Florence: Walking in the Footsteps of Artistic Giants and Unraveling the Renaissance's Essence

I believe I was around 15 years old when I fell in love with Florence and the romanticism and the significance behind the city. I had learned about the Renaissance prior to that, but as a young kid, wasn’t particularly interested in that period and didn’t pay much attention. Something happened when my High School history teacher, Mr. Hawk waxed poetic on the masters of the arts and how they honed their crafts under the patronage of the Medici. Michelangelo, Donatello, Botticelli, Da Vinci, and more. I was enthralled and became enamored with going to Florence to walk in the footsteps of these artistic giants and see Florence for myself. The Duomo di Firenze was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296, though it wasn’t fully completed until 1436 (it was never fully completed - there are still missing sections below the dome). The design of this structure is unique because it combines elements from both Gothic and Renaissance architecture. It stands 183 meters tall and has one of the largest brick domes ever constructed in Europe—it was so large that at one point it was considered an engineering impossibility!