"sf"
I'd like to return> on my own for a few days to really see the place
because what I saw
> didn't impress me at all. I hated the piazzas I saw. They were just> big
> blank squares, no decoration or greenery of any kind - not even a> bench
> to sit on.

Italian piazzas are not parks at all. They are gathering places usually.
In my much smaller city only one of ours has grass and a tree but also a
sack dispenser and dog poo container. Dogs have a hard time finding a place
to go here.

Florence is a city filled with the wealth of the Renaissance. She has more
art you would recognize than any other city in the world, probably. A few
hours wouldn't even get you through the Uffizzi, where you would see
Boticelli's "Venus Rising" and "Primavera" in a single corner of a single
room. At L'accademia you'd see Michelangelo's David and his slaves. The
whole museum scene is like that. You want green you go to Piazzale
Michelangelo or Boboli Gardens.