My Two Cents: The Morning After

I woke to the sound of church bells ringing. It was a strange alarm. As I got my bearings to see where I was, I glanced at the hotel’s digital alarm to see 7:00 glaring back at me. I was hearing the tolling of the bells from Giotto’s Campanile, the bell tower next to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo, as it is commonly referred to.

After the traveling delays from yesterday, I should have been exhausted, but the excitement of being back in Italy after 27 years lunged me into full consciousness. I sat up and saw the cool morning’s air show its fingerprints on the window. It was February in Florence and there was a light coating of snow on the ground. This was unexpected, even for the Florentines, so I joined the excitement and quietly got dressed. I grabbed my camera and the room key and left a note that I would be back soon.

As I walked out the hotel’s front door, a sliver of the Duomo was staring back at me, only two blocks away. I followed the narrow street and out emerged the full effect of seeing the awesome structure again. Words cannot fully express the feeling that stirs inside you when you visually try to take in the enormity and beauty of the Duomo. It took 140 years to complete, thanks to the engineering genius of Filippo Brunelleschi in the end.

The view of the Duomo from our hotel's front entrance

This shot, taken from Piazza di Michelangelo nearby, gives you some idea of the enormity of the Duomo

I watched as a scattering of people scurried towards a side entrance, and I decided to follow them. In we went to a side chapel where a mass had already started. I sat towards the back and reveled in hearing the language spoken so easily. For almost a full hour I had the honor of slowly and completely taking in the beauty of the structure and the language. It was as though I was in a trance, mesmerized by my surroundings with happiness filling my soul.

On the walk back to the hotel, I figured everyone would surely be up by now. To my surprise, I heard only snoring or silence. Since our deal was to sleep in after yesterday’s ordeal, I went downstairs to the breakfast room. Not wanting to eat without the others, I decided to just have a coffee and cornetto. I chatted with another couple about the snow and how beautiful they thought it was. I guess living in the Northeast, beautiful is not the word that first comes to mind, however in Florence I did see its beauty.

The hotel breakfast, cornettos in the corner

Walking back up the stairs to our room, I listened at the doors of my parents and our sons, but still heard silence. Back in our room, my husband was also still in dreamland. Ok, enough was enough. I had now been up for hours, been to mass, and had breakfast. They were missing so much. I woke the whole lot of them and enjoyed my second breakfast in a breakfast room now bustling with activity.

I wondered how I was the only one who heard the bells resonating hours ago. Yes, I broke our deal to let everyone sleep in, but in the end, we had more time to enjoy our first day of Florence’s beauty.


This is only a partial view of the Duomo, part of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore


Giotto's Bell Tower, aka my personal morning alarm


The top of the Giotto's Bell Tower, as seem from the top of the Duomo

The front of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (church which houses the Duomo)

Close up of the main door to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore with my parents.

Another view of Florence and the Bell Tower from atop the Duomo


One of my favorite shots from atop the Duomo, looking down at nearby Basilica di San Lorenzo, one of the oldest churches in Florence and the burial place of many members of the Medici family