If you would have told me before this holiday season that Florence, Italy, could be even more beautiful than it usually is, I wouldn’t have believed you. But then I saw Florence in its Christmas glory this month. Lights. Trees. Nativity scenes. Holiday markets. Window displays. It is as if the historic center of the city wraps itself up as a giant Christmas gift for all who walk its streets.

Just as the city enfolded art and scientific innovation into its cultural fabric decades ago, every December Florence drapes its cobblestone streets with a dazzling display of lights (which is completely separate from themed light shows that are displayed on some of the city’s epochal  monuments during December).

Shop owners get in on the action with Christmas window displays or swags of greenery; Christmas markets offer artisanal goods and Nativity scenes pop up around town – the most prominent of which sits outside the Duomo in Piazza del Duomo.

Wandering the city at this time of year made me feel like a kid during a recent visit as I gazed up and around, trying to take in as much of the displays as I could. It’s a pretty good way to feel at this time of year.

 – post by Judy