I finally got the chance to see Florence when my husband and I visited Florence a few weeks ago in order to participate at the 31st edition of Florence marathon. Luckily the weather conditions were in our favor although the timing of our trip coincided with the last week of November. We stayed at a B&B named “sognando Firenze” from where we could easily reach the old city center on foot within twenty minutes. The B&B was very clean, had friendly and helpful staff and did not cost us a lot of money. I highly recommend this B&B to whomever wants to visit Florence in the future.

The day before the marathon we had the chance to do some sightseeing and enjoy all the attractions this beautiful historical city had to offer us. We took a nice walk down the Arno river towards the old city center. We first stopped at Piazza della Signoria (“Lordship Square”). Just like its name suggests, Piazza della Singoria is a big square surrounded by historical buildings which were once the most important palaces during the existence of the Republic of Florence. In modern day, this square is almost where all the action takes place; it is always filled with young people who meet their friends for rendezvous and tourists from all over the world.

Two of the most important buildings you will see on this square are the Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) and Loggia dei Lanzi. Palazzo Vecchio serves as the city hall. In front of this architectural structure stands a copy of David, a masterpiece which was created by the Italian artiest Michelangelo. Loggia dei Lanzi is a structure with three wide arches and serves as an open air sculpture gallery.

From Piazza della Signora, we walked until one of the most famous cathedrals in history: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower. The dome of this cathedral can be seen from multiple locations in the city. It’s architectural style is different from many other cathedrals. The streets which are found nearby this dorm are filled with elegant shops.

From the dome, it is very easy to walk towards the famous Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) with which all of us are familiar as this bridge has been the subject of many photographs which describe Florence. This bridge is famous with the colorful shops it hosts. These shops are now mainly occupied with sellers of gold and other precious stones, however it is said that back in the day these shops belonged to butchers.

We stopped our sightseeing after visiting Ponte Vecchio simply because we did not want to exhaust ourselves before the marathon next day. There was a high participation rate to the marathon. A lot of people from all around the world had visited the city to finish the 42 km challenge. The greatest number of participants were Italians and the French (with 700 runners) followed Italy. There were also participants from the United States and Japan.