Around us
Firenze, Pisa e Lucca
Art Cities in Tuscany
Hotel Excelsior is located a few steps from the most beautiful cities of Tuscany, absolutely unique, steeped in history and culture, where the past and the present combine perfectly. Florence, Pisa and Lucca, will be the exciting setting for a special holiday.
Firenze, Ponte Vecchio
The oldest bridge in Florence, Ponte Vecchio, crosses Arno River in its widest point. It dates from Roman age and was rebuilt several times. After the flood of 1333 was conceived with the double row of shops, passing from a defensive architecture to the current civil structure. In 1565 it was built the Vasari Corridor above the shops looking to east and in the seventeenth century were added the back of the shops that gave it the actual appearance.
Pisa and its Leaning Tower
Few monuments are worldwide known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The famous bell tower of Bonanno Pisano more than eight centuries old was built in 1173. There are very few cities in the world that can be proud of its illustrious and glorious past like Pisa that thanks to the enterprises of its ancient people, left an indelible trace in the history and art of western civilization.
Lucca and its walls
The walls of Lucca (IV circle) represent an important example of military science of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Lucca’s Republic decreed their construction in 1504 to adapt to progresses in military technology and guarantee a more secure defence of the city, worried by the expansionist pushes of the Medici policy.
The works began in the mid-sixteenth century and lasted for about a century, kept busy the major military architects. The walls, made by 11 bastions joined by curtains with a total length of over 4 Km, were equipped with impressive war equipment