THE MEDICI

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Florence is really all about the Medici Family so much of today’s walking tour was based upon them. The Medici ruled Florence for several hundred years. Catherin di Medici was Queen of France and the mother of three French kings, the Queen of Spain and confident of Mary Queen of Scotts. They even had a pope or two in the family.

This was to be a full day of museums and walking tours and it was for Jerry and Christina. When I woke up, I was simply not feeling well and felt I needed to sleep a bit more. So, Jerry and Christina headed to the Academia (where the David is) and I slept an hour or so more.

I was feeling better around 11:30, so I took a shower and dressed, then headed out for the day. I texted Jerry to see if they were still in the museum, as luck would have it they were just finishing up so I met up with them outside the Academia and we headed for Mercato Centrale for lunch, then our walking tour for the day.

Mercato Centrale is a large market in san Lorenzo. The outside is full of vendors selling mostly leather items. The building is two stories, ground floor a food market for shopping, the upper level a food hall like the one in Bologna but much bigger, but not as big as the one in Madrid or Lisbon. We walked the entire floor deciding on what to eat. We all ended up at the same decision the rotisserie chicken. Jerry and I also got a panzanella (bread salad, there are veggies in it too,) This is another Tuscan dish using day old bread, but this time turning it in to a salad, Jerry and Christina both had skewers with bread, pork and chicken. The bread was placed between the meats so they soaked up all the juices while on the rotisserie. I had a chicken thigh stuffed with artichoke and black truffles. They were all pretty good. After you order the food, then you search of seating. If you’re in a group, one person finds the seats while the other gets the food.

Towards the end of our lunch a family from Boston was looking for a place to sit, and since we were just leaving, we offered out table. They were there for a wedding and staying at a farm house outside of town. Lunch complete it was not time to walk it off,

Today’s tour was all what we call a walk by, you walk by it but don’ go in. It was Sunday and most of the building were closed so this fit the day perfectly.

The Medici Walking Tour

The first stop was the Museo di Casa Martello, this was a house owned by the Martello family, who were associated with the Medici. The last Martello died in 1986 and the mesum opened in 2009. Next up, The Palazzo Medici Riccardi, one of several Medici palaces in Florence. We then walked by the San Lorenzo Basilica to the Chappelle Medici, yes, they even had their own church. From there we headed to the River Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, the most famous bridge in Florence.

Our destination on the other side of the river was the Pitti Palace, the largest of the Medici palaces. On the way we happened upon a ceramic shop that was open and we all spent to much money on ceramic to take home. That is really the only thing we buy as souveniers, with the exception of refrigerator magnets. I purchased two egg cups, a new spoon rest, and a Christmas ornament (the other thing we like to buy on trips,)

After our little shopping detour, we continued on to the Pitti Palazzo, it was originally build for the Pitti family in 1460 and later in 1549 purchased by the Medici and was greatly increased in size, because to the Medici, bigger was always better. It houses several different museums, the Boboli gardens and the royal apartments. We toured only the apartments with hopes of getting to visit the palace kitchen. Unfortunately, this was a day it was not opened for tours, or so they said.

Our walking tour complete, we headed back to the hotel passing again by Mercato Nuovo, this time we found the bronze Procellino (the statute of the little big) It was really a boar and not a pig, but at least we found it this trip.

Dinner in the Tuscan Hills

After a bit of rest and some blogging, we headed out for dinner. Tonight, we were eating at a place Jerry and I walked by on our first trip to Florence, and it was not a little walk. The day we found this place we walked at least 6 miles if not more. Starting in the city, then walking up into the hills and residential area outside of the city. We wanted to eat there the last time but could not get a reservation. We actually didn’t even remember the name but managed to find it by doing google satellite maps. We called before we left New York, to make the reservation.

We did not walk to dinner, instead we took a taxi up in to the hills. It was a bit warm and humid, but we still sat outside and very much enjoyed the view and being out of a city. The view was really amazing, the food was good not outstanding but still good. The service was very good and we had a very relaxing and dinner. The table behind us was two women from Philly, and we changed notes on our travels.

With our view we had a nice dinner as follows:

Starters:

*Assorted crostini – a variety of different toppings on crisp bread
*Beef carpaccio
*Mixed grilled Mediterranean vegetables (Christina had this to much eggplant for us)

Primi;:

*Tagliatelle with porcini – this was the dish of the night, so very tasty and the mushrooms perfectly tender and flavorful
*Stuffed pasta with an alfredo sauce, pasta was stuffed with artichokes (Jerry)
*Pasta with fava beans (Christina) interesting but not really my thing.

Entrees:

*Meatballs in a red sauce (Christina). They were very good meatballs, but one note as only beef.
*Pork steak (Me) a very nicely grilled pork T-bone, it was a bit overdone but had good flavor
*Chicken in pistachio (Jerry) very good and chicken was very moist.

We had a nice bottle of Brunello with dinner. Dessert was variations on gelato, Jerry and I had a Tartuffe, which was gelato with a truffle inside.

By the way the name of the restaurant, which is also a hotel is La Terrazza del Principe.

After dinner we took a taxi back to the hotel, with a quick stop at Piazzale Michelangelo for pictures and a view of Florence from on high.

That ends our one full day in Florence, tomorrow we are off to Pisa.

Quick recap:

Dish of the day Tagliatelle with Porcini

Sight of the day: The view with dinner

Step count - 100

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