Another long day, it is getting late - going with another easy one.

Favorite Florence Piazza: Piazza Signoria

This has literally been in a years long gestation process, but I finally got it off the ground and I hope there is a lot more to come. A site devoted to Piazza Signoria with tons of info, all original photos, links, etc. etc. Please let me know your feedback, and you can comment there directly via Facebook.

Finally - some more places to park yourself in Florence. There are several new benches in what most people refer to as "behind the Duomo" and technically I guess is Piazza Duomo (if this area has another name maybe a commenter can let me know). This has been pedestrian only for some time now, and it is kind of a large, empty space (this is the area where the ball at the top of Duomo fell during a storm in 1600 - there is a white circle of marble in the pavement marking the spot which you can see in the shadow in lower right hand corner of the photo). The benches are in front of the Opera del Duomo and the one you see in the photo. Anyway this is great and I think there should be many, many more in the piazzas in the center of town (hint, hint mayor Renzi).

The benches are in the area shown in the map below (you won't see them in the map image until the next time Google updates their satellite photos - but you can see the white marker mentioned above):

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The Christmas Tree is up and lit - this year it is in Piazza Duomo (the usual place had been Piazza Repubblica). I guess this is possible now since the area is pedestrian only. It looks great, and makes for a nice photo in front of the Duomo. I wonder how many tens or hundreds of thousands of photos will be taken of this tree in the next few weeks?

The annual Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce went up earlier this week, which can only mean one thing - RAIN! All kidding aside, this is a neat place to get a gift, drink some hot spiced wine, and try some food from northern Europe. The merchants are mostly Austrian and German, but there are also stands selling specialties from Holland and France, etc. There are some crafts, regional foods, a spice vendor, clothing, gifts, and more. Everyday until December 19th:

Today we have a reservation to see the excavation of the Roman Theater beneath the Palazzo Vecchio. This is a timed entry and limited to groups of twenty - and the tour is given in Italian only. I'll post more about later in the coming week:

Something really cool all summer long were the late hours the Palazzo Vecchio was open (to midnight most nights). I don't know if that was an experiment or just for the summer, but I noticed yesterday the the current hours are much shorter:

Okay I think Fridays will be new picture post day. Here is a recent snap of the Loggia del Pesce at Piazza Ciompi. This loggia was originally in what is now known as Piazza Repubblica. It was dismantled and brought to this location around the time of the reunification if I remember correctly (if that is wrong someone please let me know!). The Medici coat of arms is in the center, and you can see the fish motifs that are in the roundels - the loggia was used to sell fish and shellfish from originally, but I don't know if it was used for that in its current location. Currently it is used for outdoor seating for a nearby restaurant, and you can also find a flower stand at one end, a used book seller, and sometimes a nut and candy stand.

Today through Sunday - not just rugs like in my photo below (we like rugs), also pottery, tiles, handbags, food, and a booth set up with tourist information, etc. It is a fitting setting since I call Piazza Della Repubblica the desert during the summer - to me it is always the hottest piazza in Florence - and the forecast looks like that should be true through Sunday also.

The Palazzo Vecchio is now open until midnight almost every day of the week (which is still not noted on their official website), and, all the doors (E,N,S, & W) are also open during the day. Also gone are the metal detectors. What it makes for is a much nicer experience - you can walk into and through the building and see a lot more of the ground floor without paying anything. Or you can buy a ticket from the ticket office (full price is €6) and mount the stairs to see the whole museum. I really want to go in at night but I am trying to wait until the weather cools a bit!

Verrocchio's putto fountain sculpture in the first courtyard: