June 19

Saturday night found us on guided tour of Florence, which is vibrant and beautiful by moonlight. We even saw a footrace--too hot to race during the day. . .

Sunday we began with Messa at the Duomo di Firenze (Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiori--Our Lady of the Flower)at 9:00 a.m. A very old padre asked some of our girls to take up the collection. We progressed to a guided walking tour of Florence until late afternoon.
Some of the architecture we observed included the famous bell tower and baptistry adjacent to the Duomo, the first palace of the Medici and the Ponte Vecchio, which is a covered bridge
connecting the Pitti palace (another Medici extravagance)with the previously mentioned palace
(one can never have enough palaces, apparently).
Important gelato stop followed.
We went to the San Croce church where Michelangelo, Galileo and Marconi are buried, just to drop a few famous names of the long deceased. We also saw Dante's house and found out lots of info about the surrounding edifices.
We moved on to the Church of San Lorenza where the Medicis are buried then stopped for lunch.
We next toured the Uffizi Museum where we saw works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Carravaggio, Bottacelli, Lippi, and many more.
Immersed in art history we made our way back to the hotel to rest our brains and feet. Next was a steak dinner at the Osteria Dei Baroncelli.
Monday found us in Miracle Square in Pisa where we saw magnificent 12th century architecture and the Cathedral of St. Ranieri. The rest of the day was shopping at the markets of Firenze and did we have fun!