The very last pictures from Florence (cleaning off my desktop).

Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Becca & I were nearly alone in this home, so I imagined living here. Nice modern art collection. Modern in the relative sense

Piazzo del Campo in Siena and The Duomo of Siena (no, I'm not through posting pictures of Italy).

From Wikipedia:

The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of three hillside communities.... Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements.... It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with ten lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into nine sections, ... held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292 and 1355. It was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.

The Duomo was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

I saw locks near the Ponte Vecchio. Becca said it was a symbolic custom for new couples to leave locks. Romantic, right? Check out backstory below.

Locks of love.

A street in Fiesole, in the hills northeast of Florence.

Now that's hard pruning.

Frescoes from I don't remember where--some church in Florence.

You can't take pictures inside The Uffizi Museum, except for the entry lobby. Outside at night there was A Man in Gold. That's all I know.

He stood alone mostly, but in this shot he's chatting with the local security guys.

Ran across a street protest in Florence. Something about taxes, I think. Happy, relaxed protestors. Most with nice shoes, true of all Florentinians.

We flew over the Alps on our way from Paris to Florence.

Spotted here and there.

Mother and son dancing to live music.

Florence police are sharp dressers. Becca and I admired the big white leather bags they carry.

Tucked into one side of a courtyard in the Palazzo Pitti there's a small, semi-enclosed pool and fountain. And check out that ceiling.

Hard to take good pictures with my baby camera. I loved this dark little pool area. It was ringed with statues and was designed so you could walk all the way around. I'll bet it's a nice cool place in the heat of the summer.

The colors in Italy were wonderful. Not just the churches and palaces, which are a whole other level of beautiful. Ordinary places too.

The food!

Florence, Siena, and Fiesole, Italy--March 2010

Four days and five nights in Florence, with minor side trips by bus to Siena and Fiesole. Everything is so, so, so old and beautiful. And the food, my god the food! It helps to go with an art major slash daughter as your tour guide.