New Year's Eve Florence

The city of Florence in the Christmas and New Year period has a special atmosphere, and it assumes a very characteristic charm.
Most of the beauty of the city is due to its particular geographical position: it is indeed situated in the middle of a large valley surrounded by hills and crossed by the Arno river, an important presence in the life of the Fiorentini, in the good and bad way.
Everybody should remember, in fact, the disastrous flood of 4th November 1966, which destroyed most of the beauties of the cultural centre of the city, and mobilized volunteers from all over Italy.
Anyway, everybody knowns the immense value of the city and the importance that this has had in the artistic, linguistic, cultural and political development in a very sensitive stage of history.
Not at random, Florence is called the Renaissance cradle, and it is also the Dante Alighieri birthplace, known throughout the world.
The city has had a very troubled, which saw the endless struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Florence has then lived a very prosperous, especially under the Government of the Medici family, and in particular with Lorenzo de'medici said the magnificent.
The city has had a very troubled history, which saw the endless struggles between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
Florence has then lived a very prosperous period, especially under the Medici family government, and in particular with Lorenzo de' Medici, known as the Magnificent.
Florence is, without a doubt, one of the most visited cities in the world: here everything is about art.
But let's begin our visit of the city from the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, whose construction began in 1296 and was completed in the XVth century, with the construction of the Filippo Brunelleschi Dome.
Inside the cupola we can admire prestigious art works of important Italian artists, such as Donatello.
Among the religious buildings we cannot miss to visit the Santa Maria Novella church, dating back to the XIIIth century: this church is considered a true Museum, it keeps some of the most famous art works in the world, such as the Crucifix by Giotto.
We continue our visit of the city from the heart of the historical center, namely Piazza della Signoria square: here overlooks some of the most important buildings of the city, the Palazzo Vecchio palace, once residence of the Medici family and today the headquarter of the municipal offices.
A real symbol of Florence is the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the oldest of the city and the only Bridge "survivor" of World War II.
Here, in addition to its characteristic jeweller's art shops, you can admire one of the most romantic landscapes of the city: not by chance here for years there is the padlocks tradition that the couples attack to the bridge with their names written above (as in Ponte Milvio in Rome).
Finally, we must visit two important museums: the first is one of the most renowned in the world, namely the Uffizi Gallery.
The collection, is hosted inside a splendid palace, it includes art works by artists as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo, Caravaggio and Raphael.
Then, inside the monumental Pitti Palace, built in 1457 by the will of the Pitti family and once upon a time the official residence of the Medici family, we can visit other important art galleries, such as the Palatina Gallery, which retains Rubens, Caravaggio and Tiziano art works; or an interesting Costum Gallery.