Day 33 | Laurentian Library and San Lorenzo Church

Day 33, Florence—We had just a few hours to use our Florence pass before it expired, so we tried to fit in a couple more places to visit. We went to the Laurentian Library, which is a historical library and one of Michelangelo most important architectural designs. We also went to San Lorenzo Church, one of the oldest churches in Florence and designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. 

Inside of San Lorenzo Church...one special characteristic of this building is the way it was designed to allow light in. The simple gray and white color scheme is also a unique trait of this building. The exterior of the church building was supposed to be covered with a design by Michelangelo but it was never added due to lack of funds and other complications.

Before you enter the Laurentian Library, you walk through this cloister. This tree looks like an orange tree...it’s beautiful but I don’t know if there is any special meaning for it. As you enter the library you see the famous staircase that was designed by Michelangelo. Instead of books being kept on shelves, they were stored in these reading desks. Each row had a specific topic of books and a book assigned to each seat. If you needed a different book you had to change seats. The books were chained in place to prevent people walking away with them. The end of each row had a book list telling which books were in that row.

It was a rainy day and we were pretty tired, so we just went home and stayed there the rest of the day. Florence has really been an amazing place to visit. It has surprisingly become (I think) my favorite place we’ve visited. I love the beautiful views, the closeness of everything, the quaint and warm feeling. It’s just a really beautiful place. Tomorrow we leave for Rome:)