If there is one place that symbolizes the spirit of the Florentine people — perhaps even more than the Duomo or the city’s famed works of art — it must be the Piazza della Signoria, the old square that has long been the political heart of Florence. The throngs of tourists who gather there as they line up to enter the Uffizi Gallery are largely unaware of the history written in the stones beneath their feet.

Panorama from 4 vertical shots, focal length 16mm, aperture f/8, shutter speed 5 seconds, ISO 64, tripod.

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They see the copy of the David, Michelangelo’s massive sculpture, but most are unaware of its political history. When the original sculpture was placed in the Piazza in 1504, the powerful Medici family had been exiled from the city for years. When David — a time – honored symbol of resistance in the face of formidable odds — was given pride of place at the entrance of the town hall and facing south toward Rome, where the Medici lived in exile, many Florentines interpreted the statue as a political statement. Michelangelo likely did not intend his sculpture to have political overtones, but many in the city did, particularly those who opposed the power-hungry Medici.

But the Piazza is dominated by the immense Palazzo Vecchio, once the residence of the Medici and now the town hall and home of many of the city’s treasures. With its asymmetrical tower and somewhat severe stone profile, the Palazzo Vecchio casts an imposing presence over the Piazza.

On our final morning in Florence, I rose early to get to the Piazza just at sunrise and hopefully before the tourists arrived. I had not realized until I reached the square how misty it was that morning; a heavy fog hung over the Piazza and I considered going back to the hotel; I thought the mist was too thick for a good photograph. But the longer I lingered, I realized that the mist created a certain mood — one that fit the square’s long and often tumultuous history. The mist that morning brought to mind the passage of time and the city’s many stories that played out in that very square. It was my last photograph in Florence, and I think it is a good one.

Florence is so full of remarkable creations that a person could spend weeks — years, even — in the city and never see them all. There is the Duomo, the magnificent and gravity-defying dome; the David, Michelangelo’s revered sculpture; the endless treasures of the Medici. I could go on and on.

Single shot, focal length 58mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 8 seconds, ISO 31, tripod.

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But there are other, more serviceable works of art as well. Along the Arno, the great river that courses through the city, there are numerous bridges, some quite elaborate and others more pedestrian. The oldest and the most storied of these is the Ponte Vecchio, the stone bridge lined with shops and built in the Medieval period.

The exact date of its construction is uncertain, although there is a mention of the bridge in a document in 996. It isn’t known with any certainty who built the bridge, although it is likely that it was the work of Dominican friars. More interesting to me is the bridge’s remarkable history. Over the centuries, the Ponte Vecchio has endured everything from floods to warfare, although the bridge was the only one not destroyed by the Germans as they retreated from the city during World War II. Perhaps they, too, were awed by the bridge’s formidable history.

The Ponte Vecchio, I thought, was a bit like Florence itself. Ancient, grand, and able to withstand things that would break a lesser place. All of Florence’s bridges have their stories, but it is the Ponte Vecchio that, for me, encapsulates the spirit of the city and its people. So when I photographed the bridge, I had no interest in experimenting with unusual angles or special lighting. I wanted to look straight ahead and capture the most direct view of the bridge to create an image that conveys its strength and remarkable longevity.

On my family’s most recent skiing trip to the Alps, we made a stop along the way in Florence. We thought it would be a shame to pass an opportunity to explore one of the world’s truly great cities.

Panorama from 2 horizontal shots, focal length 50mm, aperture f/8, shutter speed 2.5 seconds, ISO 64, tripod.

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What is there to say about Florence? The city has captured hearts and imaginations for centuries. It is ineffably beautiful. Is it any wonder that the Renaissance began in this gilded city? I could easily imagine Michelangelo and Botticelli wandering the city’s ancient streets, being stirred to create their greatest works by the beauty they experienced every day. You can’t help but be inspired in Florence.

I spend a lot of time thinking about places and the effect that place has on a person’s life and work. Florence, it seems, is a city that inspires a person to think as if they were grander version of themselves, to create something magnificent for the ages. I found myself continually thinking of Brunelleschi, his brow furrowed in deep concentration as he worked out the curious arithmetic of the city’s great dome. A man with no formal architecture training, Brunelleschi nonetheless designed the Duomo, the largest dome in the world at the time, and designed the machinery necessary to build the incredible structure. The exact method he used for the dome’s construction isn’t fully understood, even today. It boggles the mind.

But when I walked high up onto the hill on the Piazzale Michelangelo to photograph the city at sunset, it was another artist who occupied my thoughts. Looking out over Florence just as the sun began to set, the last pale light of day glittering on the surface of the Arno, I thought of the American writer, Mark Twain. Looking out at a view like my own — maybe the same one — Twain remarked that “To see the sun sink down, drowned on his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city into a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.”