Amazing Firenze • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

I would prefer to see people refer to the city by its real name and not by a name created in English. Actually I did some research into the name and it turns out that the name Florence comes from the old Latin name for the town which was Florentina. But in any case the correct Italian name should be used to avoid any confusion and to be respectful of the Italian people. My last time here was 2010 when I went to a restaurant for my first Meal in Italy, three courses. After the dinner a few older gentlemen were amazed when I complimented the bottles of wine with labels of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Francis Ford Coppola. That we all sang together and old Dean Martin favorite, Volare. That got me a few free shots of Grapa. This city will always be Amazing Firenze.

Basilica of Santa Maria Amazing Firenze — A Cornell classmate expressed The city is artwork wherever you look. Frankly I find that true of many cities in Italy but this is an extremely beautiful city. This basilica along with the Duomo Have the design that is so closely identified with Firenze.

Flying tiger Amazing Firenze — People work gathered around some musicians and the restaurant. This restaurant has confirmed That tigers can fly

Peaky Blinders fan Amazing Firenze — It’s nice to see a fan of Peaky Blinders

Strozzi castle Amazing Firenze — I stopped for a fairly expensive cup of coffee in this palace. My great aunt changed her name to Strozzi From Strotz claiming we are the family of the great second family of Firenze, Great and close friends of the Medici. Kay Was an actress and it’s pretty clear she wanted to improve her public relations standing by changing her name. No one in the family has been able to show the lineage from the Strozzi Family but people keep searching.

The castle Bill Smale — The castle from the outside. It has these rings secured to the outside walls for horses to be tethered to

My standard coffee Bill Smale — My standard cup of coffee with Aqua Fizzante (sparkling waterj

Little Italy Bill Smale — This is not related to the palace. Actually this is my friends restaurant menu from Gila Bend, Arizona. He makes real Italian food. He and his wife are from Sicily, Sicilia. You can see their prices are very reasonable and gourmet pizza is Italian style pizza, not American style though the other pizzas are American style. Next time you’re in that town look up Little Italy restaurant and say hello to Nino and Antonella.

Jazz band Bill Smale — An old time jazz band

Duomo. I did not go in this time. It seemed to be a little bit too crowded

Behind Uffizi Galleries

Second David statue — This is not the real David statue. You have to go to The **Accademia Gallery of Florence** To see the real one

Interesting fountain animals — Interesting animals surrounding the fountain

Of course you need to have a Borsalino store

New trains — What amazed me is the trains now seem to run pretty much on time, not like even six years ago. And the new trains are all made by Hitachi.

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