This photo journal, the 2nd of two in the Florence series, includes my selected photos of piazzas (squares), palazzos (palaces), bridges (pontes) & various other photos that I took in the short time we were there, which was barely a day.

FLORENCE: The cultural & historical impact of Florence (Firenze) is overwhelming. The city still retains a strong resemblance to the small late-medieval center that contributed so much to the artistic & political development of Europe. Its striking buildings, formidable galleries & treasure-crammed churches attest to the Florentine love of display. [The city's historic center was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1982.]

The 20th century, however, was disastrous for Florence. WWI left it spent, shocked & vulnerable to Fascist rhetoric. (The city was one of Mussolini's most faithful strongholds.) Florence was badly damaged during WWII by the retreating Germans who blew up all its bridges except the Ponte Vecchio. Devastating floods ravaged the city in 1966, causing inestimable damage to its building & artworks, some of which are still being restored. One good thing to come of the disaster, which left the city covered in a mantle of slimy mud & left countless families homeless, was the evolution of modern restoration techniques. The salvage operation led to the refining of methods which have since saved artworks throughout the world.

These days Florence leads the relatively quiet & dignified life of a regional capital under a constant influx of tourists. (In 1993 a car bomb killed five people & damaged works in the Uffizi Gallery, an attack that was attributed to the Sicilian Mafia.) Otherwise Florence has been relatively untouched by sensation. Its streets almost beguile you into thinking you've walked into a former age, untouched by the clamor of the wider modern world.