Florence

Thursday afternoon, Brittany and I caught a train from Cinque Terre to Florence. Brittany and I stayed with her friends Amelia and Alex, who live in the center of the city. Florence is a beautiful, small, and walkable city in the Tuscan region of northern Italy. It is known for its delicious Northern-Italian cuisine (like prosciutto ham), Tuscan wine, and fashion (Gucci was founded there). Outside of the city is where an abundance of leather products are manufactured, so there is a huge and well-priced leather market in the city center. Most of the residents in the city speak English because it is a popular tourist attraction. 

I have been to Florence in the past with my family, but definitely saw some different sites while exploring the city with Amelia and Alex. We started the day at the leather market and found ourselves some satchel purses.

Afterwards we bought sandwiches from I Due Fratellini, a small counter shop on a side street (thank you to my sister, Laura, for the recommendation!). We took our sandwiches and a bottle of wine up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. After only about a twenty minute hike we made it to the piazza, which overlooks the entire city. It was absolutely stunning. The colors of Florence are so beautiful, especially when photographed.

We climbed down the hill and walked out to the Ponte Vecchio, a street with expensive shopping that leads onto a bridge. The bridge has small shops boarded to its sides that have beautiful gold jewelry.

As soon as we got to the bridge it started to rain, so we went to a covered market that has the famous hog statue. They say if you rub the hog's nose, make a wish, and drop a coin from its mouth your wish will come true. Well, we should have wished for the rain to stop because it immediately started to downpour. 

Luckily I was heading back to Rome soon, so we set up camp at La Proscuitteria, a hole in the wall deli. The shop does not have a restaurant license, so if people eat there they have to clean up after themselves. We ordered this huge board of breads, cheeses, spreads, and meats. I was in heaven! Definitely a great end to a relaxing day in Firenze.