Wednesday, 23 June

Firenze

By consensus we agree on Firenze (Florence) as our favorite city (and we don’t appear to be alone as the number of US expats seems to be remarkably high) although the number of walking tours with their tour guides pushing and shoving does seem to be a little excessive. But the city is accessible, fairly clean and has its share of the classic pieces of western culture available to view. It also has its place in our heart because when we navigated in from the Auto Strade Sheila was able to route us through virtually every part of the city from the oldest to the newest so we already feel like we know it. Plus, from Jill’s perspective, the gelato shop on every corner and, from John’s perspective, the coffee at the café across from the gelato shop is a key selling point.

Tuesday morning we were off to the Academia, a place known mostly for housing Michelangelo’s David, but also the home for many other sculptures and paintings of artists significant and not. One room is filled with the plaster castings and models used by sculptors over the last half millennia as ‘sketches’ for what would be rendered in marble. The David? Yes, quite impressive (David reproduction in the picture). And let me tell you he has got one HUGE… …pair of hands and feet. No, seriously, the hands and feet seem way out of proportion to the rest of his body (if my dogs were proportionally the size of his I’d probably wear a size 16 shoe…JB). The anatomical details (tendons, muscle striations, etc) are amazing. Quite the piece of work.

After the Academia we went to the Uffuzi which displays parts of the collection assembled by the Medici over the centuries. Fundamentally we were back to the pictures of key biblical events (a lot of reruns or, as the artistically refined would say: ‘interpretations’) as virtually all were religious in nature which is not surprising given the intertwined power structure of Church (stronger) and State (weaker). One collection that was particularly interesting was focused on how art and politics connected in the Florentine culture. The use of classic mythology, allegory and biblical references was combined with strategically placing the likeness of individuals from the significant political houses in the different roles of the story line being presented. Much like modern comic books the narrative would progress in different panels or canvases and would make pointed observations around an individual’s virtue, piety, integrity and so forth. What takes a program for us to understand from today’s cultural milieu was as clear to them as the different infighting factions in ‘Lost’ are to us today (note the not so hip cultural reference… …I don’t even know what that show is about. JB). We also got a great view of the Ponte del Vecchio from one of the upstairs windows…

The food in Firenze was wonderful although we never even had a Florentine steak (which at €50 per kg is not too surprising). Katrina took care of us both days (I don’t think that woman ever slept – she was on duty at midnight and at seven in the morning…). The first night (Cantina Giorna) was in a small, loud and very crowded place that served excellent food based in traditional Florentine dishes. The Owner/Chef is a wanna be biker with a Harely t-shirt and more jewelry than I thought one man could wear but the food was great! The second (Cantina Barbagianni) was in a small, quiet spot with the food a little more imaginatively prepared and also quite delicious. And both were just moments from the hotel. A nice touch from both places, which may be a Florentine tradition, were the included glass of prosseco, an assaggi (roughly translates as ‘gift from the chef’) and antipasti. The second place also finished the meal with vin santo and biscotti (For dipping in the wine. Actually very common. Jill remembers doing it at her Grandparent’s house in Colorado… …although they call them rusks not biscoitti.). At this point I’m probably supposed to say that I’m getting tired of freshly made pasta, prosciutto, pancetta, basil and garlic, rich and sweet (but not cloying) desserts, strong coffee and good wine. But I’m not… …and I’ll let you know if that ever happens!

On the morning before we left we visited the Firenze market. Fresh produce, meats, fishes, cheeses, spices and pastas plus whatever else they felt like selling. Outside the market were street vendors selling leather and cloth goods, trinkets glass beads and hatchets for the natives and clothing for the tourists. John found a leather jacket that would finally make him modern (didn’t buy it) and Jill found a skirt to keep her legs warm (and make her look like a chic Italian lady. JB) which she bought.

The only bad thing about Firenze was leaving. We all could have spent a few more days exploring the museums, eating the food or hanging out all afternoon in the restaurant on the piazza drinking good and cheap wine. But the Piemonte was calling so we left.

Ciao!

Jill and John