Friday in Florence - We visit the Uffizi

For our last day in Florence, we had pre-booked tickets for the Uffizi Gallery. Sarah and I made our way by bus to save our legs, so met up with the others in the Piazza del Signoria, allowing another opportunity to see its population of sculptures.

We almost came a cropper in trying to gain entry to the Uffizi. As we'd left the apartment separately, we'd failed to do the usual checks and I had not brought either the passports to prove that our offspring had student status, or indeed the computer printout referring to the booking. Eventually, the ticket clerk (a real Jobsworth) grudgingly accepted the girls 'driving licences plus student cards as proof of their ages and status and the booking number, which was written in my trusty Moleskin. We also had a little difficulty queue-jumping on the disabled ticket here without the visual prompt of a wheelchair, but again my two walking sticks and general wobbliness were accepted as proof of my disability and we were spared a long queueing experience after all.

Photography is, of course, not allowed within the gallery. Room after room contain the most stupendous paintings and sculptures, arranged roughly in date order. The sheer quantity and quality are overwhelming, and in ideal world one would make many visits over the course of time. The Botticelli Birth of Venus was spellbinding but I was less moved by his Primavera, which has never appealed to me much for some reason. Again, I was drawn by the rich colours and gilding of the medieval art. Again, we ended up buying a book of the collection, as an anchor for the memory of the experience.

We broke our tour for lunch in the restaurant and had to club together our currency, as it does not take credit cards. The views from there and on the roof terrace are stupendous, as seen in the photographs below, and it was a great pleasure to look out over the rooftops to Fiesole and the surrounding hills before diving back into the closer and confined pleasures of the art collection.

Once we'd had our fill of art, we had a last shopping expedition and I left the others to call at Il Papiro for another Florentine stationery fix before meeting again on the steps of the Orsanmichele. Ben and I took a bus, supposedly to save my legs, while the others walked back to the apartment. We ran foul of the re-routing of buses due to the extensive roadworks taking place in the area, and were taken off south of the Arno and, instead of coming north again as I'd expected, continued out towards the south-west suburbs. To add insult to injury, the bus driver closed the door before we managed to alight from the bus and we travelled out further. As we were on a one-way street, it was not a simple matter of catching the next bus back in the opposite direction and we had no option but to make our way back, painfully, on foot. A good rest was necessary before I was able to rouse myself for a last supper at Al Vecchio Carlino's (where I discovered a delicious Tuscan dish of Pork steak and Sage on a bed of Canellini) and then back to the apartment to pack.

Thursday: Accademia and Shopping

We girls caught another bus, this time bound for the Accademia, leaving our menfolk to their own devices as Ben was suffering badly from mosquito bites and they needed to go hunting for anti-histamine treatment. My mobility problems meant we were able to queue-jump and gain entrance very quickly, which was appreciated.

The first room at the Accademia is crammed with religious art, both paintings and sculptures, including the rather graceful "Rape of the Sabine Women". The next contains the extraordinarily powerful incomplete stone carvings by Michelangelo of the Slaves, and leads on to the room containing his "David". I had anticipated being rather underwhelmed by seeing this statue, but I was so wrong. Luckily, there were free seats for us so we could take our time in gazing upon his extraordinary beauty. I was transfixed by the delicate realism of his hands in particular. It is made very clear to all visitors that photography is not allowed, and we obedient Brits were astounded at the effrontery of the many who tried to get away with snapping him. For company, David had more altar pieces, paintings and sculptures , which were lovely but rather upstaged by him.

In the next room were a lot of plaster/gesso sculptures, seemingly afflicted with myriad blackheads. On enquiry, I was told that these were reference points for the next stage in working the designs, carving in stone.

We thought that was it, so I purchased a book about David and we began to make our way out, only to discover that there were more artworks on the first floor. There are three rooms of gorgeous medieval and renaissance religious works, including altar pieces and a stunning if tarnished altar cloth worked in silks and goldwork. Another book about the rest of the Accademia's collection joined my earlier purchase before we left in the direction of the Duomo for lunch, and a rendezvous with our men.

We couldn't leave Florence without a purchase from this shop

(sadly without the miniature duomo packaging)

Scarred wall on the side of the Palazzo Vecchio

Neptune holds Court

One of many lions in Florence

(complete with fleur de lys)

Another David - he's a big boy.

I wonder what Neptune is saying to the lion?

Il porcellino

A very youthful Mary

After a return visit to Perche No! (where I determined that the Sicilian Cassata was also an excellent choice) we made our way southwards through the Piazza della Signoria by the Vecchio Palazzo, on to the Ponte Vecchio and across to Madova, where I bought a fabulous pair of buttery leather gloves in turquoise. Our sales assistant actually came from Camberwell Green in London, but her heart had led her to settle in Florence. Then on through Oltrarno, to be disappointed by the appearance of the Palazzo Pitti. On the way homewards we saw many fascinating darkening alleyways off the street we were following to find Ditta Alberto Cozzi, one of the wonderful bookbinders and stationers of Florence, who was a thoroughly charming man who sold us handbound notebooks and marbled papers.

Atmospheric ancient alleys and glimpses

Wednesday evening - Al Vecchio Carlino's

We spent a very happy evening revisiting our favourite
restaurant for another delicious meal.

Gnocchi with tomato sauce

or Gnocchi al salsa verde

Trying Delicious Calzone

Sticking with Pizza

Yummy!

All washed down with a bottle of Chardonnay

and a bottle of Prosecco.

A wonderfully delicious meal and convivial evening at this friendly restaurant.

Wednesday in Santa Croce

Another day, another bus route: this time eastwards, past the Duomo, to alight close by the church of Santa Croce. The church is situated in its own piazza, where jazz musicians entertained us enthusiastically with their music.

Sitting at the feet of Dante

Santa Croce had a special role in Florentine life: it was fashionalble to be buried here, so tombstones and memorials to the great and good are a prominent feature inside the church, including Dante, Macchiavelli and Marconi. There is also much beautiful artwork evident in the chapels and the Museum of Restoration, while in one area within its walls is the School of Leatherworkers. We saw some exquisite artworks here, many restored after the severe flooding of Florence in 1966.

I love the patterns of this ironwork

Outside the chapel of the Pitti family

Tuesday in Florence - I forget my camera

Tuesday brought less perfect weather, so we decided it was the occasion to visit the Palazzo Strozzi for a cultural change, as it was the location of an exhibition of Chinese art from the Tang Dynasty, "China - From the Court of the Emporers". What a stunning exhibition it was, too. We all happily spent a couple of hours there. Florence is a centre for Renaissance art, and the Tang Dynasty "era was a renaissance for the arts, crafts and literature, a time of great social, economical and cultural development for China. The Silk Road, linking the Far East to Asia and the Mediterranean, opened China to foreign influences resulting in a remarkable cosmopolitanism which was reflected in the art of the time." Photos were not allowed, so I did not miss my camera, but I did buy a book - and a bag to carry it in - so I could enjoy the wonderful exhibits again and again.



Afterwards, we felt in need of refreshment. We made our way through the Piazza by the Duomo, beset by the whining begging ladies who are adept at begging in many languages, and into the shopping streets. A kind local man directed us to Perche No! for Italian Ice Cream at its best. I found Pistachio, Mandorla and Nocchiola a very successful combination: heaven in a tub!

We then happened upon the Casa de Tessuti where the girls and I had a delightful encounter with Romulo Romuli, one of the brothers who own and run the shop, while having the additional pleasure of seeing and feeling some of the extraordinary stock of fabrics. We left with some linen herringbone suiting in a purply french navy shade, with which to make Sarah her first work suit, safe in the knowledge it would always harbour memories of one of those golden meetings that make holidays so memorable. Signor Romuli is a consummate salesman but he certainly loves cloth, too. Casa de Tessuti is an essential port of call for fabriholics in Florence.

Monday in Fiesole

 

The weather was fine on our Monday in Florence, so it seemed like the right day for more panoramic views. We walked past St. James' American Church to catch a number 7 bus.

 

We saw advertising like this on both trains and buses, tied to the luggage racks with string. I don't know if you are allowed to take an advert if it interests you, or whether they are friendly commercials which do no harm when it is time for them to be removed. This one was for a patchwork exhibition which, sadly, we had missed. They wave about as you go along, so grab the attention.

 

The bus took us up the very high hill through suburban Florence and out of the city. Eventually, we arrived at the end of the route and our destination, Fiesole.

 

We had not set out very early in the day, so it seemed the right thing to do, to sit at a table at Number 5 and have our lunch alfresco, overlooking the main square with views of a fascinating stonemasonry shop, and watching the local people make their leisurely way to a bench for a chat, while the tourists disappeared up the hill in search of the sights.

 

The well-pruned trees stretched their naked many-fingered hands into the blue skies.

 

The iris is the symbolic flower of Florence and the origin of the fleur-de-lys which crops up all over the city centre. These provided a glorious display in the sunshine as we made our way up the hill.

 

Toiling up the slope, these tidy steps intrigued me, but not enough to explore them: too steep!

 

Here is a dramatically wrought war memorial scuplture sitting in the park made on the hillside, where if necessary one can enjoy the far-reaching views to the hills beyond Florence in the shade of the rounded pine trees.

 

 

 

 

As well as the crop of olives from these trees, a local product is wine, which we tried later in the week - delicious. The air is so clean and fresh up here.

 

After a long conversation with a local gentleman, who told me a lot about Fiesole and the new football stadium in Florence, amongst other things, in Italian, so I only derived a little benefit from his wisdom, breath was sufficiently recovered to try for the summit, and there we found a convent.

 

 

 

You certainly felt much closer to heaven up there.

 

 

Then it was time to descend back to the town square and the bus stop, after making the decision to save the Roman amphitheatre for another occasion.