Il Ritorno a Firenze

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Not going to lie...part of the reason that I took Urban Studies is because we get free trips to cities in Italy. The first one? Florence. Score. After staying there for 3 weeks a few summers ago, I have been dying to go back. This past Friday that is exactly what i got to do, with the FrecciaRosa (the fast Italian train) tickets paid for by ECCO. I could have done without needing to be at the train station at 8:00 AM for an 8:20 train that ended up being over an hour late, however, soon enough we were on a train about to be in Florence in a little less than 40 minutes. The plan was to go to the Uffizi and tour around until 1/1:30 then we were off on our own. A bunch of us decided to stay the night, because when would a better opportunity come along. So, by 10:00 we were off the train and starting to make our way to the center of the city, praying that the weather would stay beautiful (when we left Bologna it was, for once, very very sunny and warm and beautiful, and we heard that it was supposed to rain in Florence this weekend). The sky was gray and ominous but was holding out as Prof. Ceccarelli talked to us about Santa Maria Novella, the beautiful church right outside the train station. We were late for our Uffizi appointment, so Giuliana had to go talk to them and make everything better, and Ceccarelli decided to take this time to take us to the Duomo and talk to us (at which point, the weather decided to break and the rain began...luckily, the majority of us had umbrellas).

Okay, i am about to go off about the Duomo, be prepared. This is probably my favorite thing in the ENTIRE city, and probably one of my favorite churches in Italy. It wasn't the first time I saw it (when i was an immature 15 year old), but it completely grew on my when i stayed in Florence (and as i walked/ran by it every morning at 8AM trying to get to class). The Duomo is MASSIVE. Completely gigantic and every piece of the outside is decorated in a mixture of white, sage green, and a muted pink. Every piece of the outside, not just the facade, but the entire building, is carefully thought through and created. Obviously, pictures will explain it better than i will...i kind of fail.

After staring at the Duomo and trying to take pictures and holding and umbrella at the same time, it was time to head back to the Uffizi. The light rain decided to turn to a hardcore downpour a block away from the Duomo and even under an umbrella it was not anywhere close to being pleasant.

We got to the Uffizi, which is a giant famous art musuem in Florence, to go on our private tour. We had 15 minutes to go through Room 105, which had Botticelli's Venus, before we had to meet up to go through secret corridors in the Uffizi that Mussolini had walked through, able to see over the Arno and have secret meetings in. Many people were upset about the lack of time we were given to explore the Uffizi, but as art is not completely my thing, it wasn't all that upsetting for me.

The final part of our tour was this grotto outside the Uffizi, it’s called La Grotta del Buontalenti and was created between 1583 and 1593 and is this crazy cool pavilion thing covered in shells and coral. Pictures, obviously, will potentially explain it better. It looks kind of crazy but it's super cool. Preparing for downpour, we were pleasantly surprised to see what while inside the Uffizi the rain not only had stopped, but it was now sunny and beautiful out. Perfetto.

After finishing this we go to head back to the other part of the Uffizi because the people who had backpacks had to check them. However, to get to that we had to go over Ponte Vecchio (we had crossed over the Arno as we were going through the secret corridors) and, of course, stopped to take photos. The Ponte Vecchio has an awesome view of the Arno and the hills in the distance of Florence. It's a fun street that sells beautiful jewelry and is definitely worth walking through.

After getting our stuff we decided to head in the direction of our hotel. Which really meant walking once again by the Duomo, walking through the market (more on that later), and then going into this food market place and getting some food. I had tagliatelle con ragu, even though its the bolognese specialty and i was no longer in Bologna, but it was very good (i was just starving and wished there was more). Afterwards, we decided to make our way to a gelato place and we ate gelato and sat on the steps of the duomo and people watched. The day was absolutely gorgeous and I was perfectly content to just sit there and watch everyone go by. We learned quite quickly that playing “Guess Who’s American” was far easier in Florence and far more frequent (we went to a club later that night and it was mostly Americans…we weren’t sure we were in the right country).

After spending probably 45 minutes on steps of the Duomo (and me being asked if this was what we did everyday at opera camp…to which I had to sadly reply no, since the Duomo was covered in tourists in July and it was hard to get near the building, nevermind the steps) we decided we should probably find our hotel. After realizing my memory of Florence was pretty much epically wrong, we find our hotel, Hotel la Venere, on Via Cavour, close to the Duomo. It is this absolutely adorable 10 room hotel on the 3rd (which really means 4th floor) of a building. Originally there were supposed to be 8 of us staying here, so we head up to our two rooms of four. Well, the first group (including me) get the first room, which is really an apartment. There is a large main room with a kitchen, table, and two couches, followed by a large bedroom with a queen-size bed, a couch and a single bed, with a good sized bathroom. Awesome. The other group got one room that was far smaller, with two single beds and a couch that magically transformed into a bunk bed.

After a slight fail at their hostel, the other 3 members of our group called our hotel and given the fact that our apartment could easily sleep 12 people, they were allowed to stay with us, which ended up being far more perfect.

We took the next two hours as chilling out time (aka: nap and shower time) before we went to dinner, where Alessandra and Will had thought through and made reservations at a wonderful restaurant. What is great about Florence was that we could go to a very nice restaurant, get a wonderful plate of raviolis and bruschetta and still end up paying only 15 euros. If this had been Paris, that probably would have cost like 25 euros…minimum.

That night we went to a club that had been recommended and it was good, it was just weird to see how many Americans there were. Normally, in Bologna, we were the only Americans. Everywhere English was being spoken. It was strange. I felt like I was back in the US, and I knew that studying in Florence would have been a GIANT mistake.

The next day the group split off, a bunch of people wanted to go to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David, but I had seen that already and there were other things I would rather do. Such as look at the Duomo some more. Five of us went to the Duomo to go inside, which I hadn’t done the entire three weeks I lived here. I was actually surprised when I went inside because the inside is very plain, especially in comparison to the outside, which is so decorated. But the inside is so grand and gigantic (and plus: lighting candles is only a suggested donation, so you don’t need to pay 2 euros minimum to light a candle) and worth seeing. It just was not what I was expecting.

We decided to climb to the top of the Cupola to see the city….465 steps up. Luckily there were small breaks along the way, and it was crowded enough that right when I was getting super tired there were breaks and pauses. And photo taking…obviously.

When we finally got to the top it was amazing. I neglected to mention that it was an absolutely gorgeous day. You could see the whole city from the cupola, all red roofs and the hills in the distance and all the churches. Absolutely beautiful. Of course, after about 10 pictures, my camera died. Good planning on my part. But the view is absolutely amazing and it is definitely worth the climb (and the money) to go up on it. So if it is a beautiful day in Florence and the line isn’t horrendously long, go on it.

After climbing up the cupola, and then back down (which was its own little adventure), we decided that what we needed next were bagels. Yes, bagels. We had heard about a little café relatively close that had American bagels. Last time I ate a bagel? Before I left the States, so we’re going on 2 months of being bagel-less. I love bagels. So I definitely was part of the group that went to get bagels. I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. Excellent.

Afterwards it was time for the market (San Lorenzo). I spent many, MANY afternoons here when I was in Florence four years ago. It’s an awesome market. It weaves around the streets near La Chiesa di San Lorenzo. You can buy awesome stuff here, like leather jackets and bags that Florence is famous for. I did quite a lot of damage: a blue scarf, a beautiful purple and silver scarf (I love scarves), a bracelet, and a sundress (absolutely beautiful). Perfetto.

After wandering around the market we decided that what would make this awesome day even more perfect would be: gelato, ovviamente (obviously). I got mango e fragola (strawberry). Go to Perché Non, the gelato is excellent.

Afterwards we met up with the rest of the group at the hotel to pick up the rest of our stuff that the hotel was nice enough to keep for us and headed to the train station to go back to Bologna. Excellent weekend.

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Comments

[Mom]

Sounds like so much fun
Lauren, it sounds lik an absolutely lovely visit to a city you absolutely loved several years. You made it so real -- i could see you there, having fun. I am glad you chose to study in Bologna cause it gave you more exposure to real italian life vs all the tourists in florence. I am really enjoying your blog -- glad you are doing it! Love, Mom