Florence: Palazzo Vecchio

Hotel Mario's is 15 minutes far walking. A nice way through the old city centre. The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany. Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, it is one of the most significant public places in Italy.
Originally called the Palazzo della Signoria, after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of Florence, it was also given several other names: Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo dei Priori, and Palazzo Ducale, in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti.

BOBOLI GARDENS: The Florentine Versailles

Hotel Mario's suggests a further visit: Boboli Gardens. They were not famous until the land became the property of the Medici family, who called in Niccolò Pericoli, known as Tribolo, to design them; this artist created a masterpiece of "landscape architecture" between 1550 and 1558. Parks in Florence: BoboliThe park, on the property of the Pitti Palace, was planned to occupy a scenographic setting on the slopes of the Boboli hill (covering 320.000 square metres) and also had access from the square. The park was enriched with many Mannerist inventions by Buontalenti (like the Grotta Grande), fountains and statues by Ammannati, Giambologna and Tacca, and was eventually completed by Giulio and Alfonso Parigi (1631- 1656). The two architects, father and son, carried out the stone Amphitheatre, the unique setting for many celebrated theatrical performances, the cypress alley known as the "Viottolone" and the square and pool of Isolotto. The last additions, like the Coffeehouse (1774-76), the Lawn of the Columns (1776) and the Lemonary (1785), were later installed by the Lorriane family. Pietro Leopoldo decided to open the garden to the public in 1776. The design of the Boboli Gardens was used as a basis for all the royal gardens in Europe, including Versailles.

Florence Airport

To confirm the constant increase of the airport traffic of the last years nearby the airport of Florence Perentola, AdF Spa has begun during the first months of the 2006 the airport modernization.
With an investiment of about 11 milions of euro for the works on the runway and of about 4,5 milions of euro for the renovations of the air terminals AdF has so taken to the maxim operating efficiency the principals infrastuctures of the Florence airport and has increased the total capacity of the airport from 1.500.000 to 2.200.000 passengers/year.
To plan the new internal structure of the airstations, AdF has used particular attention to the improvement of the flow passengers in departure setting in a more rational way different operative and commercial services that the passengers find now along a more fluent way.
The security passages have been increased from 3 to 5, the boarding gates from 6 to 10. The conveyer claims have been increased from 2 to 3. The check-in desk have become 23.

FIRENZE: PONTE VECCHIO

The bridge spans the Arno at its narrowest point where it is believed that a bridge was first built in Roman times,when the via Cassia crossed the river at this point.The Roman piers were of stone, the superstructure of wood. The bridge first appears in a document of 996. After being destroyed by a flood in 1117 it was reconstructed in stone but swept away again in 1333 save two of its central piers, as noted by Giovanni Villani in his Nuova Cronica.It was rebuilt in 1345, Giorgio Vasari recorded the tradition in his day, that attributed its design to Taddeo Gaddi,besides Giotto one of the few artistic names of the trecento still recalled two hundred years later. Modern historians present Neri di Fioravanti as a possible candidate. Sheltered in a little loggia at the central opening of the bridge is a weathered dedication stone, which once read Nel trentatrè dopo il mille-trecento, il ponte cadde, per diluvio dell' acque: poi dieci anni, come al Comun piacque, rifatto fu con questo adornamento. The Torre dei Mannelli was built at the southeast corner of the bridge to defend it.

The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 ft) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 ft). The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio 5:1.

It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises, after authorization of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority). The back shops (retrobotteghe) that may be seen from upriver, were added in the seventeenth century.

It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything.

During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike all other bridges in Florence.This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends, which have since been rebuilt using a combination of original and modern design.

In order to connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de Medici had Giorgio Vasari build the famous Vasari Corridor above it. To enforce the prestige of the bridge, in 1593 the Medici Grand Dukes prohibited butchers from selling there; their place was immediately taken by several gold merchants. The corporative association of butchers had monopolised the shops on the bridge since 1442. A stone with an inscription from Dante (Paradiso xvi. 140-7) records the spot at the entrance to the bridge where Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti was murdered on behalf of the Amidei, in 1215, initiating the urban fighting of the Guelfs and Ghibellines.