Florence... Under the Tuscan Sun

Italy at its best: Medieval architecture, picturesque courtyards, renaissance art, beautiful gardens, the scenic River Arno, all surrounded by the Tuscan hills and vineyards. Vince could live in Florence, I could definitely live in Florence… Let’s all pack up and move to Florence. Or maybe to the Tuscan hills right next to Florence. Seriously. Who’s in?
We spent a week in Florence, could’ve spent a month. Or several years. This is probably the longest blog we have because we loved it so much… Here are just a few of our 397 pictures…

Duomo
Vince took a picture (or 12) of the Duomo every time we walked by – It’s fair to say that it’s his favorite building in Europe so far. Here’s a picture of all 3 buildings (cathedral, tower, and baptistry). It was built from 1296 to 1436. The interior (fresco in the dome & marble mosaic floors) were completed in the 1500’s.

Here are the interior & exterior of the cathedral – the exterior is extremely ornate with 4 colors of marble and intricate sculptures & carving, but the inside is one of the plainest that we’ve seen, except for the marble mosaic floors & the dome – more about the dome in a bit.



Interior of the Duomo:

On the outside, the distinctive red dome is the iconic structure in the skyline of Florence. On the interior, the fresco in the dome was painted by Vasari and Zuccari. It shows a very violent, Dante-style Last Judgment scene – very explicit and torturous scene of hell, with the saints & “ the righteous” looking down from heaven. We did see similar “Last Judgment” scenes in churches all over Italy.

We climbed to the top of the dome, which is the largest brick dome in the world. It was an incredibly steep climb, and had incredible views of the city:




Ponte Vecchio

Another iconic structure of Florence, built in 1345. The bridge has shops across it – they were originally butcher shops, but one of the Medici’s didn’t like the smell and ordered that the bridge only sell jewellery… So now there are a lot of jewellery shops (ah, to be a Medici - until they were kicked out. But reinstated)... Anyway, views and more views:

The shops on the Ponte Vecchio:

View of the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio:

Palazzo Vecchio

Built in the 1300’s, the building is extremely impressive and has unbelievable art and map collections - every doorway & ceiling is another unbelievable show of art... every room made us say “woah.” Out loud. The building has been the town hall and residence of the Medici’s, other dukes, and some bishops. This palace took a few hours to go through.
First Courtyard:

The Great Hall – these are paintings by renaissance artists, and the ceiling is real gold – they ran out of gold, so they melted down Florins (coins) to make this ceiling (and ceilings in the rest in the palace). One could accurately say that it is decorated with money.

This painting is from the 1600’s, and it shows the building and square that we are in - it looks the same! It’s incredible to look at really old art that depicts buildings that were already hundreds of years old when they were depicted in a painting.

Cool view of the Duomo from the Palazzo Vecchio:

A Donatello sculpture on the left, with gold ceilings and an intricately-sculpted marble doorway.

There was an exhibit of 16th century tapestries in the palace, arguably some of the most priceless art that we have seen. Tapestries like this are extremely rare because so few people could afford them. These were made of the finest/most expensive fibers & dyes at the time: silk, cashmere, wool, silver thread. The detail is incredible – as intricate as any painting that we saw. This is a Huge tapestry, the picture doesn’t quite do it justice…

This is the “Map Room” in the palace. Maps from all over the world were pretty good in the 1600’s, with a few exceptions – such as the western part of North & South America, & interior of Africa. The 17th-century globe is by Vincenzo Coronelli, who we learned about in Vienna at the Globe Museum.

Palazzo Pitti & Boboli Gardens
A huge Renaissance palace, (built in 1458) with a city-sized garden complex behind it.

The next 3 pictures are all taken in the Boboli Gardens.

Vince doing his best Neptune impression (Neptune is behind him in the pond)

Gardens, ponds & sculptures everywhere. The sculptures are from different eras, but they are all... well, really old:

And more views (anyone tempted to move there yet?)

The Tuscan Bike Ride
This makes the top 3 of my favorite days in Europe. We took a guided bike ride through Florence and around Tuscany – we were two of only 4 on the tour, so it was very private…
In front of the Ponte Vecchio:

In the marble quarry overlooking Florence:

Michaelangelo’s favorite Church:
Exterior

Interior - this is a side-chapel with Giotto-style frescoes:

Back on the bikes, we went past olive orchards…

Off the bikes for a traditional Tuscan lunch with an awesome view:

And to this villa that produces wine and olive oil:

Winetasting in the villa cellar with our tour guide Stephan and our new friends Marty & Jessie.

And, back through the city, Duomo behind us.

We really could live here, there’s so much to explore. We were glad to have a full week so that we could check out some squares, churches, and parks that are off the beaten path, in addition to the historical/tourist sites. Here are a couple of pictures of our meanderings.

Bellissimo.

Pisa, Where Towers Lean and Tourists Flock

We were at some point going to visit Pisa either on our way to Florence or as a day trip from there, but Cinque Terre became cold, rainy, and windy toward the end of our stay so we decided to move inland for the day. We explored Pisa, and every point on the recommended tourist walking route, a day is really all you need. Many of the churches share a similar style of a white marble façade, which seems to be a signature of Pisa. Piazza dei Miracoli, which includes the leaning tower is spectacular. Even though there are countless tour groups, it was definitely worth the visit.

This is the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina, a small church built in the early 14^th century. It has some intricate statues and sits by itself right along the river, and a busy street.

The Palazzo Cavalieri is a square in town that includes The Caravan's Palace (pictured above), which is now a technical University originally started by Napoleon.

The Piazza dei Miracoli is a large open space that includes the leaning tower, the Duomo, the Battistero, and the Camposanto. It is really something to behold, incredible white marble structures set against medieval city walls.

There she is. The tower is really nice on its own, then add the fact that it looks like a magic trick and you have an instant wonder of the world. We took the obligatory “hold up the leaning tower” shots, but we’ll spare you.

The Duomo (or Cathedral) repeats (in spades) the white marble columns that can be seen on other buildings and other churches. The interior is white and black striped marble and has a really colorful blue and gold ceiling.

The Battistero (or Baptistery) is a circular building directly across from the Duomo. One side of the roof has red tiles, this side looks like a hurricane tore through it, and there are statues that line a section of it, all the way around. Inside, there is a second story you can climb up and look down into the center where the baptisms take place.

Cinque Terre, five towns for the price of one

Traveling from Modena to Cinque Terre opens your eyes to how different the Italian landscape can be in a few hours by train. We transferred through Parma and La Spezia before taking a short train ride that passes through to Cinque Terra. From La Spezia, the train travels through a tunnel and the next time we see daylight we are looking out over the sea from tracks above, and hear a collective “Wow!” from everyone on board. It must be what it’s like for people who see the Pacific Ocean in California for the first time.

Cinque Terre in Italian translates to “Five Towns”, which are (going from South to North) Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa, and they are set along the sea in a protected national park. They are all pretty small individually, but together they definitely filled four full days of exploring. We arrived in Corniglia and after some bad directions form locals (our fault for not knowing Italian), we found our accommodations. Unfortunately, no one was there, but fortunately, the town is small so we had a nearby café call the owner who let us in shortly.

We took a short walk down to the water and caught the sunset. We also met a nice Danish guy Morten, who had just finished a swim. We ran into him around town for the next few days he was there, the town is that small. At dinner, we ran into two awesome couples: Sam and Gino, hilarious and outgoing people from Charleston, SC and Alanna and Cameron from San Diego, who we hiked and dined with for the next few days.

Our room is one of four in an apartment overlooking the sea. Corniglia is set high on a cliff and we were staying right next to an old tower “La Torre”. This is a view from the top of the tower, which was right in front of our place, in the background is Manarola.

The next day, we planned to walk south along the seaside trail, but found out that section was closed (thanks for the advance notice when we bought our tickets to walk this section, oh Italy). We hopped on the train to Riomaggiore, one of the bigger towns.

The path connecting Riomaggiore and Manarola is the Via dell’Amore, or the Way of Love. It a beautiful 20 minute coastline walk. Along the way is a tunnel, filled with romantic accordion music and countless locks that couples lock there to signify their love.

Manarola is a small town with one main street that stretches from the sea into the mountain. We bought some delicious cheese and pesto to go with a loaf of bread, which we ate at the top looking over the town.

We decided to take the mountain trail back to Corniglia (pictured in the distance). It was 3 hours of vineyards and olive orchards along terraces cut into the mountainside, a tiny mountain town, lush forests, spectacular sea views, and sometimes dangerously narrow stretches with 15-foot plus potential drops.

Oh yeah, there were cats everywhere in these towns and along the trails. Here is the cat whisper in action, with two cats who ran out from the forest on our hike to Vernazza to be charmed and petted.

Vernazza is arguably the prettiest town and definitely the most interesting. It sits on a point over the water that creates a natural harbor. At the end of the point is a castle, which we climbed in the rain along with Alanna and Cameron.

Monterosso, the northern most town, is also the biggest. It sits on two sides of a point, the northern side has some nice stretches of beach and a boardwalk, and the southern side has a town of restaurants, hotels, shops, and interesting churches.

My Bologna Has A First Name…

From Modena, we took a day trip to Bologna, famous for its food. You may have heard of Lasagna, Tortellini, Mortadella, and Bolognese sauce, all of which was invented here. It is also an aesthetically pleasing city with red buildings and medieval towers. There is a lot of energy in the city and also not a lot of tourists. The tourist information office gave us there flyer including all the sights of the city, and the title was “Half a Day in Bologna”. They are selling themselves short, you could wander at least a full day here, and eat for weeks.

At the center of the city is the Piazza Magiorre. This is the main square of the city that is surrounded by several significant buildings, churches, fortresses and palaces.

This is the Neptune fountain that sits in the Piazza Magiorre. Couldn’t find any history about it, but it is pretty cool.

This is the Anatomical Theatre within the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1088 making it the oldest university in the world. The wooden statues at the podium detail the muscle structure of a human without skin.

There are several square blocks that make up a city market section, that date back hundreds of years. There are all kinds of food stores and stalls.

These are the twin towers of Bologna. There are still several that stand in the city, but there used to be many more built by many of the rich families. The one on the right is Torre Degli Asinelli, which is the tallest.

We climbed the almost 500 steps of Torre Degli Asinelli to get this incredible view of Bologna.

This is an aerial view of San Petrino Basilica and its façade, like so many other things in Italy, is forever being renovated. The inside is very bright and boasts really high ceilings, and it is quite simple compared to other churches we have seen. A meridian line runs right through the church and is marked by a decorated strip on the ground.

So many of the streets in Bologna look like this, with column supported buildings that overhang the sidewalk. We’ve noticed this in other Italian cities, but Bologna has an extreme fetish for this architecture.

The Basilica Santo Stefano is a series of seven small churches within one complex, some dating as far back as the 5th century. The exterior is detailed brick and tile work, and the most interesting church is a dark round room with an altar like structure.

No trip to Bologna is complete without a fantastic meal. Our Lonely Planet guide recommended this otherwise impossible to find restaurant called Mariposa. We had some of the best tortellini ragu ever and another delicious dish of spiral pasta with ham and rocket (some kind of arugula type leafy vegetable). The grilled vegetable dish was also extremely good.