Florence is my single favorite place on the planet. It is home to my favorite piece of art (Michelangelo's last Pieta), my favorite restaurant (Anita's), my favorite ice cream (Vivoli's), my favorite view (this one, of the Duomo framed by a sculpture by some anonymous artist in the graveyard in front of San Miniato al Monte), my favorite public square (the Piazza della Signoria) — and it's within easy reach of many other places I love, such as Fiesole, Pisa, the Mediterranean Sea, San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra, the Apuan Alps. It's also where I discovered the magnificent works of British sculptor Henry Moore, and home to an incredible concentration of fabulous art museums (the Uffizi Galleries, the Bargello, the Accademia dell'Arte) ... and there's the Ponte Vecchio, and Forte Belvedere, and one of the three most beautiful synagogues in Europe (the others are in Amsterdam and — of all places — Sofia, Bulgaria!), and the "Gates of Heaven" outside the Baptistry, and on and on and on. Summer is not the best time of year to visit — the city is absolutely mobbed with tourists — but, at any time of year, Firenze é la cittá piu bellissima del mondo!

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