Florence is the city of my dreams. I love it here! What stands out for me? The food, the wine, the art and the architecture.
I have actually been to Italy before this, but as a child. My father was a fighter pilot for the Canadian forces and we were based for 2 years in Sardinia. I think this is where I first fell in love with Italy, Italians and with the sand! I remember playing in the sand on the beach and chasing around the beetles. My parents took my brother and me along for a trip through Italy and we visited Venice...which I vividly remember as well. How can the beauty of that city ever leave your memory once you have been there?
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| Growing up in Sardinia. I am in the foreground... |
So, I guess in a way, going to Italy was like going home! We left Courmayeur in Northern Italy and took a bus to Aosta. We then hopped on 2 different trains that took us from Aosta to Milan... and then transferred to a third train bound for Florence.
Our hotel was about a 5 minute taxi ride from the train station....Hotel Kursaal & Ausonia. We chose this place because it looked really quaint and was within a 20 minute walk of all the major sights. Because we had moved up our dates to stay in the hotel, they had rebooked us to spend a few nights in a regular double room and then move and spend a few nights in a suite. Once we arrived and chatted with the owner...he moved us into the suite for the entire week at the same price as a double room!
Our suite was beautiful. After spending a week in Paris once in a teeny tiny room where we could barely walk around the bed without tripping over the luggage...this was luxury! We had an entryway, a sitting room, a full kitchen (with everything needed to cook with) a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, and a master bedroom. Our kitchen window looked out into the neighborhood and we could see the Duomo in the distance.
Our first stop was the Duomo. This is a huge gothic style structure that was completed in 1436. It is very unusual in that the exterior of the basilica is covered in various shades of pink, green and white marble. It features the largest brick dome ever built. We climbed up the dome and the views of Florence were spectacular! We could also go inside the dome and see the incredible mural painted on the ceiling. Stunning! I have included a picture of Jim standing in the stairwell. Can you believe they actually have to put up signs asking people not to leave graffiti on the walls of the church? It is revolting how people see nothing wrong about defacing a national treasure by inscribing their names. I just don't get it.
Another incredible sight in Florence is the Statue of David which stands in the Galleria dell'Accademia. It is the most beautiful piece of work I have ever seen. This sculpture looks real, I mean it really looks like a living, breathing being. The skin looks soft, the veins look like the blood is coursing through them...the muscles seem at rest, yet somehow ready and tensed to move at any moment. It is really chilling how awesome it is. It is 17 feet tall and weighs an incredible 6 tons. This marble statue was sculpted by Italian artist Michelangelo in two years. Two years! I wonder at how an artist can see his form through the rock.
Every day we would try and take in a sight or two...but we also just enjoyed living there for a week. Every morning we would head out to the Central Market to buy our food for the day. Jim loves to cook and he is Italian...so this was his mecca if you will. By the end of the week we had our favorite shops and vendors that we liked to visit and buy from.
What can be better than wine, cheese and bread? We shopped for olives, vegetables, pasta, herbs, fruit, mushrooms...it was absolute heaven! There was one stand that selled Offal. I'm sorry, but Offal to me is just awful...really. It basically means the organs and entrails of butchered animals. You could buy cow stomachs, brains, liver and bull penis. Yes, if you look in the picture below those are bull penises in the top right hand corner. Now I have eaten " prairie oysters" before (bull testicles breaded and fried) but I think I have to draw the line at penis. I mean really, just looking at it....nope.
We would start our day off with Italian espresso along with a chocolate croissant. We would sightsee for awhile, and then take a break and go home to have a little lunch. We were bad! We would have some white wine along with some tomatoes and fresh mozzarella tossed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Decadent! Then we would have a little afternoon nap. Jim was still really sick with bronchitis and it didn't get any better until we got home to Florida. Mine cleared up in a week. We got lots of rest and ate really well to enable us to get healthy again!
I learned a lot about the foods that are revered in Italy...like Balsamic Vinegar. The finest Balsamic comes from Modena and neighboring Reggio Emilia. You can find cheap bottles with newer batches of vinegar...to the finest Balsamic which can be aged up to 100 years and cost a small fortune. It is literally kept in special cases and is treated like the world's best champagnes! We saw a 100 ml bottle that was going for the asking price of $850!
Olive oil is another treasure. Italy, Spain and Greece are the major olive oil producers in the world...supplying 75 percent of world production! Extra Virgin olive oil is judged to have a superior taste. There are actually allegations that producers in Spain and Italy are passing off olive oil as extra virgin...when it's not. Fake oil! And in 2008, Italian police conducted "Operation Golden Oil"...arresting 23 people involved in a scheme to take oil from other countries and relabel it Italian. Corruption, food fraud, scheming and conniving all in the name of profit in the olive oil industry. Who knew?!!!
We would work up an appetite with our walks...(we didn't go for any runs) The Ponte Vecchio bridge was about a half hour stroll from our hotel. It is a famous medieval stone bridge that used to have butcher shops on it. The butchers would dump all of their waste from the bridge into the Arno river below. Now the shops are all high-end gold, silver and gem stores. I didn't even do any window shopping since the only jewelry that interests me are ethnic pieces from Africa and the Middle East.
The Uffizi Gallery contains the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere, along with the star piece...The Birth of Venus by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli. This painting is said to be one of the most recognizable images in art history. It depicts the birth of the Goddess of Love. The God of Winds is blowing her ashore in a floating seashell ... while another goddess awaits on land with a floral robe to cover her with. Of course I had to go into the shops afterward and purchase my fridge magnet and eyeglass cleaning cloth and umbrella ... all with Venus on it! I'm a sucker for some of the tourist crap!
I will always remember trying to get out of that museum. I swear I spent more time wandering around trying to get out...than I did in looking at all of the art. At every exit there were security people telling you that you can't go out this way...and pointing vaguely down the hall to another way of exiting. And I wasn't the only one that appeared to be exasperated...there were dozens of people wandering around...looking for a way out! I saw one person sleeping on a bench in there...and I guessed they probably just gave up. Might as well wait until closing and get someone to show you the door! (They could use some race flags to show the way!)
So now it was time to eat again...I swear I don't know how much I would weigh if I didn't run, because I love to eat!!! Time for some of that wine and cheese I was talking about! Parmesiano Reggiano is the reigning cheese of Italy. I have always loved to buy a block of aged Parmesan and then shred it over pasta or eat small chunks with wine. Authentic versions carry a mark with the producers registration number, along with the year and month of production. The older the cheese, the sharper the taste. The oldest I could find was 8 years old.
As for wine...I had to drink Chianti. It is usually thought of as the wine in a bottle enclosed by a staw basket, which is actually called "fiasco" or "flask". But the straw covered bottles are only used by a few wine makers now. Chianti is Italy's largest wine region and produces 8 million cases a year! I think I should have shares in one of the vineyards! We loved the Chianti over our many meals of pasta!
And what better to have after dinner than Italian gelato! In Florence we tried out the sorbet, with strawberry and mango being our favorites! Italy is the only country in the world where there is more handmade ice cream consumed than factory produced!
One night we made the mistake of deciding to have grappa instead of gelato. Grappa is served as an after dinner drink. It is an Italian brandy that can range from 70 to 120 proof. Wow! It reminded me of my days in University when we used to drink the odd shot of Everclear! It goes down hot and then warms up and numbs the body. One shot was enough!
We took one day off from strolling through Florence and decided to head to Venice for the day! What could be better than a nice leisurely day in Venice with supper at a restaurant next to one of the world-famous canals?! That will be my next post...
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