Day 6: Florence
Today we are going to take the bus to Poggio a Caiano to visit our friend and my travel colleague, Maddie Bacarelli. After breakfast, we hop on the handy electric bus that stops just down the street and take it to the train station, where most of the inter-city buses leave from. Before getting on the bus to Poggio a Caiano, we pick up a Florence bus map to help us plan our bus journeys inside the city.
We buy the tickets (2 euros each) and the bus pulls up about five minutes later. The ride takes us through the western part of the city before finally hitting some countryside and farmland just beyond the airport. The journey to Poggio takes forty-five minutes and we wait in the town square for Maddie to arrive. When she gets there, we walk up to the Medici villa in Poggio and sit in the garden talking before lunch. We have a nice informal lunch at the Bar Roberta in Poggio, sitting outside under a canopy…..risotto with radicchio and papa al pomodoro (cooked tomatoes thickened with bread), an involtino for me (turkey breast stuffed with ham and cheese and fried); a mixed salad and a vegetable plate for the ladies.
After lunch, we get on the bus back to Florence. After a stop at the tourist office—where I pick up concert schedules and a new map, we go to the nearby church, Santa Maria Novella. This is the church of the Dominicans, the rigorous (sometimes violent) defenders of the faith. It is set on a large, somewhat scruffy piazza. The church exterior is green and white striped and the front is decorated with scrolls and designs. The interior is vast and the light—at least in midafternoon—is good. The centerpiece of the art is a striking Giotto crucifix, suspended in the middle of the church. The crucifix is unusual in that the Christ figure is portrayed in an extremely realistic manner in contrast to more common stylized versions. There is also an exceptional Masaccio fresco of the Trinity (from 1427), notable for its early use of perpective and proportion in wall painting. Behind the main altar is one of the most colorful and easily deciphered fresco series….Ghirlandaio’s very charming paintings showing details of everyday life in Florence in the 1400s, through the stories of the life of the Virgin and episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist. In addition, there is an unusual Brunelleschi wooden crucifix and the pulpit where Galileo was condemned by the Dominicans for his heretical teachings.
After leaving the church, we sit in the piazza and enjoy some excellent gelato….cinnamon and milk chocolate for me and cherry and chocolate chip for Diana. We stroll back to the apartment across the always crowded Ponte Vecchio.
We eat dinner again close to the apartment…tonight we go to Bibo’ in the
Piazza San Felicita’, just across the square from Celestino, where we had eaten two nights before. It is not our best dining experience….my parpardelle with rabbit is very good and Diana’s crespelle (crepes stuffed with cheese and spinach) are okay, but her Tuscan fried chicken is not well cooked and my clams Livornese are just adequate. The torta della nonna is also unexceptionable and the Tuscan white wine is not memorable. All of this comes to Euro 58.00….less than the night before but not as good a value.
It is a five minute walk back to the apartment.
P.S. from Diana. I can recommend two books I’ve just finished: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones. The first is a novel, set in the time of Savonarola. Historical novels are usually not my cup of tea, but this one brings Renaissance Florence alive in a very vivid manner. Lots of history and art in the midst of sex and intrigue, written by an accomplished writer. The second is a 2003 book by an Englishman who moved to Parma and wants to write not about the past or paintings but rather about the contemporary Italian culture and politics which he finds so maddening and fascinating. He writes about language, soccer, TV, the church, and through it all, Berlusconi (he’s not a fan). And as much as he describes the complicated mess of Italy, he also describes how lively, beautiful, generous and wonderful Italians are – and how he can’t bear to live anywhere else.
We buy the tickets (2 euros each) and the bus pulls up about five minutes later. The ride takes us through the western part of the city before finally hitting some countryside and farmland just beyond the airport. The journey to Poggio takes forty-five minutes and we wait in the town square for Maddie to arrive. When she gets there, we walk up to the Medici villa in Poggio and sit in the garden talking before lunch. We have a nice informal lunch at the Bar Roberta in Poggio, sitting outside under a canopy…..risotto with radicchio and papa al pomodoro (cooked tomatoes thickened with bread), an involtino for me (turkey breast stuffed with ham and cheese and fried); a mixed salad and a vegetable plate for the ladies.
After lunch, we get on the bus back to Florence. After a stop at the tourist office—where I pick up concert schedules and a new map, we go to the nearby church, Santa Maria Novella. This is the church of the Dominicans, the rigorous (sometimes violent) defenders of the faith. It is set on a large, somewhat scruffy piazza. The church exterior is green and white striped and the front is decorated with scrolls and designs. The interior is vast and the light—at least in midafternoon—is good. The centerpiece of the art is a striking Giotto crucifix, suspended in the middle of the church. The crucifix is unusual in that the Christ figure is portrayed in an extremely realistic manner in contrast to more common stylized versions. There is also an exceptional Masaccio fresco of the Trinity (from 1427), notable for its early use of perpective and proportion in wall painting. Behind the main altar is one of the most colorful and easily deciphered fresco series….Ghirlandaio’s very charming paintings showing details of everyday life in Florence in the 1400s, through the stories of the life of the Virgin and episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist. In addition, there is an unusual Brunelleschi wooden crucifix and the pulpit where Galileo was condemned by the Dominicans for his heretical teachings.
After leaving the church, we sit in the piazza and enjoy some excellent gelato….cinnamon and milk chocolate for me and cherry and chocolate chip for Diana. We stroll back to the apartment across the always crowded Ponte Vecchio.
We eat dinner again close to the apartment…tonight we go to Bibo’ in the
Piazza San Felicita’, just across the square from Celestino, where we had eaten two nights before. It is not our best dining experience….my parpardelle with rabbit is very good and Diana’s crespelle (crepes stuffed with cheese and spinach) are okay, but her Tuscan fried chicken is not well cooked and my clams Livornese are just adequate. The torta della nonna is also unexceptionable and the Tuscan white wine is not memorable. All of this comes to Euro 58.00….less than the night before but not as good a value.
It is a five minute walk back to the apartment.
P.S. from Diana. I can recommend two books I’ve just finished: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones. The first is a novel, set in the time of Savonarola. Historical novels are usually not my cup of tea, but this one brings Renaissance Florence alive in a very vivid manner. Lots of history and art in the midst of sex and intrigue, written by an accomplished writer. The second is a 2003 book by an Englishman who moved to Parma and wants to write not about the past or paintings but rather about the contemporary Italian culture and politics which he finds so maddening and fascinating. He writes about language, soccer, TV, the church, and through it all, Berlusconi (he’s not a fan). And as much as he describes the complicated mess of Italy, he also describes how lively, beautiful, generous and wonderful Italians are – and how he can’t bear to live anywhere else.
1 Comments:
Did you see the Green Cloister at SMN with the great Paolo Uccello frescos? I loved those...
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