Florence, View from South of the Arno River

(3 photos)

View from Campground

Thirty-fve years ago (1970) we spent the night in Campeggio Comunale (Campground) on Viale Michelangiolo, and paid $3 for two nights, for the RV and four people (Emmy and I, our teenage daughter and her best friend). While the campsite facilities were not very clean, the view was magnificent. This is the view seen by occupants of the campground, as far as we know it can not be viewed from any hotel room. We have spent the night here several times since, and in 1995 (twenty-five years, minus one month after our first visit) the cost had climbed to about $18 for one night, for the RV and the two of us. The facilities were clean and in excellent condition.

During a couple of our visits to Florence, this campground was overflowing with people, so from Camping Panoramico in Fiesole, high on the hill to the north of the city, we looked over the Arno River Valley with the domes and towers of Florence spread out below. We were at least a thousand feet above the city, with a magnificent view.
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View from Piazzale Michelangiolo, right next to Campeggio Comunale (Campground).

South of the Arno River and high on the hill overlooking Florence, the Piazzale Michelangiolo, right next to the campground, affords excellent views of the towers and domes of several churches. The Arno River is crossed by several bridges, including the buildings (filled with jewelry stores) and the arches of the Ponte Vecchio. On any given night perhaps a thousand people gather to see the sunset colors on the city below, watch the streetlights and floodlights take effect, and patronize the dozens of sidewalk vendors who had goods for sale. In the midst of it all stands a clone of Michelangelo’s statue of David.
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It's amazing what a different point of view does for a photo of the City of Florence. This one is taken while I was standing on Ponte S. Niccolo (bridge over the Arno River), at a much lower level than the other two photos on this page. That tall tower between the Cathedral and the City Hall tower in Palazzo Vecchio, is the steeple of the church Santa Croce.

The 13th-century Church of the Holy Cross, Santa Croce, has the greatest Cathedral organ in Italy with 7,000 pipes. It has become Italy’s national Valhalla (hall of heroes), where Michelangelo (Renaissance artist), Galileo (astronomer), Machiavelli (political and military theorist), Rossini (composers of opera), and other Italian heroes are buried.

Florence is touted as the city of Dante Alighieri, who was born here in 1265. Dante’s home is located near the Duomo, but he is not buried in this national resting place. Dante held public office until his enemies seized control of the city and sentenced him to permanent banishment from Florence, and to the death penalty should he ever return. Although Dante’s funeral monument is here, he was actually buried in Ravenna.