Finding Florence
If
at all possible stay in Oltrarno. . . off the beaten tourist path.
Eat at Trattoria Angiolino. The dining room is small and you can watch the
chef cook. Eat whatever is on the handwritten menu (because it's based on
what was best that morning at market when the chef went shopping) and if you
like wine do not miss the house chianti. We ate here three times in our two
week stay. If you go at 7:00 they will just be opening. Reservations recommended
for later times.
I'm something of a Michelangelo junkie so seeing David was a huge thrill for
me. . . for more reasons than the "nice buns" comment I have Liz Davis make
in A Hilltop in Tuscany. You will want to call ahead and make an
appointment so you don't have to wait in quite as long a line as the rest
of the visitors who didn't do this. Don't miss the Christian book store across
the street, by the way. I saw some of my fellow American fiction writer's
books on these book shelves!
Oltrarno—Sign up for the tour of artisans workshops. About six of us were
given a guided tour of a paper-maker, silversmith, and goldsmith's shops.
Intimate and enchanting to see these fabulous artists at work. Walk in Oltrarno
and catch glimpses of shoe-makers, sculptors and others at work in their shops.
San
Lorenzo was my favorite cathedral. Never finished because Michelangelo would
not agree on what source to use for the marble. I knelt before the oil painting
of the woman clinging to the foot of the cross and shed tears.
The cemetery outside San Miniato al Monte. I admit to being a cemetery junkie,
too. I love traipsing through old cemeteries, and this one captivated me with
its many busts and life size sculptures.
Baldovino a small trattoria by Santa Croce, recommended by a "local" for lunch
-- did not disappoint.
Vasari Corridor which runs atop the Ponte Vechhio from one Medici palace to
another is not always open, but if it IS and you can get onto a tour, it's
a delightful experience. On display when we visited was part of the Uffizi's
collection of self portraits by famous artists, Rembrandt among them. Our
tour guide was knowledgeable and charming.
Look at the doors and the architecture. Walk walk walk and look look look.
Can you find the bronze plaque commemorating the building where Elizabeth
Barrett Browning and husband stayed and wrote many of their Sonnets from the
Portugese? (Hint: on a corner building near the Pitti Palace).
If
you plan to visit the gardens around the Pitti Palace and ride the bus up
to the Porta Romana, you can enter the garden from the back side and walk
DOWNHILL toward the city proper.
Fonbliu Urban Spa at the Porta Romana is luxurious. Take the buse up to Fiesole
and you can sit in a Roman amphitheatre and visit other Roman ruins. Amazing.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church at 18 Via Maggio has wonderful free concerts on
Wednesday evenings. We heard an opera singer reminiscent of Luciano Pavoratti.
You will be happy to have read something about the Medici before you go.