San Miniato al Monte, you can recognize it from a distance, because a copper eagle (with a bale of fabric), stands on the church gable. With its polychrome facade in white and green marble – in the typical Tuscan Romanesque decor – this church, built in 1018, it continued for centuries to attract a huge amount of visitors. Upon entering, discover an environment with three naves, with a floor inlaid marble consists of seven panels, with lions, doves and zodiac signs. If you look at the wall to your right, you can admire St. Christopher, the fresco by an unknown painter. http://www.firenzeturismo.it/en/
You’ll see that the apse in Byzantine style, but do not forget to enter the funerary chapel of a cardinal – Jacopo of Lusitania – because the time and rounds of Luca della Robbia (representing the Holy Spirit), are the most delicate you can find in this old building. Before exiting remembers that, entering the Chapel of the Crucifix, you can still see other crockery. Did you meet the blue color of Luca della Robbia pottery. Well, now you can experience the knowledge of other shades of that color, visible outside the church, following a path that leads you to Piazzale Michelangelo.
This roof terrace, embellished by the monument to Michelangelo and a reproduction of the David, was born in 1860. Stop next to his balcony, watching the sky above you, and now you push your look inside the most photographed view of the world: Florence, with the bell tower of Giotto and Brunelleschi’s dome. Maybe you’re hungry, but to get to the restaurant, you will have to count the steps of the staircase that leads you along the Arno River, to Porta San Nicolò.
If you do not know where it is the number 43 of Borgo San Jacopo, you can ask someone where is the “Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco”. All Florentines know that, at that little restaurant near the Ponte Vecchio, you eat delicious T-bone steaks. A tip: if you’re with a friend, reserve a table in the romantic alcove on the second floor (Tel: +39.055215706). http://www.cinghialebianco.com/en_index.php
