Florence: No City Like It

Someone I know asked me to explain to them in words why people who visit Florence leave the city in awe. She's never been but was trying to get a sense of the city from afar. I wasn't sure how to answer her question lest I fail to give the city justice. It's one thing to explain Florence to historically inclined individuals and quite another to those who don't.



I gave it a go and dug deep within my own personal experience. I remember overlooking Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo with two friends (one who hailed from Grossetto) and feeling the full weight of Florence's cultural heritage flashing before my eyes and soul.

At Basilica di Santa Croce - the largest Franciscan church in the world founded by St. Francis - buried within its magnificent church walls are Galileo, Donatello, Marconi, Fermi and Michaelangelo, Machiavelli and Rossini. I still shiver at this deathly fact. It richly deserves its alternate name: Pantheon of the Italian Glories.

Which led me to simply state:

Once you enter its borders, you instinctively know and feel great things in human history happened here.