Day 6

We all had an early start today, leaving the hotel at 8am.

We walked to the Ponti Vecchio Bridge which is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, noted for still having shops built along it. It was the only bridge across the Arno in Firenze(Florence) until 1218. During WWII Hilter was to bomb the bridge, but due to its beauty, decided not to.

Soon after, we made our way to the Palazzo Pitti also known as the Pitti Palace. The palace was long the residence of Firenze(Florence)'s rulers until 1919, when it was handed over to the Italian state, which transformed the palace into a museum complex.

The students then made their way to the Galleria Dell'Accademia, which is a museum famous for its sculptures by the great Michelangelo Buonarroti where they saw the statue of David. The young Michaelangelo sculptured the statue of David in three years from 1501-1504. Starting with a huge block of rough marble he portrayed a magnificent nude young man in his full physical vigor, whose intense expression of force and courage, which stemmed from his absolute faith in God.

We had lunch at the Piazza Di Mercato Centrale, where we were able to taste seasonal fruits such as pineapple, mulberries, blueberries, grapes etc… Other indulged in pizza. The rest of the day was taken up with our guide seeing the sites of Firenze(Florence).

At 7pm we went out to eat at a restaurant followed by a walk to soak up the city lights. The students were then given the opportunity to indulge in a rich, natural flavoured gelato - yumo.