Buon Giorno! (Part 1)

For our first anniversary Hot Cup and I decided to take a trip to Italy and we loved it! I think Hot Cup plans to tell you all about it on his blog, so I’m just going to share some pictures :)

Venezia

> The Grand Canal in the morning, from Ponte Rialto.

> One of their only remaining bridges without sides or rails. The pink building behind it is the guest house we stayed in.
> Ponte Rialto
> More Venice

Firenze

> View from Piazalle Michelangelo. Ponte Vecchio is on the left. The tower in the center belongs to the Palazzo Vecchio. The Duomo is the enormous Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore on the right.
> The nearly 700 year old south doors of the baptistery. See if you can tell what the panels depict. I'll tell you at the end of the post :) As always, click the picture to enlarge.
> The Duomo from its Campanile
> Galileo’s tomb, Machiavelli and Michelangelo are also among the well known people buried inside the Basilica di Santa Croce.

> View from the top of the Duomo’s Campanile. The church with the marble façade that stands out on the left is Santa Croce. On a hill on the right you can see the Piazzale Michelangelo - you can barely tell but there's a bronze replica of the David in the center of it.
> Ponte Vecchio is an interesting landmark. The bridge is full of shops that have only housed goldsmiths and jewelers since all other merchants were kicked out in 1593.

Pisa

> The details of the pulpit that is in the basilica. There is another impressive pulpit in the baptistery that was made by the father of the man who did this one. Can you tell what's depicted here? Some of this is easier than the baptistery doors were so have a guess and I'll tell you below.
> The basilica and leaning tower, taken from inside the baptistery.

Stay tuned to find out what other cities we visited :)

The Baptistery Doors: The top 20 panels depict events from the life of John the Baptist. The bottom 8 panels depict the 8 virtues.

The Pulpit: Left Panel: The annunciation of Mary, the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, the birth and naming of John the Baptist. Right Panel: The birth and washing of Christ, the annunciation to the shepherds.