Florence, Italy
 

I plan to be spending 10 days in Florence and traveling to Assissi as a side trip. Any recommendations for INSPIRATIONAL places to visit. . .a feeling or simply visually beautiful. I am an artist and will be traveling with other artist.

ciao nanette <BR> <BR>i would recomend you to go in any way to Averna. it's close to Arezzo in the mountains and a still running and working St. Francesco monastry. it is surrounded by woods and is realy beautiful and inspirational and mystic. if you would like to have more "hints" about averna or similar monastries nearby please write me directly. i was there but do have a book about every mystic monastry here, so i probably could give you some more needful infos. <BR> <BR>tanti saluti <BR> <BR>christina

Nanette: As an artist (as a human being), you’ll want to savor Masaccio’s frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine.

The Brancacci Chapel. I've never found it crowded or a spot visited by tour groups. The art work is beautiful - Adam and Eve being turned out of the Garden of Eden is very moving.

I was spending 10 days in Florence 3 years ago.I had one-day excursions to Pisa,Siena,Arezzo,Pistoia,Lucca.All of them are close to Florence,and in Italy train tickets are very cheap-buy over there-service is fast.The museums are open late in the evenings,so I went to Uffizi,Pitti and Accademia after 5pm.No wating time at all,mornings there are hundreds in front of the entrances.Visit Fiesole, only 20 min by bus from Florence,best roman ruins in Tuscany.Practically every church is a museum,every building is a monument.For me no.1. big church is Santa Croce,I spent there 3 hours,no.1. small church is Medici Chapel in Medici Palace.Giardino di Boboli is a nice place,too.Have a lot of 500 ITL coins for illuminating the frescoes in dark side chapels. <BR>