Italy: The History & Art

Hey friends! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I finally – finally! – organized our pictures from Italy! This was a huge undertaking and as you can see from the length of this post, it was tough to narrow down! Initially I planned to write out all the places we went, but to be honest, that got a little boring, even for me and it was my vacation! I thought about what I love so much about blogs and it’s definitely the photos; therefore, I’ve decided to share our adventure with you through these images and just a few small snippets about where we went and what we saw! If you’re traveling to Florence and would like to see our itinerary, email me and I’d be happy to send it to you! Ciao!

Getting There:

We left from Newport News, VA around 2 pm and then flew from Philly to Frankfurt at 4pm. We arrived in Germany at 6 am, midnight our time! In an attempt to adjust to the time change (or really, just because the food looked so good) I ordered eggs florentine at Frankfurt Airport. About an hour later we took a small plane from Frankfurt to Milan, and actually flew over the Swiss Alps!

We arrived in Milan mid-morning and took a bus to the train station. We were shocked at how industrial (and just generally WORKED) the city looked! It was a breath of fresh air to arrive in Florence several hours later! Everything was so pretty! It was old worldly and so charming, with a dash Christmas spirit! We were energized by its beauty!

^ As you can see, my hubby was so happy when we finally made it to our hotel! We’d been traveling for 10+ hours! We stayed at Hotel Pierre and loved it. I highly recommend this hotel! It was beautiful, centrally located and the staff were amazing! My only suggestion would be to ask for a room in the back — our room was street side and a bit noisy at night.

We went out to eat our first evening in Florence, met up with the others in our group (remember we were doing a renaissance tour) and then crashed! The jetlag had definitely set in and we were exhausted! We both woke up refreshed and excited the first morning, though, and were ready to embark on our tour of this amazing city!

About the Tour:

We would not have had the pleasure of experiencing the amazing history and art in Florence (in the in-depth way that we did) without the help of our awesome Renaissance tour instructors, Debra & Frank (also Georgetown University professors) and the others shown in this photo:

In Italy, Debra & Frank’s guidance was priceless. Debra’s vast knowledge of the art and history – her passion for it! – paired with Frank’s fluent Italian and his ease with the logistics made for an enriching, effortless experience for the rest of us. Our group ranged from retirees to recent high school graduates – and personally, I think we really lucked out! Our group was awesome!! Most of them signed up for the trip through the Renaissance company, but others, like my husband were taking the tour for class credit through Georgetown.

Here’s what we saw on the tour!

Man – was that a lot of pictures or what!? I had the hardest time narrowing it down! Like I said, we saw a lot and I’m happy to share the specifics of what we saw if anyone is interested! This was probably the most incredible trip I’ve ever been on and I’m so happy I got a chance to share it with you! If you made it through all those photos – you’re a trooper! Thank you!

Have you ever been to Italy?

What was your favorite site?