Firenze, in the Toscana (Tuscany) region, was a complete contrast to Rome. Its wealth of treasures is intimidating, overwhelming and daunting, and can cause quite a sensory overload. But its myriad cobblestoned streets and innumerable pensiones also make it quaint, charming and pretty: a city of contradictions!

Firenze is best seen by exploring its cobblestoned passageways which haven't changed since medieval times, shopping for amazing Florentine leather and silk, and the usual people watching while sitting in piazzas or roadside cafes.

Firenze has a lot of art museums, but the must-dos are the Bargello, the Accademia and the Uffizi. Entrance to these places can involve waiting in long queues to get to the ticket window, but advance booking over the Internet paying a slightly higher price can get you in earlier. We used Weekend a Firenze but did not have a very happy experience with them - therefore, no interlink to those guys for you.

The Bargello has a checkered history, being once a town hall, then a court, even a prison before becoming a museum of applied art. The museum building is quite charming and unusual: it had an inner courtyard, with benches along the sides for tourists to put up their tired feet! The Bargello houses some of the great sculptures by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Bernini among others. One of the attractions is the result of the competition between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi to decide the maker of the Baptistry doors. Ghiberti finally got the honour, but people say that Brunelleschi's work was better. Being such ignoramuses, we couldn't make out much difference, but its worth looking at both and comparing to decide which you like better.

At the Accademia, we were very focussed. Although there were a lot of paintings and other treasures, armed with tips from the Fodor's forum, we concentrated on Michelangelo's 4 slaves (unfinished sculptures giving the impression that they're bound in stone, hence the name) and the soaring David. David is everything its promised to be, and you wont be disappointed.

Incidentally, the marble from which David was carved by Michelangelo had been rejected as faulty by other sculptors, which makes his work even greater. His entire effort in sculpting was "to liberate the form already in the stone". To say he succeeded in doing this with David is an understatement: the statue seems to come alive with a benign but strong and steady gaze, and the limbs seem to ripple with suppressed energy. No photograph can do justice to its beauty. Even the four slaves, though unfinished, gave more than a hint of what the final pieces would've looked like. After seeing these masterpieces, everything else in the Accademia pales into insignificance!

The Uffizi, which mainly houses paintings of the Renaissance period, is the most frustrating place in Italy. Treasures abound, but there are no personal guides, no audio guides, no book guides, nothing at all to explain the background or the greatness of all that is displayed. As a result, we didn't spend as much time as we could have, and have nothing much to write about, except the wonderful impression of frailty and delicacy that emanates from Botticelli's Venus.

We left the sightseeing of the duomo for another visit, but this is also one of the recommended sights for tourists, with its ornate splendour and magnificent décor. We however couldn't resist the portrait and caricature artists outside the duomo. This is really fun, even though our caricatures looked quite evil, much to our chagrin and onlookers' delight!

If you're still want more of the city tour, you deserve an endurance medal.

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