6- Grand bicycle tour in Italy from 2011 (Firenze)

As I continue riding on SR65, the views remain spectacular.

After Montecarelli there is the descent towards a lake, Lago di Bilancino.

In the vicinity I run into a beautiful medieval castle. Tuscany is full of this kind of marvels in stone.

Near Vaglia I meet Uwe, a german cycling tourer who will prove very generous to me.

We cycle together till Firenze and he accepts me to sleep in his room at 3 stars hotel del Corso, in the center of the city. The fee for one night is almost 200EUR. It is the most expensive hotel I have slept in so far.

The lounge is decorated with fine pieces of art.

We spend the evening eating and drinking, talking and joking in the lush patio which has plenty of exotic vegetation.

Day 4) Firenze - Pisa After a good night sleep in a luxurious room, the following morning I bid farewell to Uwe which also gives me a nice donation. It's time for me to discover Florence and fulfill a big dream. Text from internet about Florence. Florence (/ˈflɒrəns/ FLORR-ənss; Italian: Firenze [fiˈrɛntse] is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,084 inhabitants in 2013, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area. Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861). The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini. The city attracts millions of tourists each year, and UNESCO declared the Historic Centre of Florence a World Heritage Site in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, Forbes has ranked it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Florence plays an important role in Italian fashion, and is ranked in the top 15 fashion capitals of the world by Global Language Monitor; furthermore, it is a major national economic centre, as well as a tourist and industrial hub. In 2008 the city had the 17th-highest average income in Italy.

First I go to the city center to admire the magnificent cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore.

It looks fabulous!

I gaze at its facade.

The cathedral is endowed with a high and splendid dome.

Now it's time to go to visit Piazza della Signoria. We are in the historic center of Florence that was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1982. Here I gaze at plenty of masterpieces.

Great statues of great masters.

This is David, the masterpiece of Michelangelo. Actually, it's a copy.

In this unique place I see lots of bicyclists and students.

Soon I have the privilege to admire Palazzo Vechio.

I wander a bit on the old cobbled streets in the historic center.

All of a sudden I come across the palace where Dante Aligheri used to live. I read Divina Comedia in english when I was a student.