Pools of Gold- early morning iin Florence

Our first morning in Florence, I woke up before the others and left the house quietly. I shut the giant wooden street door behind me. A solitary cyclist passed me on Borgo Pinti, an old man flung water on the footpath outside his building, no-one much else was around. The brown tiled dome of the Duomo was still in darkness, but the sun was just touching the top of Giotto’s Campanile or bell tower.
Crossing the Piazza del Duomo, I walked towards Piazza della Signoria. The Fountain of Neptune was spouting forth, surrounded by cool gray marble sculptures. I looked for the plaque marking the spot where Dominican monk Savonarola was hanged after his disastrous attempt at purifying politics in church and state, but could only see an old man and his bike sitting as still as Perseus holding up the head of Medusa.
On the Ponte Vecchio, the sun created a pool of gold in a scallop shell, and washed it across the ancient jewellery shops with a promise of the gold they would sell for real later in the day.
Walking up the other side of the Arno river, I tried to capture the calm, warm colours and timeless reflections, which have enchanted painters and lovers for centuries.
By the time I crossed back over to the city side, attraversiamo, tour groups were assembling, traffic was building up, and the sun was illuminating the pink, white and green marble of the 13th century cathedral. My first full day in Florence was beginning.