These are some of my favorite photos of Florence and the Tuscan countryside.
Florence and the Ponte Vecchio from Piazzale Michelangelo. This is the view that Roxie saw when she met Stefano. Years before, this is where Kurt and MacKenzie became engaged. Lastly, the Piazzale is where the culminating scene of "Paradise" takes place
The Arno River from the Ponte Vecchio looking Southeast. All the characters eat at the restaurant on this river called The Golden View. To the north, the view is of the Ponte Vecchio. This view is what they would see if they climbed out the windows and looked south.
Arno River from the Ponte Vecchio looking Northwest. The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge full of tiny gold jewelry shops. It is where Kurt bought MacKenzie's wedding ring over twenty years ago.
A Street Scene in Lucca. This small walled town is the birthplace of the composer, Giacomo Puccini. It is here that Sara makes her debut. At least half the town is invited to a free dinner at Tommaso's trattoria in her honor. She causes a sensation by standing on the table.
The arch on the right is part of a 1000-year-old farmhouse that sits on a hill in the Tuscan countryside. I took cooking lessons here, so of course this has to be Arturo's villa where he holds his cooking school, and where the last scene of Paradise takes place. Fitting, don't you think?
This is the interior courtyard of the Piazza Vecchio. Begun in 1299, it was the seat of government for the Medici family and still houses the City Council of Florence. In order to get home from his office here without being stabbed, Cosimo the great had the Vasari Corridor constructed. It runs on top of the Uffizi Museum, out to the river, across the top of the Ponte Vecchio, through the middle of a church, and finally comes out in the gardens of the Pitti Palace, his home.
This is part of the original town wall of Florence behind the Pitti Palace, home of Cosimo d'Medici. This is the view that MacKenzie and Sara saw after jogging up the terraces of the Boboli Gardens. The porcelain museum (not in view) is to the left. A very important event happened there in the novel.
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is universally called the Duomo, Italian for dome. After 100 years of construction on the cathedral, it had no dome because no one knew how to build one that was higher and wider than had ever been built. Filippo Brunelleschi solved a thousand problems and the dome was completed in 1469, 173 years after the building was begun. In our story, the Duomo is remarkable for being the place where Cosimo (the Modern) meets his lovely Adriana. He says of the day, "It was very strange, but sometimes the things that are the most strange are the most beautiful."
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