Zurers in Italy: 2004

Day 18: Mantova

2004-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

It has been hard to tell in the early morning what the weather will be like later in the day….often the heavy overcast of 7:30 am gives way to some sunshine or some brightening later in the morning. When we leave the hotel for our morning walk, the sun is trying to break through.
I want to visit the synagogue in Mantova…but no one ever answers the phone and the tourist office (one of the most accommodating in Italy in our experience) has no luck either. So we take a walk in that direction….which takes us through another attractive commercial section and along the pretty tree-lined canal that crosses the city.

The synagogue was moved in the 20th century from its original 18th century location…there is nothing to identify it on the street other than a plaque commemorating the Mantovani who were deported to the death camps, and traffic barriers keeping cars from parking in front of the entrance. No one answers when we ring the bell, so we move on….our visit will have to wait for our next trip to Mantova.

Back to the hotel and into the car…..we are taking a day trip to Verona, about 20 miles to the north of Mantova. We make one stop enroute…at the house of Andrea Mantegna, the Gonzaga court artist. While the house is closed today (Monday)—because there is an exhibition going on—we are able to get a look inside the distinctive courtyard that the artist designed--a circular space within a rectangular building.

The trip to the Verona exit from the autostrada takes just over a half hour but then we drive through seemingly endless suburbs and commercial development (probably 15 minutes) until we reach the city walls. Based on our experience on our previous stay in Verona, I plan to drive into the city and find a parking space on the street. And we do see many empty parking spaces as we drive around the periphery, crossing the beautiful Adige River several times. But we don’t see any machines selling parking tickets and all the seemingly legal spaces are marked with signs specifying something called “VeronaPark”. We finally park along the city wall and find out that the parking scheme in Verona is the same as we had encountered in Modica earlier in the year. “Tabacchi” and other shops sell scratch off tickets which you put on the dashboard to show you have paid for the parking. I buy three hours worth and we head for the “centro”.

Verona is an exceedingly beautiful city—H.V. Morton calls it the most beautiful in Italy—and one of the most attractive areas is the Piazza Bra—a huge pedestrian area with a park in the middle, ringed with cafes and restaurants and dominated by the huge Roman arena, where operas are performed during the summer. Even with the threatening weather, the piazza is full of full of people. We walk up the very attractive main shopping street, Via Mazzini—also car free…today full of German speaking tour groups…until it ends in the other main piazza, the Piazza delle Erbe. This is the location for the Verona market and the medieval square is filled with market stalls selling produce as well as clothing and souvenir items.
We pick one of the restaurants on the piazza—the one right in front of the column with the Venetian lion on top, sit down and order lunch while we watch the people passing by. This piazza is much smaller than the Piazza Bra but it is extremely pleasant, flowers cascading down from balconies, the pink marble glowing….

Lunch is fine…a “cartoccio” of delicious cured meats for Diana—served on a large sheet of brown paper and a dish of tripe with polenta for me. After lunch, we walk back to through the city, stop for a gelato in the Piazza Bra, and retrieve the car. Instead of going directly back to Mantova, we make a detour to Lago di Garda, about a half hour west of Verona. We drive along the lake for a while, stop for a few minutes in Bardolino (the lake is quite wide at this end and we can’t see the other side), admire the pretty harbor, pick up the autostrada in the hills above the lake and drive back to Mantova.

After a short stop at the wi-fi bar on the Piazza Sordello, we are ready for dinner. The restaurant I had selected is closed for a private function—but, as we crossed a piazza, a very attractive wine bar/restaurant caught our eye. We looked at the menu and—despite the fact we knew nothing about it, we walked in.
The restaurant—called Tiratappi (cork puller)—proves the rule of serendipity and illustrates that you can’t plan everything and need to be open to spontaneity. The meal was extremely pleasant and the service was very gracious. Everything was attractively presented and also delicious. Diana had ravioli filled with cheese and I had a pasta with sausage….both excellent. For secondi, Diana’s “tagliata” (sliced steak) was terrific and my goulash served with couscous was delicious. We also had a small dish of aged grana padano served with green tomato mostarda…..the cheese was outstanding. We drank a very nice Valpolicella Classico 2003 from Allegrini.

The walk back through the piazzas of Mantova—with all the buildings lit up---was a nice end to our last evening in town.

Day 17: Mantova

2004-10-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

The weather today starts out sunny and clear with a slight nip in the air. After breakfast and a stop at the wi-fi café, we drive to the Palazzo Te, built as a summer palace on the far end of town. We find a parking space on the same street where we had parked on our previous trip. There is a big art show being held there which is advertised heavily all over Mantova….Natura e Maniera: Le Ceneri violette di Giorgione tra Tiziano e Caravaggio. (If any Italian speakers or art experts can help translate “ceneri violette”—other than violet ashes, we would be very grateful.) It is a survey of Northern Italian art from 1500 to 1600 and includes several of the works of Giuliano Romano in the Palazzo Te.

Due to the fact that there is no audioguide or explanations in English, it is a little difficult for us to make too much sense of the theme. And since everyone in Mantova seems to have decided to attend the show on this Sunday morning, it is very difficult for us to see the pictures since we are constantly jockeying for position. We move through the show pretty quickly…there are, of course, some wonderful painters represented—Titian, Tintoretto, Lotto (some wonderful portraits), Coreggio, etc.—but unfortunately much of the context is lost on us. After we finish the show, we make a fast trip through the Palace…we had been here on our first trip and actually heard a chamber music concert in the Palazzo then.

The palace is quite grand—it was designed by Gonzaga favorite Giuliano Romano—with expansive rooms and interesting sculptures. One room—the Room of the Giants—is frescoed on all the walls and the ceiling with a scene of the gods sitting up in Olympus while the giants on earth are being destroyed. The colors are bright and the giants are gigantic…it looks almost like a comic strip illustration showing the giants being crushed by falling boulders and columns. It is definitely unlike any other frescoed room we have ever seen……

We plan to have lunch out of town today. The countryside around Mantova is not the most beautiful in Italy….very flat with a lot of commercial development outside the towns—probably a sign of the area’s prosperity. As we drive further north (toward Lake Garda) and cross into the Veneto region, some hills appear, the countryside becomes prettier, and we can see small hill towns and castles in the distance. The road signs have the names of famous Italian military battles…Solferino, Marengo, etc.

At Vallegio sul Mincio, the river is crossed by an old medieval bridge and the town’s castle dominates the top of the hill. Beneath the bridge and set right on the river, there is a small village called Il Borghetto. Obviously developed to draw Sunday afternoon visitors, it is a picture postcard little cluster of shops and restaurants set on the banks of (and in the middle) of the river. With the warm sunshine, the blue sky, the clear flowing river, the tree lined banks, the small waterfall and the medieval bridge, it is pretty irresistible. We have a leisurely light lunch (some bruschetta to share, a plate of cheese for Diana and stew of horsemeat with polenta for me) and some wine at one of the outdoor restaurants--Divinosteria. For a better description of a Sunday afternoon meal in Il Borghetto, read H.V. Morton’s “A Traveller in Italy”. This elegant book, written in the 1950s, is a great companion to take to Italy…Morton’s love of Italy and his graceful erudition about history and art are wonderful. He had stopped at a trattoria on the riverbank during his trip in the 1950s and describes the buildings, the bridge and the fishermen in the river…it was not too different from our experience—but better written.

After lunch, we stroll through the village on the other side of the river (it is a real town with houses and a couple of hotels and bars) and enjoy the spectacular day. We quickly drive around the town of Vallegio sul Mincio on top of the hill and then head for Isola della Scala….a town south of Verona which is noted for its rice production.

On our first trip to Mantova, we had had one of our most memorable meals at the Riseria Antica Ferron….and we are going back to see if we can buy some more rice (they grow varieties used in risottos—Vialone Nano and Canaroli) and perhaps make reservations for a meal there. The countryside returns to being very flat…lots of big farms and industrial development. And the 17th century Riseria is still there. People are finishing their Sunday afternoon dinner in the restaurant and there is a big reception in a tent set up on the grounds. Diana talks to the chef who tells her that they are closed until Tuesday and that the store that sells the rice is also closed. They have opened a big facility in the town of Isola della Scala with another restaurant, warehouse and a shop but that is also closed until Tuesday. We will have to come back on our next trip to the area.

Back in Mantova, the town is still crowded with Sunday afternoon visitors. After resting at the hotel and making a quick trip to the wi-fi bar, we decide to eat in one of the close by restaurants on the Piazza delle Erbe—Osteria Pavesi. It is not one of our most successful meals…not bad, but just sort of ordinary—maybe we were tired out from the day’s activities. We share the local risotto alla Mantovana again and this rendition is more like traditional risotto, creamy and more liquid….but it is just okay. Diana tries the luccio (local pike) with polenta but it is not as tasty as the luccio that I had at the place next door. My stinco di maiale (roast pork shank)—a gigantic portion—is the best dish…savory and tasty. We drink a Refosco from Friuli, which is very enjoyable.

We skip dessert, walk around the piazza for a few minutes and go back to the hotel.

Some pictures from Vallegio sul Mincio….

Day 16: Mantova

2004-10-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Our first day out of our apartment….the hotel room is comfortable but we miss the space that we had to stretch out. Breakfast is fine….the cornetti are good and I guess I will be able to make do with two cappuccini instead of my three cups of strong American coffee.

The sky starts out overcast but there is a hint of the sun trying to push through. I head over to the internet café for an e-mail session…one of the staff tells me that he thinks that there is a café in the next square that has high speed wi-fi access. I will definitely check that out.

The Palazzo Ducale is our first stop today….Mantova was ruled by the Gonzaga family for over 300 years (up until the 17th century) and during that time their palace grew to over 300 rooms dominating the north-east corner of the town. The Gonzaga were patrons of the arts and they brought many famous artists to Mantova to decorate the various rooms of the palace. [If you want to know more about the Gonzagas, we can recommend “A Renaissance Tapestry”—a wonderful history written by Kate Simon about the family and its rule.] The palace is studded with wonderful rooms designed by architects Leon Battista Alberti (from Florence) and Giuliano Romano (from Rome) as well as wonderful paintings by Andrea Mantegna.

The Palazzo Ducale is set on a much vaster and less charming piazza just to the north of the Piazza delle Erbe—the Piazza Sordello. It shares the piazza with the Duomo, lots of cafes and bars, a hotel and government offices. During our time in Mantova, we frequently saw long lines of immigrants—Indians, Chinese and Africans—waiting to get into the immigration office.

We had visited the palace on our previous trip to Mantova, but at that time we had to go with a guide who only spoke Italian. This time we rent an audioguide with English commentary…which is better but is riddled with terrible English prose and strange constructions. The palace is vast and many of the rooms are filled with less than stellar (to our eyes) art. But it is fascinating to see how the palace grew and some of the rooms are extremely grand. The Gonzaga built their own church within the walls of the palace. There are wonderful views from the lake front rooms. The highlight of the tour is the room called the Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Suite) which is lavishly frescoed by Andrea Mategna. The two frescoed walls (painted around 1470) show two episodes from the life of Ludovico II from New Years Day 1462. The detail is incredible and the fresco was cleaned fairly recently so the colors are bright and vivid. It is definitely the highlight of the visit to the Palazzo.

Leaving the Gonzaga Palace and jumping back to the present, I find the bar on the Piazza Sordello that has the free wi-fi connection. We stroll around town for a while and then I bring my computer to the café to use the connection. For lunch, we sit outside in the Piazza delle Erbe (in the cool shade of the Palazzo della Ragione) and have lunch at one of the cafes….a piadina (a sandwich on a tortilla like flat bread—a speciality of the neighboring region of Emilia-Romagna) for me and a nice plate of lasagna for Diana. Other customers are moving tables into the sunlight on the far end of the piazza; we wish we had done that also.

We finally make it to the lakefront (passing the Teatro Bibbiena where Mozart played as a thirteen year old), walk along the lakeshore and sit on a bench (in the warm sunshine) watching fishermen, joggers and people walking their dogs. The lakefront is very well kept and the lakes are very attractive. We are going to take a boat cruise around the lakes and into the Parco del Mincio so we walk to the boat dock, buy our tickets and take a seat on the open roof deck of the boat. I write some postcards and we enjoy the warm sunshine.

The boat excursion is very pleasant….we get nice views of the distinctive Mantova skyline and get closeup views of the fishermen out in their boats. The trip continues downstream to the open river, which is a wildlife preserve. There are more fishermen out in boats and also fishing from the banks….some have set up little camps and have numerous lines out at the same time.

As the boat starts its return trip, the sun goes behind the clouds and we move down to the enclosed cabin. The 90 minute trip turns out to be about 20 minutes too long for us…the sights on the way back are the same as the ones on the way out and it isn’t as pleasant sitting inside. But we think it is a worthwhile expedition, giving us a view of another aspect of Mantova.

After a short rest at the hotel and another brief visit to the free wi-fi café, we join the throngs of Mantovani out for their Saturday night passeggiata. It seems that the whole town is out, window shopping, greeting friends, strolling up and down the streets, stopping for gelato or glass of wine or a coffee. This is one of the most lively passeggiatas that we can remember…enhanced by the beauty of Mantova in the early evening light.

Dinner is at Il Portichetto, a small, charming trattoria down a deserted side street in the middle of town. We enjoy our dinner…but the total experience is better than the individual pieces of the meal. I have crostini with seasoned lardo to start and Diana has a great plate of local salume. My agnoli (local pasta pockets filled with salami) in brodo (chicken soup) was good and Diana had another version of the dry and tasty Mantovan risotto. Her steak was just okay but my plate of goulash and couscous was terrific. We have the house wine which is unremarkable but fine. No room for dessert…..

We make the short walk back to the hotel through almost deserted streets…..

PS A picture from Mantova…..the Piazza delle Erbe

Day 15: Florence - Mantua

2004-10-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

We pack up this morning and have our last apartment breakfast. Laura comes to check us out although all she really does is review the accounting and refund Euro 18.00 out of our Euro 250.00 security deposit……the rest goes for the final cleaning and the utilities. Mauro, the concierge, calls a cab and we say goodbye to him and our “palazzo”. It is a bright sunny day for our departure from Florence.

It is a short cab ride to the car rental office in the Borgo Ognissanti and we are the second customers. The paperwork goes quickly but we have to wait for about 30 minutes for our car to arrive; apparently the Alfa 156 that was designated for us can’t be “sold” (the computer says “bloccato”) and the replacement—an upgrade to a Ford Focus CMAX…sort of a big station wagon—is not at this location. During the wait, the office gets very busy and one woman is quite distraught because she needs to return the car (her husband is circling the block looking for a place to put the car) and catch a train, but she can’t get anyone’s attention.

We load the car—plenty of room even for our luggage—and head out of Florence. We get stuck in a traffic jam on the road near the airport which delays us for about 45 minutes but we finally reach the autostrada and head into the mountains between Florence and Bologna. The scenery is very striking as you climb over the Appenines and descend into the flat Po River valley. As we reach the summit, the sun disappears and a light rain begins. This is the last of the sun that we will see today.

The drive to Mantova goes quickly….past Bologna and Modena...and we arrive around 1 pm. The hotel, Albergo San Lorenzo, is located in the heart of the “centro storico” but we follow the very good signs and—even though some of the streets we drive on appear to be pedestrian-only, we easily end up in front of the hotel. After we check in and unload the car, a bellman has to accompany me when I drive the car to the hotel garage, which—while only 50 yards away by foot—is a roundabout driving route through narrow streets.

The hotel room is old fashioned but comfortable…good sized with great light—both natural from the two large windows and artificial from the astonishingly bright light fixtures. Since it now 1:30 pm, we go out to look for someplace to eat lunch. The weather is not too pleasant, overcast and cool. We try a couple of bars that don’t look too inviting but we finally stumble on a nice bar that serves lunches. We have a couple of nice pasta dishes— with artichokes for Diana and with tomatoes and smoked cheese for me…nothing fancy but freshly cooked and tasty—and a green salad.

Back at the hotel, there is a problem…I can’t seem to connect to the internet using the telephone line. While Diana rests, I try to adjust all the settings. When I ask the desk clerk on duty, he indicates that Americans seem to have trouble connecting and directs me to a close by bar which has a computer with internet access. It turns out (after endless attempts) that the hotel telephone lines will not permit computers to dial out so I head for the nearby café to check e-mail.

Later in the afternoon, we take a walk around town. Mantova is a very beautiful town…the centro is filled with attractive old buildings, grand palazzi and piazzas, the shopping streets are inviting and quiet with lots of people riding bicycles. We stroll down one of the streets—I am looking for one of our possible choices for dinner. After we find the restaurant, we continue our walk and soon end up in a deserted section of the city…not the most fascinating place for our walk.

Mantova is surrounded on three sides by lakes (actually the Mincio River, which has been dammed up to create lakes) and there is a nice path in the park on the lakeshore. I am trying to get to this park but every street I try seems to be blocked off, keeping us trapped in the deserted streets. We finally make it back to the center and sit in a big park with a large statue of Virgil, who was born in the Mantova area.

For dinner, we decide to eat close to the hotel at a place where we ate on our previous visit to Mantova, about six years ago. It is on the main square, the Piazza dell’Erbe, in the old Palazzo della Ragione with five or six other restaurants—all with tables spilling out into the square. The piazza is dominated by the dome of the Basilica of Sant’Andrea and also under two large medieval towers, one having a terrific old astronomical clock on its face. It looks like a movie set, but it is full of life—tourists (mostly German, very, very few Americans) and Mantovani—shopping, strolling, eating at all hours.

Dinner at Cento Rampini is very good….we share risotto alla Mantovana (which I remember having on our last visit)—a plate of rice cooked with wine and sausage and topped with a small but tasty veal bone. In this version, the rice is much drier than traditional risotto. For secondi, I have luccio in salsa verde (local pike served cold with a nice green sauce) and Diana has a very tasty piece of roast veal with some okay potatoes. The wine is a 2003 Bardolino (from the neighboring Veneto region) produced by Cavalchina—very easy to drink. My panna cotta with strawberry sauce is one of the best I have ever had and Diana has vanilla gelato with a nice berry sauce. A very successful dinner—the waiter is also very charming—and the bill comes to about Euro 70.00.

We only have to walk a few steps through our movie set piazza to get back to the hotel.

PS: Here are the views out of our hotel windows....both of the buildings in the pictures are relatively modern--late 19th and early 20th century.

Day 14: Florence

2004-10-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Florence…..and the sun is shining. Our first stop is another less well known attraction, the Chiostro del Scalzo, which contains a monochrome (grisaille) fresco by Andrea del Sarto and his students; del Sarto also did the Last Supper we had seen at San Salvi earlier in the week. It is a few blocks away from San Marco, so we walk outside the apartment and find our little “C” bus waiting for us.

When we arrive at the cloister, there is only one other person there; she is sitting on a bench taking notes. The frescoes cover all four walls of the small courtyard, which is covered by a glass roof. The scenes are from the life of St. John the Baptist and begin with his birth and end with the scene of his head being presented to Herod and his wife. The monochrome effect gives the frescoes more a feeling of drawings—and these are very good drawings. The details are strikingly drawn, whether the hands and feet, robes, faces or the landscapes in the background….and we appreciate having the time and the space to take it all in.

Before we leave, several more visitors arrive—including a class of Italian high school students, notebooks in hand.

We move from the somewhat obscure to one of the most influential and frequently visited frescoes in Florence….the Masolino and Masaccio works in the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine. These colorful frescoes are said to be a major turning point in art and one of the key developments that influenced the culture of the Renaissance. At the Brancacci Chapel, you have to share the small space with a couple of dozen other viewers…sometimes having to jockey for a better position to see the panels.

There are two small contrasting works—one by Masaccio, one by Masolino—showing the expulsion from the Garden of Eden but the rest of the panels portray scenes from the life of St. Peter. In his work, Masaccio is considered to be the first to show scenes that are from real life….showing “textures” of the real world, demonstrating his understanding of perspective and painting scenes full of drama. The two panels of the expulsion show the difference….Masolino paints formal portraits of Adam and Eve whereas Masaccio shows the couple full of pain and shame as they are banished from Eden. In addition to illustrating the incidents in the life of St. Peter, Massacio also gives the painted figures individuality and shows what they are thinking as well as providing us with details about 15th century Florentine life in the clothes and settings he creates.

After we leave the chapel, we stay for a film that is showing about Masaccio, the frescoes and his influence. Some of the film is quite creative…moving from computer generated scenes of Florence in the 14th century to actual film images of the same scenes today. The comparison of the frescoes to other art works is helpful to us and the camera panning in to reveal the minute details of the works is worth seeing….but all in all, the film is pretty heavy going.

After the film is over, we look at some of the art works displayed in the same room and find another Last Supper, this one by Allori, which had not been written about in any of our books.

On the way back to the apartment, we stop and buy four bottles of olive oil to take home with us. We stop at a sandwich shop we’ve passed many times and eat our lunch, sitting on the steps of Santo Spirito.

After dropping off our purchases and resting for a bit, we go to see the Boboli Gardens; we have never been there. The gardens are bigger than I had imagined and there is an impressive steeply terraced hillside leading up to the top. We decide to skirt the hill and take a path that leads past the Botanical Gardens, lots of Roman statuary and thickly planted woods. We stroll down the cypress-lined main path to the Isolotto, a small lake with an island in the middle decorated with statues and a fountain. We don’t want to have to head back up the hill so we try to exit at the closest gate—the Porta Romana—but it is locked. We start walking back to and are able to slip out through the Annalena Gate. I can’t say that we were very enchanted by the gardens….but it is certainly an impressive undertaking.

I have an appointment at the Palazzo Antellesi to see some of the apartments that they have available….I had put a client there just two weeks before. The Palazzo is a heavily decorated old building from the 1500s situated on the south side of Piazza Santa Croce. It is owned by the Piccolomini family, who are descended from one of the noble families of the Renaissance. We meet the owners and we are taken around by Vicky, the staff person that I usually contact.

The apartments are amazing…large rooms, some with original frescoes on the walls, some with antique furniture, all well equipped. One of them has two large bedrooms and the living room with large windows overlooking the piazza, another (on the top floor) has a skylight so it is very bright and cheerful. Two of them have terraces overlooking the piazza. They are not cheap, but they appear to be comfortable and luxurious. Certainly if money is no object, these apartments are good choices. It is very helpful for me to have seen them personally when I suggest them to clients.

We decide to go to the Trattoria Cibreo for our last meal in Florence. The very informal trattoria shares a kitchen with the more expensive restaurant and serves some of the same dishes. They don’t take reservations and we were afraid that we would have to wait for a table but we get in immediately. Our table is a small one and one of the chairs is in front of the door to the wine cellar, so several times during the meal Diana has to get up to let a waiter go downstairs to get some wine.

Dinner is fun although they don’t serve pasta and the menu has many somewhat unusual options- e.g. stuffed chicken neck with the head attached. Diana doesn’t go for the strange options – she has crostini with liver pate, yellow pepper soup, and eggplant parmesan—which are all good-especially the yellow pepper soup. I have a very tender, fresh tripe salad, a dish of polenta with parmigiano and herbs (great) and a stew made with calves feet (zampa) which was rich and very flavorful. I have the panna cotta (pretty good) and Diana’s chocolate cake is good but very rich. The waiter brings us a third dessert…cheesecake. We think he has heard us trying to decide between the cheesecake and the chocolate cake…the cheesecake is excellent. We have another nice wine from the Maremma…a Morellino del Scansano—Poggio Il Lupo 2003 from the Tenuta Sette Ponte. All this food comes to Euro 75.00….a feast. Actually the portions are small which encourages diners to sample all the courses. The antipasti and primi are all Euro 5 and the secondi are all Euro 13.00. The service is friendly and professional…as it usually is in Italian restaurants.

When we are about ready to leave, a tremendous thunderstorm begins and the waiter says that taxis are impossible to get. We run over to the Caffe Cibreo, their bar around the corner, to wait out the rain and try to get a cab. The waitress tells us that the cab company said it would take an hour for one to come but after less than ten minutes, a cab pulls up and we grab it. We are quickly back in the apartment for our last night in Florence.

PS Here is a picture of our apartment building, the Palazzo Bardi, taken from the Uffizi….our building is the tallest in the set of three—painted white--in the middle of the picture, just over the opening (like a tunnel) at river level.

Day 13: Florence

2004-10-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today is our day to go to the Uffizi…we made reservations last Thursday and this—Wednesday at noon--was the first time available. The weather has cooled off but this morning the sun is peeking through. We walk over the Ponte Vecchio, make a stab at visiting the Palazzo Vecchio, but it is too crowded and we don’t really have enough time. We walk back to the church of Orsanmichele and walk around the outside, looking at the statues in all the niches—all provided by the various guilds in Florence. The list of sculptors is like a Who’s Who of the early renaissance, including Ghiberti, Donatello and Brunelleschi. Unfortunately the doors are locked, even though the church is supposed to be open; I think I had read that the church was having trouble coming up with the money to hire staff to open the church.

We do a little window shopping and have a snack before getting on line at the Uffizi. There is a short line for those with 12 noon reservations…but the line for people without reservations is now three hours long. It takes about a half hour for us to get into the museum….the guards have a system of allowing a certain number of visitors in at a time and we have to go through metal detectors. Once inside, we jump into an elevator (avoiding the long flights of stairs) and get ready for the Uffizi.

We start out using The Rough Guide and Rick Steves to help us sort through the collection….our first stop is Giotto. We find that we have become a lot more knowledgeable over the years and we stop at many pictures that are not included in the books’ itineraries. We have become better acquainted with painters like Lippi, Ghirlandaio, del Sarto, etc. and we pay attention to their works and others. The Uffizi is overwhelming however….the pictures keep coming at you—Botticelli, da Vinci, Raffaello, et al….it is hard not to get overloaded.

We do a pretty good job in keeping track of where we are…we are thrown a couple of times when pictures have been moved or are out on loan. One Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano has been moved to a more prominent spot to highlight its restoration…..even though it is placed at the end of the gallery (after the Titians and Rembrandts), it is so striking and colorful that we stop and admire it.

We end up being in the museum for over two hours but finally our legs wear out and fatigue sets in….but we leave feeling very good about the visit and completely amazed at the art we have seen.

We eat lunch back at the apartment….and as we finish, it begins to rain and storm—the worst it has been since we arrived. The rain subsides about five, but it is still not very pleasant. I decide to make a quick trip to the large Edison Bookstore at the Piazza della Repubblica to buy some new Italy maps (new editions of the TCI Atlante Stradale have just been published) and to buy a souvenir book about Florence. There are a lot of shoppers out on the streets despite the unpleasant weather….and I enjoy my outing.

Dinner tonight is at Pandemonio, a place where we had a memorable lunch five years ago, sitting in their almost empty covered garden on a rainy day. The restaurant is just in back of Santa Maria del Carmine (on our side of the river) so we take our trusty “D” bus to get there. The garden isn’t open tonight—too cool—but the inside room is very pleasant. The clientele is a mix of foreign tourists and Italians and it is about half full. The menu is very inviting, but we notice that the prices are a good deal higher than they were five years ago. We have a bit of a shaky start….when I taste the wine (a local Chianti from the Colli Florentini) that I have ordered, I think it is spoiled. I ask the boss to taste it and he doesn’t seem to agree, but invites me to order another bottle anyway.

The food is mostly excellent…..Diana is very happy with her spaghetti with artichokes and a tagliata—slices of steak served on a bed of rucola - and my tortelli filled with potatoes and served with a sausage and mushroom sauce is amazing. My secondo—fried chicken and zucchini—is half good…the zucchini is fried beautifully but the chunks of boneless chicken breast pale in comparison to the fried chicken we have had in Lucca. Dessert is a very delicious mousse-like chocolate cake. The wine we end up with is excellent….a Rosso di Montepulciano 2001 from Fattoria del Cerro. The place is very professionally run and we enjoy our dinner very much….the bill comes to Euro 117.00 which is higher than our usual dinner bill.

The taxi that they call for us comes quickly and we are back at Lungarno Torrigiani, 33 in five minutes.

Day 12: Florence

2004-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

It has turned cool and breezy this morning but it is not raining. We take our little electric bus to the Museo di Firenze Com’era (The Museum of Florence As It Was). The museum is located near the Duomo in an old convent and it has a collection of maps, models and paintings of Florence dating back to the 14th century in one room and exhibits showing what Florence looked like during Roman times in another. There is a copy of fascinating large wall map showing Florence as it looked in 1490…most of the buildings are still in place, except for the wall that encircled the city. There is a model of the old market which was torn down to build the Piazza della Repubblica, sketches of that lost neighborhood, and plans—never realized—for building large piazzas and buildings if Florence had remained the capital of united Italy. The Roman Florence exhibit showed models superimposing the buildings of the Roman city on a map of today’s Florence. The forum is on the site of today’s Piazza della Repubblica, the arena is where Santa Croce is today and Piazza della Signoria was the site of a large Roman bath. We are almost the only visitors but we spend a fascinating hour or more examining all the holdings.

We next head for another Last Supper…the Cenacolo di San Salvi, painted by Andrea del Sarto…located on the far east side of Florence. We take the nearest bus that I think will get us close to the Cenacalo but we actually end up about eight long blocks away. We walk about half way, looking for another bus to take us the rest of the way. Unfortunately at the first bus stop we come to, the bus only runs once an hour so we have to cross the busy road to catch an alternate bus which takes us about a block away from our destination. (Ironically, we could have taken this bus (#6) if we had walked two blocks north of where we picked up our first bus. I guess that discovery falls under the umbrella of research.)

This Last Supper is housed in the refectory of the former Monastery of San Salvi which has been turned into a museum with many del Sarto paintings in addition to the Cenacalo. This is a very beautiful version…the colors are warm, the people painted realistically, the situation is captured very dramatically. It has less overt religious content, but is a strong depiction of a dramatic historical event. Of course, it is wonderful for us to be alone with the fresco and have the opportunity to examine details leisurely and just sit and admire it. There are also some del Sarto drawings in side cases with terrific sketches of hands, feet and faces; we had noticed the finely drawn feet that peeked out from under the table in the Last Supper fresco. We are very glad that we had made the effort to see this great del Sarto work.

It is an easy ride back to the center on bus #6 (now that we know about it) and we get off near the Arno to have lunch at a sandwich place called Mariano—on the Via Parione, steps off the main shopping street, Via Tornabuoni. The lunch place is a few steps below street level and is filled with Florentines—ordering made to order sandwiches and having glasses of wine. The sandwiches are cheap and good—salami, porchetta and ham—and we appreciate that they have a place to sit down while eating.

We then head back to the apartment for some rest and to do some writing and work…..

Later in the afternoon, we stop at the store that makes shoes made to order, Mannina. Diana decides, in the hope that she will for once have a comfortable pair of shoes and in spite of the extravagance, to order a pair. They will be sent to us in about a month. We buy some postcards and head back to the apartment.

Tonight we are having dinner with friends of my sister Holly, Deb and Annie. We had met them at her wedding and I have helped them with their three trips to Italy. Deb is a professional photographer and her pictures of Tuscany are fabulous. We have several on the walls of our house. They come to the apartment for a glass of wine and then we set out for Zibibbo, a restaurant that I have wanted to try for several years. It is run by Benedetta Vitali, the ex-wife of Fabbio Picchi, the owner of Cibreo and is always written up very favorably. It is located in a suburb of Florence called Careggi and we go to the nearby taxi stand to get a cab. The first cab driver refuses to take us…he says it is too far. After waiting about 10 minutes, we walk to the nearest hotel and ask the desk clerk to call a cab for us.

It is a long ride to the restaurant…it takes about 25 minutes and the cab costs more than Euro 20 (I had read it was a 10 Euro ride from the center). The restaurant is very stylish and the menu is inviting. They offer us glasses of prosecco, on the house, as well as some humus with bread sticks and vegetables. The food is quite good….my tortelli is especially delicious, Diana’s arancini (rice balls) are very well prepared, Deb has a cheese and tomato bruschetta that we all like and Annie’s maltagliati (wide pasta strips) with duck ragu is excellent. For secondi, we have tripe alla parmigiana, two orders of duck in a grape sauce, and one order of stuffed pigeon—they were all fine. One dessert is shared…a dense chocolate tart. We all like the wine…a Rosso di Montalcino 2001 from Casanova di Neri.

The ride back seemed to take about half the time of the ride out, but it costs the same. Although we all enjoyed our meal, we all felt that it was a bit expensive and the portions were pretty small. Perhaps it was not worth the effort that had to be expended to get out there.

We drop Deb and Annie at their hotel, say our goodbyes and return to our apartment…we had a very nice time, but it was a long evening.

NOTE: I left out in yesterday’s report our stop—during a long walk searching for olive oil--at a great chocolate shop in the Santa Croce neighborhood called Vestri.

Day 11: Florence

2004-10-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Day 10: Florence

2004-10-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

Overcast again this morning….the sun looks like it is trying to break through as we cross the Arno on our handy electric bus. We are going back to the train station to pick up the train for Prato…the third largest city in Tuscany, less than 20 kilometers from Florence. We are very unused to relying on public transportation in Italy since we generally have a car…but since it’s so unnecessary to have a car in Florence we are happily using buses and trains. For our trip to Vicchio yesterday, I was looking forward to trying to use the automatic ticket machines at the train station, but—even though the lines were short—the people using them were taking a lot of time. So I took our friend Jane’s advice and went to the newspaper kiosk and asked for four 50 kilometer tickets. I paid Euro 3.20 each…it couldn’t have been simpler. Today, I also intend to try the automatic machines, but the lines are long so I go back to the newspaper kiosk, ask for tickets to Prato, get two 20 kilometer tickets and pay Euro 1.60 each. Pretty easy.

The train to Prato’s ultimate destination is Viareggio and there are lots of people on the train going to the beach. It doesn’t much seem like a beach day. The trip to Prato only takes about 20 minutes and we get off at the Porta al Serraglio station which is only a couple of hundred yards from the Piazza del Duomo. The weather has taken a turn for the worse…the overcast has increased and we feel several drops of rain as we walk down the very attractive street that leads to the center.

The main piazza in front of the Duomo is also very attractive….the Duomo is a Tuscan green striped affair with a distinctive pulpit hanging out off the front corner of the cathedral. The broad piazza is ringed with stores and buildings…and in the middle today is a food exposition…..stalls from local food merchants selling their products; there are lots of opportunities to sample the cookies, fruit, salume, cheese, bread, etc. When these piazzas are not parking lots or filled with roaring scooters and cars, they are so appealing.

The main reason for our trip to Prato is to visit the Filippo Lippi frescoes in the central chapel of the Cathedral of Santo Stefano. They are now in restoration and tours are being offered “on the scaffolding” to see the frescoes face to face. We made our reservations by phone earlier in the week, but we now have to pay for our tickets (Euro 8 each) at the Duomo Museum. Before the tour, we have time to walk around the small museum which has statues, paintings and panels from the cathedral including the sculpted panels from the outside pulpit done by Donatello (it’s a reproduction installed outside), an early Botticelli and a Lippi altarpiece. All beautiful. We make a quick tour of the market…tasting some cheese and salume and buying some cookies…before we walk around the back of the cathedral to the bell tower to find the tour. The guide finally arrives, collects the tickets and escorts the group—ten Italians and us—into the back of the church and up three flights of stairs to the top of the frescoes.

The frescoes…scenes from the life of St. Stephen on one side and scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist on the other…are being restored from the top down, so this top level is almost completely finished. It is very striking to be so close to these frescoes, especially since they were created to be seen from a distance. But to be able to see the faces and expressions of the subjects and to see some of the techniques—like the use of candle wax to show decorations on clothing and fabrics—is fascinating. I later learn that St. Stephen was born Jewish and became the first Christian martyr. One of the scenes shows St. Stephen in a dispute with rabbis about Christian theology and another shows his funeral. The featured scene on the other wall shows the story of Herod’s Feast which features Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils and her asking for (and getting) the head of St. John the Baptist.

The guide’s commentary was in rapid fire Italian and we probably got about 50% of what she talked about….the history of the frescoes, the life of Filippo Lippi, the stories being told and the techniques used in painting the frescoes and restoring it. The experience may not have been as thrilling as when we saw the Piero della Francesca frescoes in Arezzo from the scaffolding, but it was definitely worth doing.

By the time the tour is over, it is raining harder. We look around the inside of the cathedral…there is a mass being said, so we sit in the back, in front if the chapel devoted to the sacred girdle (D: dear readers: if you really want to know, he’ll explain) ....and then head out to tour the town. We are approached by an umbrella salesman (we only have one small one) and we buy a large bright, multicolored umbrella from him for Euro 7.00.

Sightseeing in the rain is never much fun….especially trying to maneuver maps, guidebook and umbrella all at once. Diana is wearing sandals and her feet and shoes are getting very wet. Prato is such an inviting, pleasant town that we wish the weather were nicer so we could appreciate it more. Our curtailed stroll takes us through the Piazza Communale where another small market is being held….this square has a statue of the Merchant of Prato, Francesco di Marco Datini. He was a 14th century textile merchant, who made a considerable fortune and kept meticulous records. Iris Origo took his account books and journals and wrote a wonderful, fascinating novel–The Merchant of Prato—based on his papers, that paints a vivid picture of life in Prato and Italy during that time. We also pass his house on our walk, very grand and elaborately decorated; it now houses the offices of the charity that he established in his will and that is still active today.

The rain continues and when we turn the corner and see an open restaurant, we decide that it is time for lunch. The Pizzeria Ristorante San Agostino turns out to be just what we needed….pleasant service, an attractive bright room and good food. I have assorted bruschetta and wide pasta strips (called toppe) with clams, tomatoes and zucchini, which is quite good. Diana has a caprese salad—good mozzarella but so-so tomatoes and good ravioli with an “ortica” (nettles) sauce. She says that her pine nut cake dessert is outstanding. We have a refreshing, slightly effervescent local white house wine which is extremely drinkable.

Unfortunately the rain continues to come down so we decide to head back to the station and take the train back to Florence. First we buy some fruit at the market in the Duomo square….great Muscat grapes and a few tart green-skinned tangerines.

At the station, I get to try a limited version of the automatic ticketing machine. However, I don’t realize that the maximum amount of change that the machine can return is Euro 4.80 so I end up with two tickets to Florence along with a credit slip showing that the railroad owes me Euro 8.40, Someone tells me that I can claim the credit at any ticket office. We have about 45 minutes to wait for the next train to Florence. We notice that many of our fellow passengers are Asians…we had read that Prato had the largest Asian population in Italy and that there are some very good Chinese restaurants.

The train to Florence is slow….it sits in one of the outlying Florence stations (Rifredi) for about 15 minutes. When we arrive in Florence, the lines at the ticket window are long so we decide not to wait to get my outstanding credit. Our trustworthy bus is sitting at its terminal waiting for us to take us to our apartment.

The rain begins to let up and patches of blue sky and sun are showing as we watch from our window. I take a walk to arrange our social schedule for the next few nights….friends from Maine are staying at a hotel down the street and I run into them after I have left a note at the desk. We arrange to have dinner on Monday or Tuesday. Then I walk to San Frediano to confirm our dinner tonight with Mindy and Anthony (Pokey from the message board Slow Travel) who are staying at Residenza Il Carmine. On the way, I check out a possible dinner place near Piazza Il Carmine, Il Brindellone. I visit with them for a while in their apartment and we agree to meet at the restaurant at 8 pm.

Walking back to the apartment, the neighborhood around Santo Sprito is busy….all the stores are open on Sunday afternoon and people are out walking, talking and shopping. I stop for some bread at our regular bakery, which is (unusually) open on seven days a week, but they are sold out at 6:30 pm.

Dinner at Il Brindellone is a lot of fun. We enjoy the company of Anthony and Mindy. The food is very good….a traditional Tuscan antipasto of ham, salume and crostini, a ribollita for me, ravioli for Anthony, stracceti (pasta strips) with a béchamel sauce for Mindy and gnocchi with a rucola pesto for Diana. They order a bistecca fiorentina for three…..before it is cooked, the waiter brings out the steak for our approval—it is amazingly thick. When the steak returns to the table, it is as a “bistecca” ought to be—crusty on the outside and beautifully rare on the inside. The steak eaters enjoy their dish and we realize that ordering the “bistecca” for one person just doesn’t have the same result as ordering a larger portion. I have some spinach and try a few bites of the bistecca…which—even to a non-steak eater—tastes very good. Mindy and Anthony share a piece of chocolate cake for dessert, which they like very much.

We say goodnight to them at their street and have a pleasant walk back to the apartment.

Day 9: Florence

2004-10-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

The morning is overcast as usual, but it turns out to be another day without rain. We enjoy our regular breakfast in our kitchen….two or three cups of strong coffee for me, toasted great Pugliese bread from the bakery around the corner, fresh ricotta and mozzarella and delicious Italian butter and jam. While we are eating, the laundry is being done in our washing machine. We could get used to staying in an apartment.

Our morning activity is to do another of the Florence Walks….this one in the Oltrarno….which takes us through the neighborhoods of Santo Spirito and Borgo San Frediano. This area was established after Florence grew too large to be contained by the north bank of the Arno and rich merchants moved across the river to build grand palaces and locate their businesses. The walk threads its way through narrow alleys lined with incised and painted wall decorations (sgraffiti) and leads us into beautiful hidden courtyards….one—just behind Santo Spirito—is a very high class mini-shopping mall with residences in back circling a beautiful green lawn in back. The route gives a chance to stop and have a delicious cornetto and cup of coffee at our favorite pastry shop, Marino, and we spend some time in front of Elizabeth and Robert Browning’s house—Casa Guidi—reading about their life in Florence.

We have to cut our walk short because we have been invited to lunch by our friend (and my colleague) Jane Nyhan. Jane is the guide that I use most frequently for clients in Tuscany. She lives up in the mountains between Florence and Bologna in the area of Tuscany called Il Mugello…a beautiful area that has remained relatively untouristed in spite of its proximity to Florence. We take a train that follows the Arno River east and then turns north along the Sieve…climbing into the hills, dotted with grapevines—this is wine country. Jane and her daughter pick us up at the Vicchio station and take us to their Tuscan farmhouse about 10 minutes out of town. Jane’s husband Carlo (a high school chemistry teacher) has been cooking a big Saturday lunch for lunch for us, which is as good if not better than the lunch he prepared for us on our previous visit. We were charmed then by their children Tommaso and Frederica and are looking forward to seeing them again. We have risotto with saffron and cauliflower (from their own garden), stewed pigeon in a rich sauce and wonderful Tuscan beans. (Italian trattorie aspire to duplicate this sort of excellent home cooking.) We drink a lightly sparkling chardonnay from the Veneto and an excellent Refosco from Fruili. For dessert, cookies, fruit and vin santo….I particularly enjoy the extremely tart green skinned tangerine-like fruit. The lunch is wonderful and we have a great time talking about the travel business, family, Italy and their recent trip to Croatia.

Before we leave, we get a tour of their garden….lots of herbs, tomatoes, squash, figs, vegetables….and admire the view into the mountains. We take a different train back to Florence….the more westerly route back. This train stops at a different station in Florence—Campo di Marte—and I find the bus that will take us back to the apartment. We stop to buy some groceries—sugar and tomatoes— while we are waiting for the bus.

We get back to the apartment about 7 pm….we are both pretty tired and not too hungry after our late lunch with wine. We decide not to go out to dinner and we snack on bread, cheese and salami. But we do head back out for a stroll and a late evening gelato….We cross the Ponte Vecchio, walk through the Uffizi courtyard (where a large crowd is listening to another street musician) and down the Via dei Neri. The gelato is very good…coffee and stracciatella (chocolate chip) for me; “messicano” (chocolate with hot peppers) and pine nut for Diana. We finish our dessert while crossing the Ponte alle Grazie and quickly return to the apartment. A very nice excursion to end the day.

Tomorrow we are off to Prato….

Day 8: Florence

2004-10-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

We have now been here for a week….we have done a lot and had a great time, but we realize that we won’t be able to do all that we had planned. If, as the saying goes a lifetime is not enough for Rome, two weeks is clearly not enough for Florence.

Today our friend Maureen Fant is coming up from Rome for the day to visit us, do a little research at the Archaeological Museum and to do some shopping. We agree to meet around noon near the Museum. After breakfast, we hop the C bus to Piazza San Marco. The weather this morning is overcast and cool—good walking weather but with a hint of a threat of rain.

There are a number of “Last Suppers” scattered around Florence in the refectories of churches, convents and monasteries; they have been done by various artists, some quite well-known. Today we are going to the Cenacolo of Sant’Apollonia painted by Andrea del Castagno in the early 15th century. It is quite a fascinating fresco…very stylized with Judas looking evil and set apart from the rest of the apostles. The fresco also features painted marble panels with wild, almost abstract designs on the back wall, reflecting the turmoil of the scene. There is also a less well preserved series of frescoes above the Last Supper…the Crucifixion, the Deposition and the Resurrection and some of the original tracings (sinopie) of the frescoes on other walls. It is wonderful to be able to be face to face with the well-lit work…..and not have crowds of other tourists vying for position.

Our next stop is the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, called the most beautiful square in Florence but now a slightly dilapidated piazza - surrounded on three sides by porticos echoing the one Brunelleschi designed for the Ospedale. There is a mass going on in the church so we cross the square to the Ospedale degi Innocenti. It was built to care for abandoned babies –foundlings, often children of slaves--and is considered a first movement of the Italian Renaissance towards social responsibility. It was the first such “hospital” in the world. The portico is decorated with gorgeous della Robbia medallions of swaddled infants. Today it houses a UNICEF research center, an active children’s clinic and a small art gallery with several beautiful works by Filippo Lippi and Ghirlandaio (his colors are so vivid that is hard to believe that it was painted 500 years ago). There are two very graceful and quiet cloisters in the building…one with benches that make a good resting point for footweary tourists.

We meet Maureen in front of the church and go inside to look around. The interior could not be more different than the cool and serene exterior…it is dark, over-decorated and somewhat oppressive. We walk around for a few minutes and then escape to the street.

We go back into the quiet cloister in the Ospedale and discuss the plan for the day….a little shopping and lunch…and head down toward the center of town. Maureen likes to shop in Florence…she says the sales help is much friendlier and more professional than their Roman counterparts. We do a little window shopping on Via Calzaluoli and then Diana suggests we go into Pineider, a fashionable stationery store on the Piazza Signoria to get some business cards for me. I resist but I am overpowered. A very nice salesman sits down with us and helps Maureen and Diana design the business card for Zurer Travel. They will be done in ten days and will be sent to us at our hotel in Como. Now I will have business cards made at the same store where Napoleon had his cards made.

We wander over to the straw market and the ladies look at some gloves and small purses. Just across the street is one of Maureen’s two official destinations…a store that sells beautiful costume jewelry—some that are knockoffs of designer brands. I wait outside reading as the shopping goes on inside the shop. They both buy some jewelry…but it is now after 2 pm and we have to make a dash to the Cantinetta Antinori before the kitchen closes.

We make it just under the wire, get menus and quickly order…papa del pomodoro for Maureen and Diana, risotto with mushrooms for me. Maureen and I pick the sausages and beans for our secondo and Diana orders a cheese plate. The Cantinetta—run by the Antinori wine company—is a handsome, stylish place--lots of wood and waiters in white jackets…but not fancy—no tablecloths at lunch. The food is all very good and we have an exceptional Vino Nobile di Montepulciano with the meal. There is one shared dessert…a pear tart…which is excellent.

By now the sun has come out and the day is becoming warm. Next stop is Allegri, a clothing/raincoat shop on Via Tornabuoni. I wait on the steps of a nearby church. No purchases result and, since it is now almost 4 pm, we meander back towards the train station, We pass by the building where my sister lived in 1993--where we stayed when we visited her and first fell in love with Italy.

We have a cup of tea in the restaurant at the station and say our goodbyes….Maureen heads for the Rome train and we walk out in front of the station and wait for the electric bus (Bus D) which will drop us back at our apartment.

We are a little draggy this afternoon….wine for lunch usually has that effect….so we rest and read and write until we have to decide about dinner. We head to the “last” untried neighborhood restaurant within five minutes of the apartment, the Trattoria Bordino. We are seated inside at a small corner table in the dark main dining room. When a large party is seated at the next table, we feel a bit hemmed in. In retrospect, we should have asked to change tables…but we don’t. Our first courses arrive quickly…spaghetti with clams for me, prosciutto with melon for Diana—and both are very good. But there is a long pause before the next course and we are feeling ignored. The frustration is exacerbated by our growing discomfort with our table. Finally the second courses arrive….carpaccio with parmigiano and rucola for me, a bistecca Fiorentina and spinach for Diana. Mine is okay but the bistecca is not as good as other versions that we have had. When we are finished, we get up, ask for the check and pay quickly at the register….we are glad to be out of our dark corner.

We stroll across the Ponte Vecchio where crowds of young people are sitting, listening to a singer perform on the bridge. I get a gelato, we stop and listen to the singer for a few minutes on the way back, and make our way to the apartment.

NOTE: We had called for Uffizi reservations yesterday and were surprised to find out that the earliest available reservation was for the upcoming Wednesday at noon. Usually one can get reservations for two days from the day you call. And the lines are long at both the Uffizi and the Accademia for those without reservations.

Day 7: Florence

2004-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Grocery shopping is on the schedule for today…..coffee, tea, wine and snacks, stuff for lunch—prosciutto, cheese, etc. Our first stop is at the Hotel Torre Guelfa to say hello to the owners, Sabina and GianCarlo. We have stayed there in the past and I used it frequently for my clients.

Next we visit the Santa Felicita’ church, just at the end of the Ponte Vecchio. According to the guide books, it is one of the oldest churches in Florence although it has been redone several times over the centuries. The church shares its piazza with an old column and several restaurants with outdoor seating areas.

Inside the church, it is quite dark and we are not too enthusiastic about the decorations or the architecture. There is one striking painting…only visible when you pay 1 Euro to turn the lights on in the chapel. It is a Deposition by Pontormo—a 16th century Mannerist painter, notable for the rarely used pinks, oranges and blues and the absence of the usual symbolism associated with crucifixion scenes.

We buy some ham, salami, and cheese in a nice store called La Dispensa (we meet the “concierge” from the apartment building—Mauro--also buying lunch staples) and some fruit at the “fruttaverdura” next door. We walk on through the San Spirito neighborhood and stop at a very nice wine store to pick up some prosecco and buy some coffee and tea. We make a quick stop for a pre-lunch coffee and pastries and then hop on the little electric bus to take our groceries back to the apartment.

Lunch is a delicious spread of prosciutto, salami, cheese and bread eaten at our kitchen table….

In the afternoon, we take the bus to the Duomo and follow the itinerary of Walk 1 in the book Florence Walks by Anne Holler. These walks focus on the historical Florence, “illustrated” by the streets and buildings one passes, and, in the course of a two hour stroll, one learns many details about the families, key historical figures, houses and palaces in each neighborhood. Walk 1 is Dante’s Florence and takes us from the Duomo and Baptistery—early Roman Florence—through the rise of the great families and the emergence of the Medicis as well as the economic growth that financed the Renaissance. We used this book on our first trip in 1993 and enjoy retracing the guided tour again.

We stop for a break at Rivoire, a café on the Piazza della Signoria famous for their hot chocolate, and then push on to finish our tour, ending back at the Duomo. Although there is a lot of reading to do for the itinerary, we find it very worthwhile…it gives a very good historical perspective on the city.

We are going out to dinner tonight with Rita and Lino from Tartaruga Tours (in Greve). They will come over to the apartment for drinks first so I go out in search of some snacks. I walk up the road past the Pitti Palace and find a small supermarket where I get some pretzels and chips.

The evening is very pleasant….Rita is from Forest Hills, NY and Lino is from Greve in Chianti. Rita organizes and escorts group tours in Italy…mostly for Americans and British…and Lino is in the restaurant business. We get along very well. We take them to the Osteria Vasari and of course we get a very warm reception from the staff. Tonight there are three or four tables filled so maybe business is picking up.

Dinner is very good….crostini and a mixed plate of salumi to share, then risotto with radicchio for Diana, taglioini with tomatoes, basil and an egg yolk for me, linguine all’arrabiata for Lino and a pasta with creamy walnut and arucola sauce for Rita. Lino and Diana have the porchetta which they share with Rita and me. We drink a couple of bottles of a nice Chianti. Everyone enjoys the food and the restaurant and the company. After dinner, we walk over to the Piazza Santa Felicita’ and back to the apartment before saying good night.

Day 6: Florence

2004-10-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to take the bus to Poggio a Caiano to visit our friend and my travel colleague, Maddie Bacarelli. After breakfast, we hop on the handy electric bus that stops just down the street and take it to the train station, where most of the inter-city buses leave from. Before getting on the bus to Poggio a Caiano, we pick up a Florence bus map to help us plan our bus journeys inside the city.

We buy the tickets (2 euros each) and the bus pulls up about five minutes later. The ride takes us through the western part of the city before finally hitting some countryside and farmland just beyond the airport. The journey to Poggio takes forty-five minutes and we wait in the town square for Maddie to arrive. When she gets there, we walk up to the Medici villa in Poggio and sit in the garden talking before lunch. We have a nice informal lunch at the Bar Roberta in Poggio, sitting outside under a canopy…..risotto with radicchio and papa al pomodoro (cooked tomatoes thickened with bread), an involtino for me (turkey breast stuffed with ham and cheese and fried); a mixed salad and a vegetable plate for the ladies.

After lunch, we get on the bus back to Florence. After a stop at the tourist office—where I pick up concert schedules and a new map, we go to the nearby church, Santa Maria Novella. This is the church of the Dominicans, the rigorous (sometimes violent) defenders of the faith. It is set on a large, somewhat scruffy piazza. The church exterior is green and white striped and the front is decorated with scrolls and designs. The interior is vast and the light—at least in midafternoon—is good. The centerpiece of the art is a striking Giotto crucifix, suspended in the middle of the church. The crucifix is unusual in that the Christ figure is portrayed in an extremely realistic manner in contrast to more common stylized versions. There is also an exceptional Masaccio fresco of the Trinity (from 1427), notable for its early use of perpective and proportion in wall painting. Behind the main altar is one of the most colorful and easily deciphered fresco series….Ghirlandaio’s very charming paintings showing details of everyday life in Florence in the 1400s, through the stories of the life of the Virgin and episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist. In addition, there is an unusual Brunelleschi wooden crucifix and the pulpit where Galileo was condemned by the Dominicans for his heretical teachings.

After leaving the church, we sit in the piazza and enjoy some excellent gelato….cinnamon and milk chocolate for me and cherry and chocolate chip for Diana. We stroll back to the apartment across the always crowded Ponte Vecchio.

We eat dinner again close to the apartment…tonight we go to Bibo’ in the
Piazza San Felicita’, just across the square from Celestino, where we had eaten two nights before. It is not our best dining experience….my parpardelle with rabbit is very good and Diana’s crespelle (crepes stuffed with cheese and spinach) are okay, but her Tuscan fried chicken is not well cooked and my clams Livornese are just adequate. The torta della nonna is also unexceptionable and the Tuscan white wine is not memorable. All of this comes to Euro 58.00….less than the night before but not as good a value.

It is a five minute walk back to the apartment.

P.S. from Diana. I can recommend two books I’ve just finished: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones. The first is a novel, set in the time of Savonarola. Historical novels are usually not my cup of tea, but this one brings Renaissance Florence alive in a very vivid manner. Lots of history and art in the midst of sex and intrigue, written by an accomplished writer. The second is a 2003 book by an Englishman who moved to Parma and wants to write not about the past or paintings but rather about the contemporary Italian culture and politics which he finds so maddening and fascinating. He writes about language, soccer, TV, the church, and through it all, Berlusconi (he’s not a fan). And as much as he describes the complicated mess of Italy, he also describes how lively, beautiful, generous and wonderful Italians are – and how he can’t bear to live anywhere else.

Day 5: Florence

2004-10-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Following breakfast in the apartment and putting in a laundry, we head across the river to visit the Duomo, the Baptistery and the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Museum of the Works from the Cathedral). The sun is shining, the temperature is in the low-70s and there is a light cool breeze—one couldn’t ask for better weather. Since we have had a slightly leisurely morning, we decide to take the bus to the Duomo. We hop on the C bus which is sitting at its stop around the corner from the apartment, waiting to start its run. The bus takes a roundabout route that first swings east and then north of the Duomo so when we do finally get off, we are still about four blocks away. We may have saved our feet but we certainly don’t save any time.

We first take a look at the Baptistery (just across from the Duomo) with its famous bronze doors, the most famous set paneled with scenes from the Old Testament and the others with scenes from the life of Jesus. Armed with our guidebooks, we read about the competition to decorate the doors and how the doors’ creation marked-- in the opinion of many writers--the beginning of the Renaissance. (The panels on the Ghiberti Door (also known as the Paradise Door) are actually copies and the original panels are in the Duomo Museum.) There are lots of tour groups vying for position in front of the doors but we are able to get a good vantage point and try to make out the ten Biblical scenes in the panels. While we were looking at the doors, the line to get into the Duomo has grown and now stretches for 50 yards into the street.

We decide that we should visit the Museum first and avoid the crush. The Museum has been recently renovated and has a modern entranceway and wonderful lighting…aided by skylights in the many of the ceilings. The museum contains many of the statues, paintings, and architectural fragments from the Duomo; they are nicely arranged and the descriptions of the collection has the best English translation we have seen in Italy. The highlights of the collection are eight of the original panels from Ghiberti’s Door of Paradise. They were removed from the Baptistery to prevent further deterioration from the weather and the atmosphere, cleaned up and now are displayed at eye level in individual glass cases in a well lit courtyard. It is a pleasure to see them up close where you can appreciate the details and see all the aspects of the stories being portrayed. Another highlight is a late Michelangelo Pieta, done just before the artist’s death (actually completed by an assistant after Michelangelo took a hammer to it and broke off part of an arm). Michelangelo has put himself in the work as Nicodemus overlooking the scene of Mary. Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It is very accessible and provides a real emotional experience for the viewer.

There are also some spectacular Donatello sculptures of Biblical figures arrayed around the museum, but overshadowing them…high up on opposite walls are two chorus lofts from the cathedral…one by della Robbia—inspired by Psalm 150-- beautiful carvings of young people singing and dancing….and one by Donatello with angels dancing across the front. They are simply breathtaking… and especially wonderful to be able to see all the details in the well lighted room.

In this museum (as in San Marco), our primary guide is Rick Steves’ Guide to Florence and Tuscany. We find his self-guided tours easy to follow and very informative for ignorant amateurs (like us) who haven’t ever had an art history course. Using it in conjunction with the Eve Borsook guide, the Blue Guide and the museum explanations adds a lot to our enjoyment of the museum. Of course the outstanding collection, the wonderful display and lighting also contribute. The Duomo Museum in Florence shouldn’t be missed.

We grab a quick lunch up the street at an informal restaurant called Oliandolo. We have very good sandwiches but they also have pasta, soups and salads. Service is very quick and friendly.

After the museum, the Duomo itself is something of a letdown. Of course, the dome is spectacular and the interior space is formidable, but the art and the surroundings are less inspiring. There are some beautiful stained glass windows, a couple of interesting paintings and frescoes….one showing Dante standing between the city of Florence (with the dome prominently featured) and his version of Purgatorio and a couple of portraits of two soldiers who defended Florence…John Hawkesworth (an Englishman) and Nicolo di Tolentino.

We walk through the center of Florence, down to the Ponte Vecchio and over to our apartment to read, write and rest. At about 6 pm, we decide to take a ride on Bus #13…it makes a circular route around Florence—along the river, up to the Piazzale Michelangiolio, through the very green hills just beyond the Boboli Gardens, descending back into Florence on the west side, crossing the Arno, continuing past the station and the residential districts to the north and east until it completes the circle and recrosses the Arno. It gives us a look at how quickly the countryside starts to the south of the city and underscores how little green space there is in the center of Florence. And it gives us a look at parts of the city that tourists rarely venture into….the Florentines’ Florence.

We stay on the bus and get off at the Piazzale Michelangiolo to admire the view. Dusk is just setting in, there is a rosy glow in the sky and the city churches and monuments seem close enough to touch. We walk back to the apartment, taking the short way down the steep stairs and roadway that leads to the Via San Niccolo (where we had our first breakfast) and finally to the Lungarno Torrigiani.

We return to the Osteria Vasari for dinner….since it is our “neighbor” and we had enjoyed our meal there on our first night in Florence. We are greeted warmly by the waiter and ushered back to the dining room…which is empty. It is disconcerting to eat in an empty restaurant (although we have had some very good meals in places where there were few customers) and we wonder why the place has so few customers. Eventually another single diner (an Italian) shows up.

The waiter is very friendly (as often happens when we return to a restaurant) and the meal is excellent again. We share a plate of very good “fettunta”….this time served with some fresh herbs. Diana enjoys her linguine all’arrabiata (a very fresh and spicy tomato sauce) and steak served with roasted potatoes. My “maccheroni alla Sorrentina” (pasta tubes with basil, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese) is great as is my “secondo”—sausages and beans in a different tomato sauce. We drink a delicious sangiovese/cabernet blend from southern Tuscany…Col di Sasso 2001; we used to get the wine at home but it seems to have disappeared recently. We share some cantucci (Tuscan almond cookies) and sweet Tuscan wine (vin santo) for dessert. The bill comes to almost Euro 70.00…it seems the level of our dinner checks is inching upward. On the way out, we ask how long the restaurant has been open and they say that they took over five months ago, although the restaurant has been there for ten years. We hope that they get some more customers soon.

It is truly “due passi” (in Italian, literally two steps but in fact an idiom meaning a very short distance) back to the apartment.

Day 4: Florence

2004-10-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Today we eat breakfast in our apartment for the first time…..coffee, tea, bread (from the bakery around the corner) and butter, and yogurt. I enjoy my three big cups of strong “American” coffee….

We head out (somewhat late) for the Mercato Centrale and San Lorenzo….so we take the little electric bus that stops near our apartment, threads its way through the neighborhoods of San Spirito and San Frediano, crosses the river and deposits us at the train station. Very handy. The market is about four blocks from the train station…..it is a large two story building with all the regular types of food stalls—beautiful cheeses, bread, meat, fish and fruit and vegetables. We walk around one time just looking and then we pick up some fruit and cheese. Lunch is at Nerbone, a well-known local place in the market. One braves the crowd to get the attention of the counter staff, order and pay. You then pick up your food and find a place at one of the tables across the aisle. The clientele is very mixed….lots of locals and an equal number of tourists. There is a poster in Japanese on the wall—probably from a Japanese guidebook—and there are a good number of Japanese having lunch there.

I have their famous boiled beef on a great roll…served with gravy and green and red sauces. Diana has a plate of delicious sausage and marinated artichokes as well as a very pretty Greek salad. We squeeze into a table and enjoy our lunch.

After lunch we stroll through the large outdoor San Lorenzo market which features stall after stall of leather products. Today we are not buying but going to the Church of San Lorenzo just around the corner. The church has an unfinished, rough façade but the interior is all cool Brunelleschi— gray and serene and perfectly proportioned. The interior is very light…there is very little stained glass. We sit down and read up on the church in several guidebooks…again we find Eve Borsook’s Companion Guide extremely valuable and easy to read. We walk around the church and the sacristies…following the maps in the Companion Guide and the Blue Guide. Highlights are the twin raised pulpits on either side of the aisle done by Donatello….carved with scenes from the life of Christ ….and the old sacristy, designed by Brunelleschi himself. There is also a pleasant cloister with an orange tree growing in the middle.

We make a detour on the way back to the apartment to check the opening hours of the Badia Fiorentina, which is only open on Monday afternoons for tourists. We plan to return later in the afternoon (it is open from 3-6 pm).

We walk back across the always crowded Ponte Vecchio and stop at a shoe store that’s been written up in one of our guide books as a good place to go for made to order shoes. Diana – she of the size 11 shoes and the often uncomfortable feet – has imagined it would be wonderful to get shoes made to measure. Unfortunately the cost of 450 Euros seems just a bit extravagant.

The Badia Fiorentina dates back to the 10th century and has a couple of nice paintings and sculptures. There are very few people visiting so it is a quiet oasis in the midst of so many tourists. There is a lovely Filippo Lippi painting “The Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard”, several impressive tombs and a slightly ramshackle cloister with a deteriorating fresco cycle on the upper story portraying scenes from the life of St. Bernard.

We next stop at one of the cafes on the Piazza della Signoria for a glass of prosecco and a chance to watch the people criss-crossing the piazza. With our prosecco, we are served a couple of canapés…one with ham, one with smoked fish..and some olives. We notice that people who ordered beer got pistachio nuts and other people who had a large assortment of drinks had yet another type of hors d’oeuvre. We speculate whether it is by chance or is there is a strict table of what snack goes with what drink.

Before we get back to the apartment, we stop at the bakery to buy some more bread and other supplies for breakfast tomorrow.

Dinner time approaches and we have to decide if we are more tired than hungry….we decide to just go around the corner to the Osteria Vasari, where we had gone for our first dinner. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays so we head toward the Ponte Vecchio. Nearby there is a small square with several restaurants on it….we go into one that I had read about—Celestino’s. We have an excellent meal….the best ribollita I have ever had followed by the best fried brains and the best Tuscan beans in oil. Diana’s first course ravioli is okay, but she really enjoys her lamb chops and spinach. We drink the house Chianti, which is terrific. We also enjoy the professionalism of the waiter and how he unflappingly deals with a difficult table of German tourists who are sitting next to us. The bills comes to about Euro 70.00….but we are well satisfied.

We only have a short walk back to the apartment….on the way, we notice the moon hanging in the sky above Santa Croce.

Day 3: Florence

2004-10-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning is warm and partly sunny….we get a late start and head over to the Piazza San Spirito for breakfast. The piazza is full of families hanging out, children running after pigeons, grandparents walking with their grandchildren. We sit in the pleasant tree-lined piazza just watching the passing scene. Our next destination is a coffee store down toward San Frediano that was recommended in one of my guidebooks.

Before we leave, we notice that mass is letting out so we decide to seize the opportunity to visit the church.—even though I haven’t brought the right guidebooks. The church’s very plain front disguises the grand Brunelleschi interior….all cool gray, strictly proportioned architecture and elaborate baldacchino. We walk around the church looking at the pictures and sculptures, aided by the much improved signage that we are finding in churches making it easier to identify the specific works. From my last visit to Santo Spirito, I seem to remember a recently-discovered early Michelangelo wooden crucifix but it is nowhere to be seen in the church. Just before we leave, in a side chapel (where they sell postcards), I find the crucifix…which had been lost for years and only returned to Santo Spirito in the last five years.

We head off toward the coffee store…I had checked its posted hours in a couple of books before we left…but when we arrive, it is closed up tight. On the way back, we stop at a market and buy some butter, coffee, bread and other supplies. We wander through San Frediano and Santo Spirito, taking the route along the river for as long as we are able.

After a short stop at the apartment, we head out for lunch and our afternoon sightseeing. We pass Piazza Santa Croce where there is a big international fair going on, seemingly dominated by German and Austrian food products—bratwurst, potato salad, kraut, breads, etc. We stop to watch a live demonstration of one of those all purpose plastic slicing and dicing tools that used to be shown on late night television in the US. The lady pitching the device is very skillful and also demonstrates a very handy lemon/orange juicing tool. It was all we can do to avoid buying one or two.

We stop in one of the cafes in the crowded piazza—the Enoteca Boccadama—for lunch. We have lots of time to watch the passing parade…..lots of tourists—a surprising number of Japanese---but a good number of Italians also….while we are being ignored by the waitress. We finally get menus and order a light lunch…..”fettunta” (Tuscan style garlic toast), assorted cheeses for Diana and a carpaccio of bresaola (air dried beef) with parmigiano and rucola for me. I had a nice glass of Chianti….. The food was fine but the service left a bad taste.

After lunch we try to find a “gelateria” to get the bad taste from lunch out of our mouths. We must be walking down the only stretch of Florence with no gelateria in every block. We pass a store that caters to Japanese tourists….Japanese staff and packed with customers. We escape the crowds in front of Santa Croce and several blocks down the street, we finally find some gelato—the sign says “home made ice cream.” [NOTE: We are very struck by the number of tourists and the fact that English is often the language of choice in restaurants and stores. Not that our Italian is so good, but we do like to try and speak Italian when we are here. The opportunity for speaking Italian seems less in Florence than anywhere else we have been in Italy.]

The gelato is fine…we sit on the steps of a church eating it and watch yet another tour group of Japanese march by. We then head back toward Santa Croce and decide to take a look at the Santa Croce leather school located in the back of the church. After entering the sales room, we get somewhat disoriented—where is the leather school or is there any more to it than the sales room? The next thing we know, we have purchased tickets to the church and entered the back of Santa Croce.

Santa Croce is a very large church (we overhear a guide say it is the 5th largest in the world)….part of the Franciscan order. St. Francis would have been very surprised at the grandeur and opulence of the church…not exactly the ideals he founded the order on. But it is quite spectacular and somewhat overwhelming. We have some difficulty orienting ourselves and at one point, I say we need to hire a guide to help us make some sense out of the church. But we take a few minutes to review the Santa Croce pages in the Blue Guide and Eve Borsook’s Companion Guide to Florence—both of which have maps and a legend identifying most of the key features—and then we are able to tour the church and “appreciate” what we are seeing. The Borsook book (1966 edition) combines a “road map” with well written and informative essays about the Giotto frescoes, the important tombs, the Pazzi Chapel and some of the other artists, as well as historical background for the church and the Franciscan order in Florence. This is our third visit to Santa Croce and definitely the most satisfying.

When we leave there are still a lot of tourists sitting on the steps of the church, but the international fair seems to be winding down—the paella stand has only a few spoonful of rice left in their huge pans. We decide to walk over to the Hotel Orto de’ Medici (about a twenty minute walk) to see if I can catch one of my clients who is staying there. The route takes us through a more modern (18th century?) commercial district of Florence…some of the streets are pretty gritty…but it gives us a view of another part of the city. We pass the Teatro Pergola…one of the major theaters in Florence. We had seen posters for a Murray Peraiha recital for the night before but had decided not to go. We see that the posters on the theater have “annullato” pasted on them—he has apparently cancelled his European tour due to illness. There will be many other opportunities to hear music in Florence.

We also pass a storefront called “Pastasciutta”….inside are vending machines for soda and water as well as machines that dispense hot meals that are advertised as “fresh, not frozen.” Is this part of the future of Italian food?

And one of the walls we pass is plastered with posters, including this one…

At the hotel, we find that my client is out so we leave a note. We take a taxi (Euro 7.00, about a five minute ride) back to the apartment and spend some time relaxing, reading and writing. It is very nice to have such a spacious, comfortable living room.

We make reservations for dinner at I Quattro Leoni….a well reviewed trattoria on a quiet piazza on the way to Santo Spirito. The place is very attractive and bustling, but one thing surprises us. Perhaps we have been seated in the “foreigners” room, but all the diners are speaking English and all communication with the waitresses is in English….something that we are finding is extremely common in Florence. We enjoy our dinner very much for the most part…..I have gnocchi with a rucola pesto (the gnocchi are light as a feather and the pesto is fresh and vibrant) followed by trippa alla fiorentina—the tripe is tender and the tomato sauce is rich and savory. Diana’s primo is excellent—fiochetti with asparagus and taleggio sauce -but her secondo—a plate of mixed fried meats and vegetables is not successful..the batter is too heavy. We drink a nice Chianti (Remole 2001) which costs Euro 10…in Washington, it retails for about $8.00. Dinner comes to about Euro 50….which seems to be in the lower range of our dinners so far. We have a nice conversation with the American couple next to us…they are from Chicago and come to Italy frequently. On this trip, they have studied Italian with a private tutor for a week and have also been studying art with a private guide who shares their spiritual connection with the art…they said that had spent four hours in the San Marco Museum the day before with the Fra Angelicos.

It is a nice ten minute stroll back to the apartment.

Day 2: Florence

2004-10-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

We sleep late.....not getting up until 9 am. I hope that that will take care of any jet lag. I guess that means that the bed is fine and the noise level is low....or it might mean that we were exhausted from the trip.

The sky is overcast but there are signs that the sun will break through. The temperature is comfortable…no need for a jacket. We head out for breakfast...heading east away from the Ponte Vecchio and the tourist area. Walking on the Via de' Bardi (in back of the apartment) we pass not one bar until we hit the the Porta San Niccolo neighborhood...a busy commercial district. We pick the Bar Rifrullo at random (but later find that it is listed in many guidebooks), order our cappuccino, tea and cornetti and sit down at one of the outside tables. This is a real neighborhood gathering spot in the morning.....locals greeting each other warmly, sitting and talking, reading papers.

We then head back to the apartment...en route, we explore the city gate (now in restauro) and look up at the famous Florence view point, the Piazzale Michelangiolo.. We walk back along the river...there are two nice parks plus some very fancy palazzi with large gardens and a small museum that we plan to return to.

After a brief stop at the apartment, we head out in the other direction--towards the Pitti Palace and the more commercial section--to explore and locate food shops, restaurants, etc. We also need to buy some provisions for the apartment...paper goods, water, etc. We walk along the very picturesque old streets in the Oltrarno district and pass some of "landmarks" from our first trip to Florence in 1993--the first trattoria we ate at (Angiolino, where we think they gave us a hard time for not ordering a full meal) and the place we had our first breakfast that year (Marino's--well known for their cornetti.) We stop for a cornetto to see whether they are still good…they are. We also happen by a plaque noting that this area was the location of one of the old Jewish neighborhoods in Florence. We stroll through Piazza Santo Spirito and stop to sit on the steps of the church to watch the scene. Going back towards the apartment, we pass through the very pretty Piazza della Passera, which is very peaceful...even though it is steps from the very busy main street leading from the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace. There are a couple of restaurants there that we will try during our stay.

We finally buy some provisions at the small shop closest to our apartment.....a crowded little store with some fruit and vegetables, dry goods and dairy products and bring them back to the apartment. After a short rest (it now almost 1 pm), we decide to go to the Museo San Marco in the afternoon and stop for a sandwich on the way. We make our way across the mobbed Ponte Vecchio (we usually try to cross at the next bridge..it is quieter..down the river—the Ponte delle Grazie) and head across the center of Florence. We stop at I Fratellini, a Florence instiution. It is a sandwich cart that is located in front of the American Express office on Via dei Cimatori. I have one of their famous “lampredotto” sandwiches—stewed cow stomach with salt, pepper, gravy, a green sauce and a hot red sauce served on a fresh, crusty roll. Diana opts for the “porchetta”. Mine is delicious…hers just okay. We eat standing up on the ledge that surrounds the cart….very ingenious. On the way to the San Marco, we pass the famous gelateria Carabe run by Sicilians. The gelato is subtle but very good….peach, plum, and coffee.

The Museo di San Marco is housed in an old convent whose most famous residents were the monk and painter, Fra Angelico, and the monk and political leader/revolutionary of the 15th century, Savonaraola. (D. His fundamentalist preachings sound eerily familiar to contemporary fundamentalists. )The convent is now set up as an art museum displaying many of Fra Angelico’s most famous works. His paintings are beautiful and very accessible as well as incorporating many of the important artistic developments of the day and he was very influential on subsequent artists of the Renaissance. Many of the paintings were altarpieces for churches around the city but a number of the frescoes decorate the walls of the monks’ cells on the upper floor….in many cases, they were the only decoration on the walls and served to help the monks meditate on their religious beliefs at night. There is also an interesting exhibit set up in the cells occupied by Savonarola—his desk and chair, his clothes, stick for self-flagellation and his books – margin notes in his Bible. The other noteworthy painting in the museum is one of the Last Suppers of Florence, this one done by Ghirlandaio.

For the trip back to the apartment, we hop the small electric bus. Although I don’t yet have a bus map, I figure out from the route signs that the Bus C will go close to our apartment. It takes a circuitous route through the eastern part of Florence and we get off just across the river from the apartment and walk the rest of the way. When we arrive at the apartment, I realize that Bus C actually passes right in front….I didn’t recognize the name of the piazza that was shown on the bus route (Pizza Santa Maria sopr’Arno).

We hang out in the apartment resting up before dinner. Since it is Saturday night, we think it might be smart to make dinner reservations. The first place we call (I Quattro Leoni) is full but the second, the Osteria de’ Benci located just across the bridge, can take us—at an outside table—at 8 pm.

It is about a ten minute walk back to the restaurant and the night is very pleasant. The Osteria de’ Benci is bustling and the young wait staff is very energetic. The menu is somewhat quirky…some traditional dishes and others more imaginative—like “drunken spaghetti”—cooked in red wine, olive oil, and garlic. We pass on the most of the imaginative….Diana opts for a “maccheroni alla gricia” (pasta tubes with guanciale, pecorino cheese, and pepper), a Florentine steak and roast potatoes. I order a pasta dish recommended by the waiter…..fusilli with guanciale, cheese, garlic and hot peppers (very spicy), a grilled scamorza cheese on a bed of radicchio and a dish of spinach. Everything is excellent—the cheese goes well with the bitter radicchio, the steak is rare and tasty, the pastas are both well cooked and very flavorful and the spinach is garlicky and great to eat. We have a red wine from the Maremma (southwestern Tusany) called Micante…it is quite full bodied and goes well with the food. Diana has a raspberry tart for dessert which she thinks is terrific. We enjoyed the meal—the bill came to Euro 80.00 (steak is not cheap) but it was a good value.

We make it back across the Arno without difficulty and sit around reading and writing until we go to bed.