Blogs from Tuscany, Italy, Europe

The David! And a number of other pieces. We were intrigued by The Prisoners, appearing to be caught in the marble. After lunch at Rosso Crudo, we walked over to Santa Croce. The basilica of Santa Croce is the largest Franciscan church in the world. Its most notable features are its sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs. Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis Himself. The church floor plan uses his Tau or T shape. Then we wandered around the neighborhood on the way back to hotel. We were trying to find a market of leather goods recommended to us by the guide. We got to the place and there was the covered market building, Mercator del Porcellino, (tall, built in ... read more

Pitti Palace: Built by the Pitti family but they never lived there because they made the mistake of taking part in an unsuccessful insurrection against the Medici, and were bankrupted. Purchased in 1550 by the Medicis, the Palace was chosen by Cosimo I de‘Medici and his wife Eleanor of Toledo as the new Grand Ducal residence, and it soon became the new symbol of the Medici’s power over Tuscany. Eleanor‘s renovations took two years. It also housed the Court of two other dynasties: the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine (after the Medici from 1737) and the Kings of Italy from the House of Savoy, from 1865. The palace still bears the name of the original owner, banker Luca Pitti, who started construction in the mid-1400s. The guide wasn’t impressed by the changes made by the Hapsburg and commented ... read more

12/30/23 Started the day with a quick history of Florence: Foundation of Florence: Roman Florence, about year 0 to 500 AD 1st-2nd cent CE:Fiorentia grows into a minor Roman city 59 BC: Rome a Republic, not yet Empire, about 20,000 people (amphitheater would hold); military camp, grew into a city. Roman towns are exactly the same: grid plan, forum, bath complex, theater, etc., city walls, amphitheater is now Santa Croce; pieces of Roman Florence do exist; forum is now Piazza della Republica 312 Constantine legalized Christianity Gothic (northern european) invasions by end of 300s 476, end of Roman Empire; 405, Fiorentina–Chritian god helped them beat a Gothic invasion; the entire population were immediately converted to Christianity; build first church in Fiorentia Early Medieval Florence, about 500 to 800/1000 AD: end of Romans, ‘dark ages’ 400s-50... read more

After a couple of days in Venice, a day in Verona and a couple more in Florence, I'm feeling a little cultural overload - and I like going to museums! Lynn and I spent several hours in the Accademia in Venice and, today, in the Uffizi here in Florence. Both have wonderful collections of paintings from the Middle Ages up through the Renaissance and into the Baroque period. It's fascinating to see the gradual shift from the stiff poses and flat surfaces of the mediaeval works to the dynamic, life-like compositions of Botticelli, Raphael and Caravaggio (to name a very few). We varied the museum round with a walk in the hills north of Florence yesterday. We even broke out the hiking boots and poles again! The hills surrounding the city are an attractive mix of ... read more

We are doing another day in Chianti, however this time we are based around Greve, not Radda. Our plan is based around a small vineyard tour and tasting at 2:30, so in the morning we parked in Greve and explored the township, stopping in a degustation cave (wine shop and tasting) which stocked about 1000 Chianti wines with many in self service dispensing units where you can preload a card with credit and use the card to purchase tastings of the wines. The service was not so good, so we didn't stay long. Our first drive up to a Vineyard was no so successful as they could take us for a vineyard tour and lunch, but it would have overlapped with our pre-booked tour and tasting so we decided to go to another Trip Advisor favourite ... read more