Walking around...

The situation of the Bernini Palace makes it easy to explore the centre of Florence and the Piazza San Firenze itself is of particularly interest as it has the unique architectural combination of the medieval Bargello where Savanarola spent his last days, the 13th century Badia church, the Renaissance Palazzo Gondi where the da Vinci’s Mona Lisa first smiled and the 18th centuryfaçade of San Firenze.
The Piazza Signoria is one minute’s walk away so the Uffizi, the Loggia di Lanzi and the Palazzo Vecchio couldn’t be closer together with Ognissanti just to the west. A short distance south towards the River Arno brings you to the Ponte Vecchio which has inspired artists and other visitors for centuries. You are also close to the magnificent duomo capped by the famous dome by Brunelleschi and flanked by the huge campanile and the Baptistry with its famous bronze doors by Ghiberti. Santa Croce lies just five minute north of the hotel but a couple of the major churches a little further that should be missed are San Lorenzo (don’t forget the famous market next door), Santa Maria Novella and Santissima Annunziata with Brunelleschi’s Spedale degli `Innocenti.
For a change of pace don’t forget Oltrarno, the southern side of the river. Here the Palazzo Pitti dominates the area and a very stimulating walk can be enjoyed in the Boboli gardens behind the palace. At the top of the gardens is a rose garden with a fabulous view of the Chianti countryside, so close you could almost pick an olive. The area is full of small shops, craft workshops and small restaurants and makes a relaxing area to spend the day

Florence was an early city-state with a sophisticated system of craft guilds, trade and banking which made it so large and powerful that its currency, the florin, became adopted throughout Europe. The name Medici is unavoidable when you recount the history and cultural legacy of Florence.
Under the patronage of this long lasting dynasty the city was transformed from a period of medieval darkness brought on by a financial crash and the Black Death to become the centre of the Renaissance with some of the greatest art and architecture in the Western world. Cosimo de’Medici was the first to use the family’s wealth to employ artists and architects such as Brunelleschi and Donatello, a process continued by his grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Rivalry between Florence powerful families led to the Medici’s demise while minds became influenced by the powerful sermons against decadence and corruption delivered by a monk named monk Savonarola culminating in the famous Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497 when huge collections of books, paintings, tapestries and other luxuries were incinerated in the Piazza Signoria, a fate that also befell the preacher himself the following year. When the Medici later reasserted their power it was under Giovanni de’Medici who became Pope Leo X and employed great names like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
Finally the family’s power slipped away for good with the last of the lineage dying in 1737. Austrian and French rule followed before the Risorgimento of 1859-60. You don’t have to go out of the hotel to encounter this chapter in Italy’s history. In the Sala dei Parlamento breakfast room the names of the famous 19th politicians remind us that during the early years of the Republic, the parliament was established in Florence - in the Bernini Palace hotel!