Firenze/Florence: architecture

Since visiting a lot of Florence's main sights and museums is a little pricey, it's super nice that you can have a pretty good experience there for free—just walk around the streets and piazzas and see some of the most interesting architecture in the world.

Like the random building at the top of the post; I have no idea what it is, just something in between the Bargello Museum (post coming up) and Santa Croce. But isn't it lovely?!

Of course, there are plenty of non-random buildings that are even more gorgeous, like the afore-mentioned Santa Croce...

...the Palazzo Vecchio...

...and the Duomo complex (which will have its own post)...

As often happens in fascinating cities, little sidelights are almost as photogenic as the three-star attractions. Henry snapped this charmingly tiny street on his walk in Oltrarno:

And then there are more of those unidentified beauties, like these guys...

One of the most interesting aspects of architecture in Florence is the blending of old and new, since it's been a vibrant cultural center for so very, very long, and still is. For example, there are new bridges over the Arno...

...but of course there are very old ones, too. Including this one, whose name is just "old bridge," or Ponte Vecchio, in the more musical Italian...

Then there's old, iconic features undergoing modern refurbishment...

...as well as some new sculpture right alongside some old buildings (and older sculpture; I'll show you more of this piazza's wonders in my next post)...

There's even older buildings than the Palazzo Vecchio, like the church of Santa Maria Maggiore...

...or this remnant of the ancient city walls, snapped by Henry in Oltrarno...

So, even though I wasn't able to visit one of my target architectural sites, the Pazzi Chapel adjacent to Santa Croce (St. Francis' feast day couldn't have come just a few days later?) I felt like we got our fill of Florentine architecture. And we were able to at least glimpse that little gem:

And the glimpse was free, as were all of the fabulous sights I've shown you here. I've got another free attraction to tell you about, which I will do next time, before I move on to the big-ticket attractions we chose to visit.