Day 8: Florence
We have now been here for a week….we have done a lot and had a great time, but we realize that we won’t be able to do all that we had planned. If, as the saying goes a lifetime is not enough for Rome, two weeks is clearly not enough for Florence.
Today our friend Maureen Fant is coming up from Rome for the day to visit us, do a little research at the Archaeological Museum and to do some shopping. We agree to meet around noon near the Museum. After breakfast, we hop the C bus to Piazza San Marco. The weather this morning is overcast and cool—good walking weather but with a hint of a threat of rain.
There are a number of “Last Suppers” scattered around Florence in the refectories of churches, convents and monasteries; they have been done by various artists, some quite well-known. Today we are going to the Cenacolo of Sant’Apollonia painted by Andrea del Castagno in the early 15th century. It is quite a fascinating fresco…very stylized with Judas looking evil and set apart from the rest of the apostles. The fresco also features painted marble panels with wild, almost abstract designs on the back wall, reflecting the turmoil of the scene. There is also a less well preserved series of frescoes above the Last Supper…the Crucifixion, the Deposition and the Resurrection and some of the original tracings (sinopie) of the frescoes on other walls. It is wonderful to be able to be face to face with the well-lit work…..and not have crowds of other tourists vying for position.
Our next stop is the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, called the most beautiful square in Florence but now a slightly dilapidated piazza - surrounded on three sides by porticos echoing the one Brunelleschi designed for the Ospedale. There is a mass going on in the church so we cross the square to the Ospedale degi Innocenti. It was built to care for abandoned babies –foundlings, often children of slaves--and is considered a first movement of the Italian Renaissance towards social responsibility. It was the first such “hospital” in the world. The portico is decorated with gorgeous della Robbia medallions of swaddled infants. Today it houses a UNICEF research center, an active children’s clinic and a small art gallery with several beautiful works by Filippo Lippi and Ghirlandaio (his colors are so vivid that is hard to believe that it was painted 500 years ago). There are two very graceful and quiet cloisters in the building…one with benches that make a good resting point for footweary tourists.
We meet Maureen in front of the church and go inside to look around. The interior could not be more different than the cool and serene exterior…it is dark, over-decorated and somewhat oppressive. We walk around for a few minutes and then escape to the street.
We go back into the quiet cloister in the Ospedale and discuss the plan for the day….a little shopping and lunch…and head down toward the center of town. Maureen likes to shop in Florence…she says the sales help is much friendlier and more professional than their Roman counterparts. We do a little window shopping on Via Calzaluoli and then Diana suggests we go into Pineider, a fashionable stationery store on the Piazza Signoria to get some business cards for me. I resist but I am overpowered. A very nice salesman sits down with us and helps Maureen and Diana design the business card for Zurer Travel. They will be done in ten days and will be sent to us at our hotel in Como. Now I will have business cards made at the same store where Napoleon had his cards made.
We wander over to the straw market and the ladies look at some gloves and small purses. Just across the street is one of Maureen’s two official destinations…a store that sells beautiful costume jewelry—some that are knockoffs of designer brands. I wait outside reading as the shopping goes on inside the shop. They both buy some jewelry…but it is now after 2 pm and we have to make a dash to the Cantinetta Antinori before the kitchen closes.
We make it just under the wire, get menus and quickly order…papa del pomodoro for Maureen and Diana, risotto with mushrooms for me. Maureen and I pick the sausages and beans for our secondo and Diana orders a cheese plate. The Cantinetta—run by the Antinori wine company—is a handsome, stylish place--lots of wood and waiters in white jackets…but not fancy—no tablecloths at lunch. The food is all very good and we have an exceptional Vino Nobile di Montepulciano with the meal. There is one shared dessert…a pear tart…which is excellent.
By now the sun has come out and the day is becoming warm. Next stop is Allegri, a clothing/raincoat shop on Via Tornabuoni. I wait on the steps of a nearby church. No purchases result and, since it is now almost 4 pm, we meander back towards the train station, We pass by the building where my sister lived in 1993--where we stayed when we visited her and first fell in love with Italy.
We have a cup of tea in the restaurant at the station and say our goodbyes….Maureen heads for the Rome train and we walk out in front of the station and wait for the electric bus (Bus D) which will drop us back at our apartment.
We are a little draggy this afternoon….wine for lunch usually has that effect….so we rest and read and write until we have to decide about dinner. We head to the “last” untried neighborhood restaurant within five minutes of the apartment, the Trattoria Bordino. We are seated inside at a small corner table in the dark main dining room. When a large party is seated at the next table, we feel a bit hemmed in. In retrospect, we should have asked to change tables…but we don’t. Our first courses arrive quickly…spaghetti with clams for me, prosciutto with melon for Diana—and both are very good. But there is a long pause before the next course and we are feeling ignored. The frustration is exacerbated by our growing discomfort with our table. Finally the second courses arrive….carpaccio with parmigiano and rucola for me, a bistecca Fiorentina and spinach for Diana. Mine is okay but the bistecca is not as good as other versions that we have had. When we are finished, we get up, ask for the check and pay quickly at the register….we are glad to be out of our dark corner.
We stroll across the Ponte Vecchio where crowds of young people are sitting, listening to a singer perform on the bridge. I get a gelato, we stop and listen to the singer for a few minutes on the way back, and make our way to the apartment.
NOTE: We had called for Uffizi reservations yesterday and were surprised to find out that the earliest available reservation was for the upcoming Wednesday at noon. Usually one can get reservations for two days from the day you call. And the lines are long at both the Uffizi and the Accademia for those without reservations.
Today our friend Maureen Fant is coming up from Rome for the day to visit us, do a little research at the Archaeological Museum and to do some shopping. We agree to meet around noon near the Museum. After breakfast, we hop the C bus to Piazza San Marco. The weather this morning is overcast and cool—good walking weather but with a hint of a threat of rain.
There are a number of “Last Suppers” scattered around Florence in the refectories of churches, convents and monasteries; they have been done by various artists, some quite well-known. Today we are going to the Cenacolo of Sant’Apollonia painted by Andrea del Castagno in the early 15th century. It is quite a fascinating fresco…very stylized with Judas looking evil and set apart from the rest of the apostles. The fresco also features painted marble panels with wild, almost abstract designs on the back wall, reflecting the turmoil of the scene. There is also a less well preserved series of frescoes above the Last Supper…the Crucifixion, the Deposition and the Resurrection and some of the original tracings (sinopie) of the frescoes on other walls. It is wonderful to be able to be face to face with the well-lit work…..and not have crowds of other tourists vying for position.
Our next stop is the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, called the most beautiful square in Florence but now a slightly dilapidated piazza - surrounded on three sides by porticos echoing the one Brunelleschi designed for the Ospedale. There is a mass going on in the church so we cross the square to the Ospedale degi Innocenti. It was built to care for abandoned babies –foundlings, often children of slaves--and is considered a first movement of the Italian Renaissance towards social responsibility. It was the first such “hospital” in the world. The portico is decorated with gorgeous della Robbia medallions of swaddled infants. Today it houses a UNICEF research center, an active children’s clinic and a small art gallery with several beautiful works by Filippo Lippi and Ghirlandaio (his colors are so vivid that is hard to believe that it was painted 500 years ago). There are two very graceful and quiet cloisters in the building…one with benches that make a good resting point for footweary tourists.
We meet Maureen in front of the church and go inside to look around. The interior could not be more different than the cool and serene exterior…it is dark, over-decorated and somewhat oppressive. We walk around for a few minutes and then escape to the street.
We go back into the quiet cloister in the Ospedale and discuss the plan for the day….a little shopping and lunch…and head down toward the center of town. Maureen likes to shop in Florence…she says the sales help is much friendlier and more professional than their Roman counterparts. We do a little window shopping on Via Calzaluoli and then Diana suggests we go into Pineider, a fashionable stationery store on the Piazza Signoria to get some business cards for me. I resist but I am overpowered. A very nice salesman sits down with us and helps Maureen and Diana design the business card for Zurer Travel. They will be done in ten days and will be sent to us at our hotel in Como. Now I will have business cards made at the same store where Napoleon had his cards made.
We wander over to the straw market and the ladies look at some gloves and small purses. Just across the street is one of Maureen’s two official destinations…a store that sells beautiful costume jewelry—some that are knockoffs of designer brands. I wait outside reading as the shopping goes on inside the shop. They both buy some jewelry…but it is now after 2 pm and we have to make a dash to the Cantinetta Antinori before the kitchen closes.
We make it just under the wire, get menus and quickly order…papa del pomodoro for Maureen and Diana, risotto with mushrooms for me. Maureen and I pick the sausages and beans for our secondo and Diana orders a cheese plate. The Cantinetta—run by the Antinori wine company—is a handsome, stylish place--lots of wood and waiters in white jackets…but not fancy—no tablecloths at lunch. The food is all very good and we have an exceptional Vino Nobile di Montepulciano with the meal. There is one shared dessert…a pear tart…which is excellent.
By now the sun has come out and the day is becoming warm. Next stop is Allegri, a clothing/raincoat shop on Via Tornabuoni. I wait on the steps of a nearby church. No purchases result and, since it is now almost 4 pm, we meander back towards the train station, We pass by the building where my sister lived in 1993--where we stayed when we visited her and first fell in love with Italy.
We have a cup of tea in the restaurant at the station and say our goodbyes….Maureen heads for the Rome train and we walk out in front of the station and wait for the electric bus (Bus D) which will drop us back at our apartment.
We are a little draggy this afternoon….wine for lunch usually has that effect….so we rest and read and write until we have to decide about dinner. We head to the “last” untried neighborhood restaurant within five minutes of the apartment, the Trattoria Bordino. We are seated inside at a small corner table in the dark main dining room. When a large party is seated at the next table, we feel a bit hemmed in. In retrospect, we should have asked to change tables…but we don’t. Our first courses arrive quickly…spaghetti with clams for me, prosciutto with melon for Diana—and both are very good. But there is a long pause before the next course and we are feeling ignored. The frustration is exacerbated by our growing discomfort with our table. Finally the second courses arrive….carpaccio with parmigiano and rucola for me, a bistecca Fiorentina and spinach for Diana. Mine is okay but the bistecca is not as good as other versions that we have had. When we are finished, we get up, ask for the check and pay quickly at the register….we are glad to be out of our dark corner.
We stroll across the Ponte Vecchio where crowds of young people are sitting, listening to a singer perform on the bridge. I get a gelato, we stop and listen to the singer for a few minutes on the way back, and make our way to the apartment.
NOTE: We had called for Uffizi reservations yesterday and were surprised to find out that the earliest available reservation was for the upcoming Wednesday at noon. Usually one can get reservations for two days from the day you call. And the lines are long at both the Uffizi and the Accademia for those without reservations.
2 Comments:
Jim,
see if when you go to see the MOI exhibit at the Uffizi, it also includes the Corridor Vassariano that someone mentioned on ST recently!!! would be great if true!
Hello, can you give me the receipy of Papa del pomodoro ? Thank you very much
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