets here, adding to the countless statues and art pieces and building architecture.

As I strolled along the streets and piazzas of Florence, I saw the oldest surviving bridge crossing the River Arno. The Ponte Vecchio ( Italian for Old Bridge) is a medieval bridge over the Arno River, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. It is described as Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandel segmental arch bridge.

It's here that I breathed in the "air of art", any frayed and fraggled nerves were soothed as I took in the sights of an era gone by.