Art students from around the world flock to Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance and one of the most popular cities in the world for studying abroad.

A little more than an hour’s train ride from Rome, it’s also hugely popular among tourists.

“David,” one of Michelangelo’s most famous works, is said to be looking defensively towards Rome, a symbol of Florence’s precarious independence from rival states nearby in the 1500s.

Though he safely stands 17-feet tall inside Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia, he wasn’t safe from a deranged, hammer-wielding man who broke off parts of David’s foot in 1991.

Here are a few photos from Florence: