11:00

I arrived off of the train from Turin just after 11am, my bags were very heavy, carrying all of my belongings to get me through my entire Europe trip but I couldn’t waste time complaining, I had a destination to get to.

I quickly got out of the station, Santa Maria Novella, and headed northwards up a road that would eventually lead to where I was to stay tonight. The walk was long and the midday sun was hot, but the classic Italian buildings lining the street provided enough temporary shade that I was able to make it to my destination.

12:00

I dropped my suitcase at the accomodation. My check in time wasn’t until 2pm so I needed to find a way to kill the time until then. On my walk from the station previously, I noticed two spots that I definitely wanted to check out. A quick top up of my sun cream and I headed to the first.

This is Parco San Donato (Saint Donatus Park), a park with a very small amount of shade. It’s a popular spot for the locals of the area but most likely not somewhere someone visiting Florence for a holiday would visit, well apart from me.

The main feature of the park is the large pond found quite centrally. Across this pond is a brick bridge with a delightful gazebo where I paused momentarily to eat some lunch. I sat on the wall of the bridge gazing down at the waters below, two small fountains worked to keep the water circulated. As I ate my focaccia, locals passed me by greeting me in Italian, I greeted them back in Italian also and wondered if they could tell that I wasn’t Italian. After all these weeks, have I not become Italian myself.

I left the park by one of the south entrances. Back into the streets of Florence I wound through them until coming across my second destination, Centro Commerciale San Donato, a large outdoor shopping centre.

I’ll admit the thing that drew me in here was a wild west themed restaurant. I was tempted to come back to eat tonight but then realised how strange it would look for a twenty-four year old woman to be eating in a wild west themed restaurant. Aging is a curse.

This shopping centre had many different shops though, a cinema, a homegoods shop, a nail salon, even a couple fancy looking jewellery places. After looking around a bit I realised something. Despite how long I’ve been staying in Italy now, I still don’t have any clothes that I’ve bought here, luckily there was a H&M to change that for me!

I got myself a completely new outfit, that I’ll be sure to show you later in the post, and headed back out into the sun. With every passing second, I felt that little bit more Italian.

13:00

After finishing my shopping, I noticed I still had an hour to kill until my check in time. I knew when I booked my accommodation that I was all of a 20 minute walk from the River Arno so once again I took to the winding streets in the direction of water.

Soon enough, I came across a large green space. From my limited knowledge of Florence geography, I knew this must be Parco delle Cascine, a long park that lines the north side of the river in this region. I quickly crossed the width of the park and made it to my first of many bridges of my trip.

The view from the bridge was lovely, but once I made it across and turned to walk down the river I felt my heart jump a little. There it was…

Florence, the centre of the Renaissance, lay before me. I knew I had been in the city centre earlier today, but with my rush to get to my accomodation I hadn’t managed to see any of the city. This was my first proper view of what was to come.

I paused under a tree to read my book, glancing up every now and then to gaze once more upon the city in the distance. I wonder how many throughout history have done the same, sat where I sat, to gaze upon Firenze.

Eventually, I continued my walk around. Crossing another bridge back over to the park and looping back on myself. This side of the river was much nicer to walk on, a tree lined boulevard cut through the centre allowing me to slowly stroll up whilst admiring the nature surrounding me. I came back upon where I entered the park, and followed my footsteps back to where I would be staying.

14:00

I checked in with ease now that I was on time, and collected my stowed luggage from the reception. The room was beautiful, fully kitted out with all the amenities which I would barely get a chance to use. I knew once I had gotten changed, I was heading into the city centre to see the sights.

First though, as promised, a fit check. Say hello to the new and improved Italipril!

With the outfit ready, and the suncream replenished. I started on my journey towards the centre of Firenze.

15:00

By the time I had walked to town my hour was almost up. My goal was to do something interesting nearly every hour whilst I stayed here, so I quickly found the nearest monument which interested me, this happened to be the Basillica di Santa Maria Novella. This Basillica is where the name of the main station of Florence comes from with the building itself dating back to 15th century.

The building is but one of the classic pieces of architecture I’m going to see today, speaking of, my walk continues.

16:00

The first place I wanted to visit today is somewhere I have wanted to visit for many years. The Palazza Vecchio, a key part of the skyline of Florence. I watched many a documentary about Leonardo Da Vinci in my childhood and this building was always a key part of the backdrop, for all of his studies this building stood around for them. He heard the bells, he saw the clock (although this one’s a replica). I don’t care much for celebrities, but Da Vinci? That’s a hero of mine!

Close by to the Palazza is a collection of statues known as the Loggia dei Lanzi. These statues depict numerous famous figures from Greek and Roman mythology, including Achilles, Hercules, and of course: Perseus!

Once I was finished admiring the art, I continued on my wandering. With the heat of the afternoon sun bearing down on me, I decided to invest in some classic Italian snacking, Gelato!

Whilst I’ve been here in Italy, I’ve tried a few different flavours of gelato. Chocolate, Pistacchio, even Egg Nog! Today I fancied something a bit more summery, so I got a Mango flavoured scoop. Of the flavours I’ve tried, I think this was maybe my second favourite, Egg Nog was simply delicious I am desperate to find it somewhere else before I depart.

17:00

As my wandering continued, I found it fascinating how the most amazing sights would be waiting just around the corner. Nothing spoke more to this than quite frankly the largest building I have ever seen. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.

This is one of the most famous landmarks in all of Italy. With the large domed roof being visible for nearly a hundred kilometres. The church took around 140 years to build from 1296 to 1436, meaning if you were born in the early 14th century in Florence, you would most likely go your whole life just watching it slowly get bigger but never seeing it finished. The immensity of the building I stood in front of can’t be properly shown through photographs. I’ve heard tales of megalophobia, the fear of large objects, but I think I felt it for the first time gazing upon this architecture.

The Cathedral is partnered by the Battistero, a round building which is older than the Cathedral by around 200 years although the origin year is often contested. Baptisms have reportedly been performed on the site for thousands of years and the sight has been the place of worship since before catholicism even existed!

I continued to wander aimlessly around the city, looping back on myself several times. One would think I was lost, but I had no destination in mind so I don’t think lost is something I could be.

Eventually, I happened upon another famous landmark, the house of Dante. Dante Alighieri was an Italian Poet who lived around the turn of the 14th century (meaning he saw the cathedral be started but not finished!) and is most well known for writing the collection of poems known as the Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

His house though, despite his international recognition, was just a house. In fact, it was just a few plain walls. I suppose that’s a lesson though, he was at the time just a writer, going through life as an ordinary man. There stands no reason why his house would be something to look at. Fascinating!

18:00

On my way out of the city, I passed under a very large archway. Known as the Arch of the Piazza or simply the Arcone, it was built in 1895 as part of the palace and an effort to create a new monument for the city. There used to be a statue in front of the arch to Vittorio Emmanuel II, who the Italians have an almost uncountable amount of statues for already. The arch was impressive nonetheless, lined with statues and catholic imagery and I passed through it on my long journey back to my room.

20:00 – The Rooftop Pool

Something I’ve realised I have quite an impressive amount of skill in is finding incredible hidden gems for my accomodation. My place in Turin became like a second home to me by the end, and Simona’s flat in Rome was adorable. For my breif stay in Florence I decided to book myself into a hostel about 45 minutes out of the centre by foot.

The accommodation, known as the Beyoo Florentia, is located in the region of Novoli, to the Northwest of the centre. My room has many utilities, most of which I wont get chance to use, but a spacious walk in shower is always a delight to see wherever I stay. The true highlight of this accommodation though, is the rooftop pool!

Found on the sixth floor, the pool is open to all guests until 9pm daily. I was only there for the one night so my hope was that if I went at around 8pm the place would be quite empty and I’d be able to swim to my hearts content.

Sure enough, as the lift doors opened, I saw exactly what I wanted. The still blue water, the orange sky, and not a person in sight. I had the entire place to myself.

Swimming in this pool, I had another moment of clarity. The insanity of what I was doing would not leave my mind. Here I was, in Florence, watching the sun slowly set from a roof top pool. It’s ridiculous! And right now, that’s what my life is.

I spent the next half hour floating on the surface, gazing at the clear sky above me. Finally, I watched the sun set below the hills in the distance as my first day in Florence came to a close.

21:00

After I got out of the pool, I sat in a nearby deck chair and read my book until it got dark enough for me to not be able to read anymore. I looked up from the pages out over the city. In the distance I could see the iconic monuments I had spent the day standing beneath. Even from this distance they still were impressive with the large dome of the Cathedral still towering over the rest of the city.

I took a moment to watch the world pass by. Stars appeared in the clear sky, some familiar to me, others unrecognisable to me in the moment. In the South, a large waxing gibbous moon glared at me, despite my exhaustion I never stopped being fascinated by the physics surrounding me. Eventually though, I headed back to my room.

Saturday 22:00

Now it was time to start winding down for the night. It had been a long and very hot day with my pedometer claiming I walked nearly 40,000 steps around the city of Florence. I needed something chill, something adorable. Conveniently I came across a LEGO store on my adventure today and got myself the perfect thing.

It’s the perfect thing to reflect my adventures throughout Italy, although I must admit I’m not sure I’ve been to any of the places it depicts!

Today was incredible, but tomorrow will be brilliant too! For that you’ll have to wait for the second half of this post, coming soon!

A presto,

Cassie