Lovely 'Little' Firenze

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence
July 5th 2010

Published: July 5th 2010

Edit Blog Post

Slowfeet

Doumo

with the Baptistery in the foreground. Dante was baptised here but was still sent away to end his days in Ravenna

An Italian man we met told us that Florence was beautiful, but little, quite little. He was a Roman of course and a very nice man who had shifted out of Rome proper because it was too much, just too much. Well we can tell you that Florence may indeed by little by European standards - probably not quite the current size of Australia's national capital - but this is a beautiful and very liveable city. No, we haven't necessarily found yet another place where we might plan to live. My favourite places still need a little more edge than Florence seems to have but it is easy, clean and there is a great deal to see and do.

This post deals with Florence, takes us up out of Italy and will be followed by one that provides a wrap up of Italy. We were both surprised when we were asked how long we had spent in Italy and, after counting up, realised that we had spent just over 7 weeks in the country. This was not the plan. Somehow we have to go back and pick up Greece. But Italy is a country that has seduced us a

Doumo Cathedral

Actually it is the cathedral to which the Duomo belongs

little - if you can indeed be just a little seduced. It has proven very easy to take. Not always as well organised as other, more northern, parts of Europe and always just a bit different, but obviously very enjoyable for us. More on that a little later. Let me deal with Florence first.

As is becoming our habit we camped outside the city. There was a camping area more or less in town but they talked about the ease of access to nightclubs as being one of the features and, for us, this was not necessarily that attractive. Neither were the reports that you needed to drive through the winding inner city streets and up a steep, winding hill to get to this campsite. No. We stayed in the Il Poggetto Campground in Cellai near Truho about 15 kms out or, more usefully, 35-60 minutes on a bus, depending on the part of the city you need to get to and the traffic. A very professionally run, well organised and comfortable campeggio that didn't cost the earth.

Provided you don't depend on agriculture for your income, these Tuscan hills have a lot going for them. There are

Inside the Doumo

some harsh peaks but the majority are high rolling hills. There are some who obviously farm but the majority of the people seem to get by very nicely doing something else and, whatever that is, it seems to pay well. This is a well off part of the world. Houses and apartments go for good prices - (although nothing one couldn't afford if the 'will' was there so to speak, Susan. Nice little holiday home would make a good place to visit and you can rent them out.)

Litter may very well be banned in Florence. The people take clear pride in their city and don't treat it the way a lot of other Italian cities are treated. Our treks by bus through the suburbs - they have this unnerving technique of changing the routes that buses take to get you to your door, that gives you a look at slightly different places each day - were very interesting. The centre, where the interesting old bits are, is particularly good to walk around. It seems that every corner takes you to a lovely piazza with an old building, often a church or museum, taking pride of place. You could

Florence from the Doumo

spend a lot of time here.

On our first day we walked and walked and walked. We simply explored the place sussing out what we might target for the next couple of days. We did find some pretty special places though. The Duomo is one of the principal landmarks of the city. We found a queue and joined it - as you do I suppose. Turned out it was to actually climb the Duomo. On the inside of course. So we did. 432 steps up some very narrow staircases and without too much relief. We made it to one level where we were more or less on a level with the major paintings and other decorations inside the dome. Unfortunately, between us - and our cameras - and the paintings was a dirty perspex screen. We were able to take some photos by holding the camera up high and snapping but they weren't really all that good. Of course, the fact that we were sweating like pigs after having climbed up didn't help. When we made it to the actual top it was almost worth the climb. The view was great and we could take our photos of all

Why Me?

Bloke on Doumo

of the red tiled roofs of Florence. (This was new. Other parts of Italy have different colours and types of tiles on their roofs.)

Second day it rained. We were at the Uffizi Gallery nice and early and joined the queue. It was long. They had a sign up that told us that we would wait a maximum of 2 hours. They only let 40 in at a time. We met some very nice people in the queue and had a nice time chatting. After 2 hours we found that we had seen a lot more of India than the Indians in front of us and they were very pleased to talk about all of the other places we had been. We also found out that the bloke with the woman behind us was really just being used. She was going to give him a miss soon although she still happily ate the lunch he hunted around town to bring back for her. We finished on the queue after 2 and a half hours and promptly bought 'riservato bigglieto' (reservation tickets and not much of a queue) for the remaining galleries that we wanted to visit the next couple

Caged In

Serious business this.

of days. They cost a little more but 2 and a half hours in a queue can get tiresome.

The Uffizi was worthwhile. It is one of the larger galleries we have hit. There is an impressive array of sculptures but the wow factor had been diminished for us by the many other similar, or perhaps better Greco-Roman ones that we had seen in other places. There were plenty of paintings. Botticelli and Rembrandt featured along with a few Caravaggio. The good ones were excellent, the not so good were simply that but unfortunately for me at least they contributed to a feeling that these artists really needed to expand their minds a little. You can have enough of the same themes repeated over and over and over again. And I do understand that they had an educative role in the society in which they lived and really needed to pursue these themes to make a living but madonna and child, doubting Thomas, Judith with her victim's head, Cupid and Minerva can start to get repetitive. I am starting to understand why some art students look closely at the types of brush strokes used, and such things. Takes things

Santa Maria

The side of this church was actually in one of the old paintings we spotted. Good spot for a sleep for the homeless - not us.

to a new level and maintains interest I suppose.

On our third day I had to make a visit to a fine Florentine dentist. The pain had reached a critical stage a few times and it was time for me to make a decision. If I hadn't then my lovely wife may have done it for me using the rubber mallet to anaethetise and the pliers to remove the offender. I won't say it was painless, nor is it yet, but it will be. I am sure of that. He did a nice job I think.

Off then to find drugs (painkillers) and gelati - I could only eat things that were smooth and cold like gelati, those really nice mozzarella balls, canoli, crème caramel etc (I think it was only for the rest of the day but it seems a good diet so I am staying on it) - and, eventually, to L'Accademica Gallery to see what there was, including the statue of David. With our riservato bigglietto in hand we swanned past the 500 metre queue, waited 5 minutes max and inside. And for just and additional 4 Euros. Well worth it. David was pretty much

Ole Building

Near the market.

as you might expect. A spectacular sculpture not in the least diminshed by the 200 schoolchildren crowded around his feet taking surreptitious photos with their mobile phones. The other sculptures in L'Accademica appeared to be the ones that they couldn't really fit into the Uffizi. A collection of Russian icons was interesting but the best exhibit - and one that didn't attract the attention of the school groups - was of 12th, 13th and 14th century nuptial and bedroom decorations. Different from the run of the mill masterpieces and interesting for what it showed of the way people lived.

Another day, again rain and we hit the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the Arno River from where we had been operating for the first few days. We had successfully negotiated Punto Vecchio - the bridge with the jewellery shops along each side - on a couple of occasions but today we had our tickets to the Palazzo and its galleries, including the Caravaggio exhibitions in 3 of them. Now those who actually know me will be passing out at the news but I really did enjoy the main Caravaggio exhibition. He could paint that man. And some

Refused to be Compared

of his mates weren't too bad at it either. A couple weren't really up to par and could reasonably have been left out but, in the main, they were well worth the look. That said, I have to admit that when we visited the modern art gallery - and 'modern' here is strictly a relative term - I was relieved to get away from the continual reproductions of some of the religious themes.

The Palazzo Pitti was built by the Pitti family who were competitors at one time with the Medicis. The Medicis took over the place and made it their own. There were at least two Medici Popes. If they shifted from here to the Vatican they would not have really noticed the difference. Palatial doesn't really do it justice. Catherine's palace outside St Petersburg is in the game but this place probably does outdo even that, except for the Amber Room. And some excellent art works as well.

Needless to say we had a very nice time for the day around the galleries, again. And who would have thought I would ever say that.

From a damp Florence we needed to make some distance. We

A Trivia Question

It is Medea's head. Who was he?

had an appointment in San Sebastian in Spain to meet some family. That was a little over 1,300 km away by road so we needed to pick up a little speed.

We did take the time to drop in to Pisa and check out the leaning tower. I will admit that we weren't really going to bother. We had seen a lot of towers with a bit of lean on them, particularly in Venice and thought this could be much the same. It wasn't of course. It is a very nice tower, covered in marble and is the bell tower for a quite reasonable cathedral. And the lean is special. None of your gentle little leans here. This one has a proper lean on it. We didn't climb up but you can. It all seems quite stable but we needed to get some kms under our belt.

Into France and the autostrada took us - for a goodly price - past famous parts of the southern French coast to Antibes where we camped. Then on, again on the autostrada to a little place called San Gauden in the Midi Pyrenees. It had been blowing a gale all day

Macchiavelli

What was he thinking?

as we crossed southern France and the low Pyrenees and we were thankful that the municipal campground offered us the chance to camp under cover. No rain but, the next morning, there was a nice snowfall on the mountains not all that far away.

So, on to San Sebastian and let us see what Spain's playround for royalty and the rich and famous over many years has to offer..

Additional photos below

Photos: 23, Displayed: 23