Travel: Uncommon Glimpses of Florence

Piazza della Signoria -- one of the most beautiful squares in the world -- is, alas, in a state of upheaval. We know that you will be disappointed and would like to offer you all our apologies.

-- From a series of billboards in Italian, English, French and German hanging on Florence's city hall

Piazza della Signoria is in a state of upheaval these days. The piazza that has been the center of Florentine life since before Medici times, the space chosen by Michelangelo for his exquisite statue David, has been ripped up and fenced in. The current David, a copy,...