Author:

Ms (Leigh) Bella St John aka Luxurious Nomad ~ https://ElegantisVitae.com/

Piazza della Repubblica

Complete with stunning architecture, live music, and a carousel, visiting the Piazza della Repubblica was a wonderful experience!

“Piazza della Repubblica is a circular piazza in Rome, at the summit of the Viminal Hill, next to the Termini station. On it is to be found Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. It is served by the Repubblica – Teatro dell’Opera Metro station. From the square starts one of the main streets of Rome, Via Nazionale. The former name of the piazza, Piazza dell’Esedra, still very common today, originates in the large exedra of the baths of Diocletian, which gives the piazza its shape. The exedra present in the baths of Diocletian was incorporated into the gardens built by Cardinal Jean du Bellay; on his death in 1560, the land was purchased by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, and eventually came into the possession of Cardinal Alessandro Sforza in 1579. Between 1598 and 1600 the exedra was converted into a church. Then, in 1885, the Via Nazionale cut through the centre of this structure. The porticos around the piazza, built in 1887–98 by Gaetano Koch, were in memory of the ancient buildings on the same sites, while the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri on the piazza is based on a wing of the baths (with its architect Michelangelo, using the tepidarium as one of the wings of its spacious Greek cross plan).” Wikipedia

~ Bella

Ponte Vecchio

Walking across the iconic Ponte Vecchio was like entering another world…

“The Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”, Italian pronunciation: [ˈponte ˈvɛkkjo]) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Butchers, tanners, and farmers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers, and souvenir sellers.[3] The Ponte Vecchio’s two neighboring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie. The bridge connects via Por Santa Maria (Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli and Lungarno degli Archibusieri) to via de ‘Guicciardini (Borgo San Jacopo and via de’ Bardi). The name was given to what was the oldest Florentine bridge when the bridge to the Carraia was built, then called “Ponte Nuovo” in contrast to the pons Vetus. Beyond the historical value, the bridge over time has played a central role in the city road system, starting from when it connected the Roman Florentia with the Via Cassia Nuova commissioned by the emperor Hadrian in 123 AD. In contemporary times, despite being closed to vehicular traffic, the bridge is crossed by a considerable pedestrian flow generated both by the notoriety of the place itself and by the fact that it connects places of high tourist interest on the two banks of the river: piazza del Duomo, piazza della Signoria on one side with the area of Palazzo Pitti and Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno. The bridge appears in the list drawn up in 1901 by the General Directorate of Antiquities and Fine Arts, as a monumental building to be considered national artistic heritage.” Wikipedia

~ Bella

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of St John

It was truly amazing even walking toward this iconic cathedral There are countless videos, books, etc on how the dome was constructed, so I won’t reiterate the details here – but this is what Wikipedia has to say, in case this area is new to you:

“Florence Cathedral, formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Italian pronunciation: [katteˈdraːle di ˈsanta maˈriːa del ˈfjoːre]; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy (Italian: Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.[1] The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink, bordered by white, and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris. The cathedral complex, in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major tourist attraction of Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy’s largest churches, and until the development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. The cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Florence, whose archbishop is Giuseppe Betori. The unreinforced masonry that Brunelleschi used to construct the dome is weak in tension which leads to cracking when tensile stresses exceed the limited masonry tensile strength. The material is especially susceptible to damage from seismic loading due to its heterogeneity and many surfaces between different materials (stones to mortar connection).[40] Cracking of the dome was observed even before its construction was completed. It is possible that the first cracks were caused by a strong earthquake in 1453.”

Basilica di San Lorenzo

The Basilica di San Lorenzo is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy. It is right near the centre of the main market district of Florence, and it is the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III.

Museo di Palazzo Vecchio

The stunning Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy.

It looks out onto the Piazza della Signoria (I cover that in a separate post).

For me, the most impressive part of the building (goodness, there are SOOO many impressive features!) is The Salone dei Cinquecento (‘Hall of the Five Hundred’). It was built in 1494 by Simone del Pollaiolo. Just – WOW!

Michelangelo’s David also stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873, when it was moved to the accademia Gallery. A replica erected in 1910 now stands in its place.

There is a famous story of one disaster (ref Wikipedia) – “Leonardo was commissioned in 1503 to paint one long wall with a battle scene celebrating a famous Florentine victory. He was always trying new methods and materials and decided to mix wax into his pigments. Da Vinci had finished painting part of the wall, but it was not drying fast enough, so he brought in braziers stoked with hot coals to try to hurry the process. As others watched in horror, the wax in the fresco melted under the intense heat and the colors ran down the walls to puddle on the floor.”

~ Bella

American Diner in the historic district of Florence?

Welcome to the 1950s!

An American Diner restaurant in this historic district of Florence, Italy.

One of the last things I would have expected to see in Florence was an American Diner – complete with servers on roller-skates!

A lot of people come to Tuscany for the Italian food – but if you’re from the States and you need a Tex-Mex fix, or a good old fashioned hamburger, this is the place for you.

As long as you don’t look out of the windows at the view, and don’t listen to everyone speaking Italian (or the Italian menu), you could imagine yourself transported back to rock and roll 1950s USA.

Piazza della Signoria

This amazing space was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio (or Old Palace).

Here you will find the Palazzo Vecchio, that is also the Town Hall, the Loggia dei Lanzi, The Tribunale della Mercanzia (Tribunal of Merchandise), Palazzo Uguccioni, the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, a replica of the statue of David, the Fountain of Neptune, and the statue of Cosimo Medici on his horse.

How’s this for history – In 1385 it was paved for the first time!

Here is the video, and the photos are underneath. Enjoy!

~ Bella

Piazza di San Firenze

Located behind Palazzo Vecchio and close to Bargello, Piazza di San Firenze was named after a building dedicated to St. Florenzo. It was originally designed in the 15th century by Giuliano da San Gallo and expanded in the 19th century.

In 1994, during roadworks, a section of Roman walls and a tower were discovered under the piazza’s pavement.

The sculptures are by Antonio Signorini, a Tuscany-born artist.

Here is the video – the individual photos are below:

~ Bella

Sometimes the littlest things can mean the most

[in case you’re wondering, that’s the Ponte Vecchio on the River Arno behind me – went exploring there on Thanksgiving and will send the update on that soon]

I am one of those strange people who actually loves to pay attention to little details, and for whom sometimes the littlest things can mean the most. I love simply ‘looking up’ when out and about in a new place, and seeing and appreciating things other people who are often glued to their phones or looking at things at eye level (or often at their feet) simply miss. One can notice in almost all my posts, images of seemingly random small details that go unnoticed by the majority, but that I find fascinating.

For me, it’s the little things that can often bring a wider smile than the more obvious and grand – and I have had a string of such ‘little’ but ever so meaningful instances lately.

Sometimes the littlest things can mean the most

One of the obstacles I face with my particular set of physical challenges, is that packing up and catching planes every few months really messes with my body – and apart from the pain etc, one of the challenges is that both the Lupus and my heart (that thinks it’s an avant-guarde musician and makes up its own beats from time to time – that’s when it’s not deciding to revolt entirely) go screwy, my body puffs up significantly, and it takes me a few weeks to get it all back to playing nicely again.

[Sidebar: funnily enough, road trips never bother me!]

Although feeling much, much better, I still feel rather bloated and unattractive at present, but just today as I was walking down the corridor to my suite, one of the managers saw me. They all know I am learning Italian and I have asked them to only speak Italian with me, unless I ask for something in particular to be explained in English. They have not only done that for me, but they have dumbed-down their language so that I can catch on and understand. I thought that was so sweet of them.

When she saw me, she smiled, I said (in Italian), “hello, how are you today?” – she replied in Italian that she was good, and then she stopped me, and waving her hand from my head to my feet and back up, she said slowly for me to understand, “sei sempre bella” (you’re always beautiful).

I thanked her very much and continued on to my room – definitely not feeling ‘sempre bella’ but appreciating her saying so.

She wasn’t referring to any ‘beauty’, more what Italians call ‘bella figura’ – essentially meaning to always look and feel elegant, to appreciate beauty, to live and love every moment of every day – even what seems mundane to others – in a beautiful way…

Sometimes the littlest things can mean the most

It helps that I am one of those strange people who always wears long dresses, and who loves to wear hats, scarves, gloves, etc – I put on eyeliner and a little of my signature scent when I get up and get dressed in the morning, whether going out or not (not for anyone else, but simply because I enjoy it) – and even when at ‘home’ by myself, I am always dressed with a sort of relaxed elegance. It might be as simple as an inexpensive dress I bought on Amazon, but it is always something in which I feel good – and if I feel like ‘sloppy-comfort’? I have elegant versions of long dresses and cozy fur-trimmed wraps that do just that as well – or it the world feels too big and I wish I had a fluffy puppy with whom to curl up, I have a gorgeous vintage mink coat (before you shoot me for wearing ‘fur’ – no, I wouldn’t buy a new one, but feel perfectly fine with owning a vintage one – disagree with me if you like) and I curl up with that and watch a girlie movie or some such thing.

A couple of days ago I was out – actually my Thanksgiving day! – and while sitting outside at a restaurant in the piazza, a lady came up to me, introduced herself and said she was from Norway and in Florence for photography course, and said that I apparently looked so beautiful sitting there, could she take my photo for her portfolio to capture the way I looked and my feelings and thoughts at that moment (you will get to ‘meet’ her when I finally get to posting my photos from that day)…

…but, I guarantee it was more for what I was wearing and how I was wearing it, than any physical ‘beauty’ – and it wasn’t that what I was wearing was a several-thousand dollar Chanel suit or similar…

So, what was I wearing? What you see in the image above – basic and simple. No makeup other than eye-liner and a lip balm. A simple long black cross-over dress (bought on Amazon for about $30), a beautiful vintage wool and fur hat (that I bought on eBay for about $30), a matching scarf etc, and over-sized Sophia Loren-type sunglasses (these particular sunglasses were my cheapies for about $20 – they weren’t even my expensive Versace sunglasses).

I can pretty much guarantee what Laila (the lovely lady who took my photo) saw, was ‘bella figura’ – the love and care I put into what I was wearing and how I wore it, more than any physical beauty.

It’s probably best summed up in this quote by Audrey Hepburn:

“I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls.”

Lately I have done several outings where I have walked for hours and hours, with a few stops along the way. This morning I was planning on going for a long-ish walk and had a couple of places in mind that I wanted to visit, however even before I reached the elevator, I knew today my body was not up for that, so decided to simply run a couple of errands, pick up a bite for lunch, and return.

I felt a little deflated, as I was really looking forward to enjoying the beautiful weather – and so hearing, “sei sempre bella” was just the boost I needed to not feel so dejected at not being able to do more today – and actually, it boosted my spirits so much that I came back, wrote this post to share the experience with you, and feel inspired to do something creative this afternoon!

Sometimes the littlest things can mean the most…

Sending love and smiles to all…

~ Bella

PS: two more of the ooooooodles of Audrey Hepburn quotes I love:

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

“Elegance is the only beauty that never fades.”