EJ · Day Trip to Florence - Group 2

An excursion which begins with a transfer from the hotel to Rome Termini Station in order to take a fast speed train to Florence. Florence, located on the banks of the Arno River, was a Roman stronghold in the 1st century BC but began to come into its own as a commercial and cultural center beginning in 1200 AD. During the 13th century, the construction of several important buildings began, and, as the city’s wealth grew, works of art were commissioned to adorn the churches and palaces. This revival of interest in art and architecture brought about the Italian Renaissance, an amazing outburst of activity between the 14th and 16th centuries, which completely changed the face of this Tuscan town. During its heyday under the benevolent eye of the Medicis, the city was lavishly decorated with churches, places, galleries and monuments, creating one of the world’s greatest collections of art treasures. The list of geniuses who lived or worked in Florence is stunning: Dante, Boccaccio, Fra Angelico, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Raphael, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto and Michelangelo. Efforts to preserve Florence as the “Jewel of the Renaissance” have been successful, inspite of all the calamities it has suffered during the past 400 years. Wars and floods have damaged some of its treasures, while all of the medieval bridges that once spanned the Arno are gone, except for the Ponte Vecchio. But today Florence shines again almost as brightly as it did in the days of Michelangelo, and with this adventure you will enjoy a taste of what this magnificent city has to offer.
You will begin your guided tour visiting the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, a masterpiece of Gothic and Renaissance architecture and then proceed to the Medici Chapels, the splendid mausoleum of the Medici family, where you can enter to admire Michelangelo's sculptures. The walking tour continues to Piazza del Duomo to admire from the outside the Baptistery of San Giovanni, renowned for its marble façade and Ghiberti’s famous bronze doors known as the “Gates of Paradise”, the enchanting Cathedral (Duomo) with Brunelleschi’s magnificent Dome and Giotto’s Bell Tower. The tour will conclude in Piazza della Signoria, the former political center of the city, which displays an outdoor museum and where stands Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the government when the city was ruled by the Medici family, close to Ponte Vecchio. After the tour, lunch at leisure and some free time for shopping before returning to Rome via a fast speed train and transfer back to your hotel.