Michaelangelo Piazzale
Believe it or not, after all our squawking about steps, we decided to cross the Arno River and climb more steps! Our new destination was Michaelangelo Piazzale - that’s where David Number 3 is. It was all the way up on the top of a bluff on the other side of the river. Luckily, there were wide concrete stairways zigzagging up the hill so we didn’t need to bring any mountain climbing equipment.

When we got to the top, there wasn’t a whole lot up there. David Number 3 was there - a giant green patina bronze naked man on a huge cement pedestal. He was standing in the middle of a big open parking lot with a handful of souvenir trailers and dozen or so tourists snapping pictures. This high vantage point did afford us some more wonderful views of Florence. We sat down for a while and rested our feet.

“Hey look,” I said, pointing to the map, “If we follow this road around we can see this cemetery!”

Amy looked doubtful but finally summoned up the energy to follow me on one last quest. We finally came upon a relatively small church (Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte) that had some painting and carved wood inside – very nice! It was free to get into but it was very dimly lit. We could barely see where we were going. Suddenly, some bright spotlights came on illuminating the altar. Some other tourists had found an electrical box that turned on the lights if you put a Euro coin in the slot. There were also mausoleums nearby that we looked at but decided we didn’t have the energy to explore the whole cemetery. We found a nice wooded path to make our way down the hill. The leaves were just starting to change to red and gold and it helped us forget our aching feet.

Here's a shot of the cemetery. The text over the first crypt reads, "Fam Franco Zeffirelli"
The famousItalian film director? He's still quite alive but maybe his departed family
members are buried here.It's a mystery to me.

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David Number 3 as Giant Green Parking Attendant

Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte

View from the Chiesa



Golden trees and the stairs that lead back to our hotel