Florence/Firenze

We spent Thursday and Friday nights in Florence taking in the architecture and city life – and even a couple botanic gardens!! We stayed at a hotel that occupies an old convent in behind the archaeological museum and near Piazza San Marco (yes, it appears that nearly every Italian city has a piazza San Marco). We got to Florence around 11 am, but it took us awhile to figure out how to get to the Hertz Rent a Car parking lot downtown and we probably incurred a 150 euro fine for going into a restricted traffic zone. Most of the historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site and traffic is limited, although motor scooters are not. Since the weather was nice, immediately after lunch I dragged Jake off to the Bardini and Boboli Gardens. I was not especially impressed by either garden. Bardini is fairly quiet and is built on a steep hill. There is a cafe at the top with a nice view over Florence (photo). Several parts of the garden were closed for renovation. Boboli is pretty well known, but again, is in need of renovation and several of the more interesting looking sections were closed off. Both gardens used bay laurel (bay leaf) hedges. Jake rested by the Neptune fountain while I explored the further (and more interesting) sections of Boboli gardens. The island was particularly nice (see photo and heron on fountain), but again inaccessible. Our ticket included entrance to the Museo Argenti, which despite its name does not display silver. It had a special exhibition on the history of wine making. The rooms have great frescoes and trompe l'oeil. Also entrance to the costume museum which had an exhibit comparing more modern fashions to fashions from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Both of these museums are in the Pitti Palace where the Medicis once resided. I'm not sure if there's anywhere in Florence where the Medici's didn't reside.

We crossed back over into the center city over the Ponte Vecchio (photo), famous for its jewelry shops lining the bridge. There are many churches and piazzas in the city, each with its own character and often with various sorts of market stalls. Santa Croce had a great selection of international food booths (mostly European countries).

Day 2 we started by going to the Central Market and browsing the stalls. Jake loved all the animal parts for sale. We bought some dried porcini at what seemed like a reasonable price. By then it was time to climb the 462 stairs to the top of Brunelleschi's dome, at the time the largest dome the world had seen (aside from the Romans). The climb up is interesting, particularly as you get towards the top actually climbing between the dome's layers up winding staircases. They warn you not to try the climb if you have heart trouble but they should add not to try it if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights. There are great views inside of the frescoes on the dome and outside of the city (photos). After a restorative expresso we headed back over to the Central Market to have lunch at Mario's Trattoria, a well-known place recommended by guide books and by our Italian teacher. There are communal tables and a hand written menu on the wall of whatever is fresh from the market. I had fish with fresh white beans and rosemary and Jake had risotto with squid.

Florence is great for wandering and has a huge selection of leather stores. The Scuola di Cuora, leather school, had particularly beautiful examples of leather work. We also stopped in a shop that sells traditional stone mosaics/inlays that was fascinating. The storekeeper explained how they assemble the “paintings” with pieces of stone. They do a lot of reproductions of famous paintings as well as more traditional inlays of flowers and butterflies. The “paintings” were remarkable in how they were able to use stone to reflect different shadings you would see in a painting.

Other food stops included Ristorante Accademia, near our hotel in Piazza San Marco. Great selection of food and good service. We had 2 meals there. I had a salad with pine nuts, honey and pears while Jake had orechietti with broccoli and meatloaf. Another meal we shared fried porcini and squash blossoms then I had beef with a juniper red wine sauce and Jake had rabbit rolled with lard. And an excellent glass of Brunello. Another dinner we had a light dinner of crostoni (bread toasted with toppings of grilled vegetables, sausage, cheese, etc.) and onion soup at a wine store/restaurant called La Canova di Gustavino. Also stopped at a gelato shop called Vestri known for its chocolate gelatos.

I guess I can't not mention art in a posting on Florence. We did not go to any of the major art museums, but we did see a copy of David and some original statues by other artists in Piazza della Signora and famous art in some chapels. Medieval and Renaissance art is just not our favorite time period and we tend to be more interested in how the art is done I guess.

Saturday morning I attempted to go to the Orto Botanico near our hotel, but the times listed in the book were wrong, and they didn't open until 10 am which was too close to when we needed to catch our train to Naples. From the gates though the garden looked much more interesting botanically than either Bardini or Boboli! There is also a botanic museum there. Maybe next time.