Day 11: Florence
It is overcast and cool again this morning….we are going to meet Judy Witts Francini (Divina Cucina) who runs a cooking school in Florence. I have been corresponding with her on the Slow Travel web site and she has invited us to see her apartment where she teaches her classes.
By the time, we reach the train station, it is raining lightly. Since the bakery was out of bread last night, we stop at a bar near the station for breakfast and have some excellent cornetti along with our tea and coffee. Before we get to Judy’s, Diana stops at a glove store and buys a pair of gloves as a present.
Judy’s kitchen/dining room is set up for a class which will be coming later in the morning. Her windows look directly out over the Central Market; her classes consist of visiting the market, buying ingredients, cooking a meal and then eating it. We talk about how she ended up in Florence and the culinary travel business and she kindly gives us a copy of her cookbook.
As part of our collection of Florentine Last Suppers, we next go to the Cenacolo di Foligno, only a few blocks from the market. This Last Supper—painted by Perugino—is as usual, painted on a wall in a refectory (where the monks ate). We are let in by a taciturn gatekeeper who seems reluctant to turn on the lights. This Last Supper is considered one of the more obscure ones….but it is interesting as usual to be able to be face to face with the fresco and have time to examine it in peaceful surroundings.
Our next destination is the Medici Chapels….where Michelangelo was engaged to design a chapel for the major Medici tombs. Before you get to Michelangelo’s new sacristy, you pass through the Chapel of the Princes—an immense, gloomy chapel with a high dome, grandiose statues and undistinguished 19th century frescoes. The most interesting things in the chapel are the inlaid coats of arms representing all the Tuscan towns that the Medici controlled.
The New Sacristy is another story…..Michelangelo was in charge of the design and was responsible for most of the sculpture in the room. The figures that adorn the tombs—Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn—are extremely evocative and moving as are the Madonna and Child. In addition, there are some amazing charcoal drawings in back of the altar that were supposedly done by Michelangelo when he was in hiding in the chapel.
We continue the Michelangelo theme at the Medicea-Laurenziana Library, reached through the pretty cloister of San Lorenzo. The library is closed to the public, but the attraction is the staircase and entrance way…which look like Michelangelo was smoking something when he designed it. There are decorative brackets everywhere that support nothing, immense columns that have no load bearing responsibility and a gigantic staircase that completely dominates the space. It is definitely something to see…and very different than the work at the Medici Chapels.
Our last stop in the morning is the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi—where the Medicis lived until they moved to the Palazzo Vecchio. This is one of the most representative early Florentine buildings and it served as the model for many later palaces. Now the seat of the Florence provincial government, the exterior is still mainly intact and the central courtyard is immense --heavy decorated with statues and other designs. The highlight of the Palazzo is an amazing fresco cycle—the Journey of the Magi--in the small chapel upstairs. Done by Bernardo Gozzoli in the mid-15th century, it is crammed with detail, brilliantly colored and includes likenesses of many of the Medici and other Florentine notables of the time. Also in the palace is a beautiful Madonna and Child done by Filippo Lippi that has a wonderful (unidentified) drawing of a man’s head on the back of the painting.
We take the bus back and have lunch in the apartment….and have a rest before heading out to do some shopping. Unfortunately, we have been lulled into thinking that all stores are open “non-stop” since the stores in the tourist areas don’t close for lunch. Walking up via dei Serragli, the main shopping street that divides Santo Spirito and San Freidano, at 3:30 pm, we find that most of the shops won’t open until 4 or 4:30. So after walking up the street for a while, we jump on a bus that is heading out beyond the Porta Romana for the southern suburbs. We check out the location of the restaurant that we are going to for dinner tonight (da Ruggero) and then stay on the bus for another 15 minutes until we reach the town of Galluzzo. We walk around the town for a few minutes and then jump on the same number bus that is heading back to town. We again are struck at how fast the city gives way to country and how much green space there is just outside the city walls.
Dinner tonight is at da Ruggero, written up as a very typical Florentine trattoria and located just outside the center of the city. We find a cab at the nearby taxi stand and I tell the driver where we are going. He asks us how we learned about the restaurant and—in excellent English—tells us how few tourists know about it and how authentic and terrific a place it is. He says it’s his favorite restaurant -and that when he was a boy he used to go with his father and grandfather to deliver wood to da Ruggero and that the family used to give him a little bit of money…which he considered his first earnings.
When we walk into the attractive, brightly lit restaurant, we are surprised to find that at least half the tables are filled with English speaking diners….so we suppose that it has recently been discovered by tourists. In spite of that, we have a very good dinner. The service is very professional and the food is excellent. We share a plate of Tuscan cured meats and crostini (very delicious) then Diana has the spaghetti alla carrettiera (in the style of the wagon driver)—thin spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers (extremely tasty) followed by the roast lamb and potatoes (lamb is better than the potatoes). I have the very good pici (thick homemade pasta strands) with garlic, oil and hot peppers and terrific grilled sausages with Tuscan beans. The wine is a very full flavored red from Carmignano. We have no room for dessert. The bill comes to about Euro 50.00—we would definitely return.
We start to walk down the hill towards the center but as we pass a bus stop, we see that the next bus is due to arrive in five minutes. We wait and ride back to the apartment.
P.S. from Diana: Two more books to recommend. I’ve now read for the second time R. W. B. Lewis’ The City of Florence – what an outstanding book. This Yale American literature professor spent a lot of time over 50 years in Florence and wrote a wonderful history of the city. He also included many personal anecdotes from his own life. He was a wonderful, erudite writer, in addition to synthesizing material and observations from many other sources. A passionate, lovely book. I’ve also enjoyed M.F.K. Fisher’s As They Were (am I on a “three initial” roll?) – a collection of her essays – none about Italy – but all beautifully written, very evocative of the places, meals, markets and people she encountered.
PPS. I took a picture with my telephone's little digital camera of the view from our window across to the Uffizi. I think it came out pretty well.
By the time, we reach the train station, it is raining lightly. Since the bakery was out of bread last night, we stop at a bar near the station for breakfast and have some excellent cornetti along with our tea and coffee. Before we get to Judy’s, Diana stops at a glove store and buys a pair of gloves as a present.
Judy’s kitchen/dining room is set up for a class which will be coming later in the morning. Her windows look directly out over the Central Market; her classes consist of visiting the market, buying ingredients, cooking a meal and then eating it. We talk about how she ended up in Florence and the culinary travel business and she kindly gives us a copy of her cookbook.
As part of our collection of Florentine Last Suppers, we next go to the Cenacolo di Foligno, only a few blocks from the market. This Last Supper—painted by Perugino—is as usual, painted on a wall in a refectory (where the monks ate). We are let in by a taciturn gatekeeper who seems reluctant to turn on the lights. This Last Supper is considered one of the more obscure ones….but it is interesting as usual to be able to be face to face with the fresco and have time to examine it in peaceful surroundings.
Our next destination is the Medici Chapels….where Michelangelo was engaged to design a chapel for the major Medici tombs. Before you get to Michelangelo’s new sacristy, you pass through the Chapel of the Princes—an immense, gloomy chapel with a high dome, grandiose statues and undistinguished 19th century frescoes. The most interesting things in the chapel are the inlaid coats of arms representing all the Tuscan towns that the Medici controlled.
The New Sacristy is another story…..Michelangelo was in charge of the design and was responsible for most of the sculpture in the room. The figures that adorn the tombs—Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn—are extremely evocative and moving as are the Madonna and Child. In addition, there are some amazing charcoal drawings in back of the altar that were supposedly done by Michelangelo when he was in hiding in the chapel.
We continue the Michelangelo theme at the Medicea-Laurenziana Library, reached through the pretty cloister of San Lorenzo. The library is closed to the public, but the attraction is the staircase and entrance way…which look like Michelangelo was smoking something when he designed it. There are decorative brackets everywhere that support nothing, immense columns that have no load bearing responsibility and a gigantic staircase that completely dominates the space. It is definitely something to see…and very different than the work at the Medici Chapels.
Our last stop in the morning is the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi—where the Medicis lived until they moved to the Palazzo Vecchio. This is one of the most representative early Florentine buildings and it served as the model for many later palaces. Now the seat of the Florence provincial government, the exterior is still mainly intact and the central courtyard is immense --heavy decorated with statues and other designs. The highlight of the Palazzo is an amazing fresco cycle—the Journey of the Magi--in the small chapel upstairs. Done by Bernardo Gozzoli in the mid-15th century, it is crammed with detail, brilliantly colored and includes likenesses of many of the Medici and other Florentine notables of the time. Also in the palace is a beautiful Madonna and Child done by Filippo Lippi that has a wonderful (unidentified) drawing of a man’s head on the back of the painting.
We take the bus back and have lunch in the apartment….and have a rest before heading out to do some shopping. Unfortunately, we have been lulled into thinking that all stores are open “non-stop” since the stores in the tourist areas don’t close for lunch. Walking up via dei Serragli, the main shopping street that divides Santo Spirito and San Freidano, at 3:30 pm, we find that most of the shops won’t open until 4 or 4:30. So after walking up the street for a while, we jump on a bus that is heading out beyond the Porta Romana for the southern suburbs. We check out the location of the restaurant that we are going to for dinner tonight (da Ruggero) and then stay on the bus for another 15 minutes until we reach the town of Galluzzo. We walk around the town for a few minutes and then jump on the same number bus that is heading back to town. We again are struck at how fast the city gives way to country and how much green space there is just outside the city walls.
Dinner tonight is at da Ruggero, written up as a very typical Florentine trattoria and located just outside the center of the city. We find a cab at the nearby taxi stand and I tell the driver where we are going. He asks us how we learned about the restaurant and—in excellent English—tells us how few tourists know about it and how authentic and terrific a place it is. He says it’s his favorite restaurant -and that when he was a boy he used to go with his father and grandfather to deliver wood to da Ruggero and that the family used to give him a little bit of money…which he considered his first earnings.
When we walk into the attractive, brightly lit restaurant, we are surprised to find that at least half the tables are filled with English speaking diners….so we suppose that it has recently been discovered by tourists. In spite of that, we have a very good dinner. The service is very professional and the food is excellent. We share a plate of Tuscan cured meats and crostini (very delicious) then Diana has the spaghetti alla carrettiera (in the style of the wagon driver)—thin spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers (extremely tasty) followed by the roast lamb and potatoes (lamb is better than the potatoes). I have the very good pici (thick homemade pasta strands) with garlic, oil and hot peppers and terrific grilled sausages with Tuscan beans. The wine is a very full flavored red from Carmignano. We have no room for dessert. The bill comes to about Euro 50.00—we would definitely return.
We start to walk down the hill towards the center but as we pass a bus stop, we see that the next bus is due to arrive in five minutes. We wait and ride back to the apartment.
P.S. from Diana: Two more books to recommend. I’ve now read for the second time R. W. B. Lewis’ The City of Florence – what an outstanding book. This Yale American literature professor spent a lot of time over 50 years in Florence and wrote a wonderful history of the city. He also included many personal anecdotes from his own life. He was a wonderful, erudite writer, in addition to synthesizing material and observations from many other sources. A passionate, lovely book. I’ve also enjoyed M.F.K. Fisher’s As They Were (am I on a “three initial” roll?) – a collection of her essays – none about Italy – but all beautifully written, very evocative of the places, meals, markets and people she encountered.
PPS. I took a picture with my telephone's little digital camera of the view from our window across to the Uffizi. I think it came out pretty well.
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