Florence is crammed with tourists. My daughter and I sit on a stone bench in the shade and watch pigeons and people. Midday, we climb stone stairs into the duomo while the organ plays. I’ve never been in a structure like this, such an awesome concert of art and size, art and music. My daughter whispers, You’re going to keep talking about the organ, aren’t you?
Later, we eat pizza. At our table, strangers strike up a conversation with us, give my daughter wine, offer shopping and college advice, and an espresso appears before me. I lift the tiny white cup and drink the brew.
Stony Soil Vermont 
Enjoy your time there.
We’re headed back to dear Vermont soon. What a trip this has been!
Your trip sounds enchanting, on so many levels! So glad to know you got to hear the pipe organ in the Duomo🌟 (that was my main instrument and backbone of my career! I started playing it when I was a few years younger than your Gabriela)
The photos have been wonderful…thanks for sharing this amazing trip. So glad for you that you were able to take it!
What an amazing instrument! The entire cathedral was alive. One last brief stop in Rome, and then we’re headed home. So nice, as always, to hear from you. 🌷
Imagine! You were in it! The history is amazing, when you think about it. I wish in America we had more aesthetic even spiritual (of the spirit) value in architecture. “The first stone of the new cathedral was laid on 8 September 1296, and the task of erecting it was entrusted to Arnolfo di Cambio. Arnolfo’s project was similar in shape but smaller in size than the current building, which instead corresponds to the expansion designed by Francesco Talenti starting from the mid-14th century. The church was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV on March 25, 1436, when the dome was completed.”
I wish you a safe journey home💐
On our way home now! Thanks for this thoughtful comment. 🌷🌻