THE Capital of Arts

Florence, Italy: Day 1. And so, to the Capital of Arts!

Florence, or Firenze, is without doubt the “IT” city when it comes to the arts and  Renaissance.  This city, in the 15^th c, witnessed a real growth spurt in human development that left its mark in so many ways, it would take a life-time to take it all in.  We had 3 days, losing a little to travel by train (just over 2 hours from La Spezia with a change at Pisa).  And given our very short notice arrangements, we would not have any chance of booking those not-to-be missed galleries, museums and churches.  

So a plan (yes, another) was hatched to use the City Sightseeing bus to get the city & environs “picture” and then take a couple of walking tours (with pre-booked admissions) leaving time to explore a few sites in more depth.  Thankfully, there were some vacancies with Walks of Italy and somehow we even snagged a hotel room RIGHT in the heart of the old district.  Beside the Duomo, no less!   

Blocks & sheets of that beautiful white
(expensive) Carrara marble, seen from our train

Carrara Marble Quarries, quiet in summer holiday mode

So, our first day began with a train trip that was interesting in itself, as we zoomed past a few famous sites.  The Carrara marble quarries still seem to be churning out great chunks of the stuff, though I suspect these days much of it goes into bathrooms rather than wondrous sculptures by the likes of Michelangelo’s contemporaries.  We also passed Viareggio where in 1822 Shelley drowned in his boating accident.  Apparently, it was quite the scandal and its telling worthy of a Gothic novel. 

Having arrived at Florence Centrale we purchased tickets for a tourist bus (there’s a counter at the rail platform) and then navigated our way deep into the historic centre to find our hotel.  Not before encountering the impressive and rather breathtaking Duomo!!.  It really is something and certainly outclasses almost everything else (in the church department) we’d seen to date.  Hotel Bigallo was just around the corner!!  The Loggia del Bigallo (1358) was in its day, a home for orphaned or abandoned children.   

Florence Duomo & Brunelleschi's engineering marvel, the famous dome

Time then, to ride that bus for a quick round of the City environs!  One of the routes took us up high into the hills behind Florence to the neat little hilltop village of Fiesole, for a bird’s eye view.  There was quite a bit to explore there; Etruscan & Roman ruins too, besides more “recent” constructions.  However, our minds were focused on the Renaissance, so it was back to Florence and back to the history books to come to terms with the famous Medici family and the huge stable of artists for whom they were patrons.  

Views over the Tuscan countryside from Fiesole

We finished off our day with a meal at a typical (& recommended) Tuscan restaurant.  The menu offered a delicious selection of antipasto (a starter), primo (pasta or rice), and secondo (meat or fish) courses.  After our busy day, we were sadly not up to such a generous meal, so settled for a shared octopus antipasto with Florence’s famously salt-free bread, followed by an unusual pasta carbonara made up of quail eggs, a local cheese, shavings of wild boar and flakes of black truffle.  So rich and so delicious!  We also tried a bottle of local wine too - a rather nice drop.  No sleeping pills necessary that night!  We needed to be up early for a date with a technically younger (and perhaps just a little more muscular) David.

Nice little deli in Florence selling all sorts of local goodies - note size of ham!

(Photos to follow - we're galloping along the Spanish coast at the moment, as we post this.  More on that to follow!)