Florence. So much of Italy seems like a required checklist - too many pictures out there already. Culture, hist. Renaissance, and history before and after. Read an original account of life in the 13th century here: www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/villani.
Here is the famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, with its shops. See www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Ponte_Vecchio; and, for photos and history see www.bluffton.edu/%7Esullivanm/pontevecchio/ponte. Update - New York Times 6/3/07, that fine series of 36 hours somewhere. This time, Florence. Going again, I would take that.
We arrived by train from Venice via Bologna. Our hotel was near the Duomo, 1436. Watch the heat. It was so hot when we were there that we constantly ducked in and out of places to get cool. Crowds and more hot. We did see the rest of Florence, but finally gave up trying to get into the Duomo itself - the wait was 1 1/2 hours each time we went by. Limited people were allowed in at a time. You can climb up to the top of the Duomo for the view, but it was too hot even to do that.
Here is the Duomo. There is a huge dome. For its history, see gallery.euroweb.hu/database/churches/duomo; and www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/buq.
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