The spirit of Florence

Our second day in Florence was all about finding out what encompassed the spirit of the city – it’s art, history, landscape, and of course, it’s food!

Rumour has it that the Uffizi (Florence's equivalent to the Louvre or the National Gallery) gallery's queues were up to two hours long. We decided to arrive at the beginning of the day, and Leonardo Junior recommended we arrive at 7.45 - 30 minutes prior to the gallery opening it's doors to the public. We walked through the early morning mist and the city was surprisingly empty for a Friday morning. When we arrived at the Uffizi, we expected hoards, and found that we were the first to arrive. In fact, even by 8.15am there was only a handful of people to go through the security screening and into the museum.

The Uffizi is huge, and although not exactly my cup of tea - the art work tends to date before the 19th century (which is when I think things in the art world start to get interesting) - there were a couple of highlights: they had a special exhibit on Da Vinci and all about how he married his passion for art with his passion for science; also there was the original painting of a print that Dad used to have when I was growing up and I always found quite creepy. It was funny to see it in person because the print that Dad had was quite huge, and in real life the painting is smaller than an A4 sized piece of paper - so not so creepy after all. We also got a look at Botticelli's Birth of Venus, which is absolutely huge - and pretty impressive!

After several hours wandering the many rooms that encompassed the gallery, we headed out for a well deserved lunch break. Little did we know that we were about to encounter our first important lesson in Italian dining out…

Our first mistake was that we picked a little café that was only 50 metres from the exit doors of the Uffizi. This should have been a sign. We loitered outside the café looking at the various paninis and pastas they were selling in the window. Deciding the food would hit the spot, we wandered in and ordered. I had a ciabatta Panini with prosciutto and fresh mozzarella and a coke. The lady behind the counter asked us whether we wished to take the food away, or instead have a seat in the outside dining area they had at the front of the store. After several hours wandering the Uffizi, we decided to take a seat… big mistake!

My Panini, which started out with a reasonable price of €3.50, automatically had an additional euro added on for the priviledge of being able to sit and eat. Not too bad, right? Well, my coke – just a can, which started life at €2 was hiked up to €5.50. So first lesson, never pick a dining establishment within 50 metres of a world famous tourist attraction. .. second lesson, never agree to sit down, unless you know how much that will increase your bill – in my case 50%!

With fuller stomachs and emptier pockets, we headed for the next destination on our list, Santa Croce Basilica. This rather ornate church is the final resting place of history’s most famous Florentines: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Dante Alighieri, Niccolo Machiavelli, Gioacchino Rossini and Galileo Galilei! As well as checking out the impressive tombs, I also enjoyed the Santa Croce as in one of the adjoining buildings, we discovered a temporary exhibit displaying photos from the 1966 flood which covered much of Florence. Also within the complex was a lovely, peaceful courtyard… totally devoid of people and any sign of the outside world, it was easy for me to convince myself that I had time travelled back 400 years and when I stepped outside the Santa Croce I would be greeted by Renaissance Florence.

Next stop for the day was the Duomo’s Cupola. You may recall several weeks prior to my trip to Florence I went to London and climbed all 311 steps of the Monument Tower… well, another city, another tower (or high building at least!) - this one had 436 steps! The Cupola, which was completed in 1436, was the masterpiece of an architect named Filippo Brunolleschi (apparently the first true Renaissance architect). The view from the top was incredible… I understand that the laws of the city forbid anyone from building anything taller than the Duomo and so you can see for miles in every direction, and truly feel on top of the Florentine world. Red roofs everywhere and Tuscan hills rolling gently along the city borders, Florence is truly beautiful from every angle.

436 steps back to the bottom again and it was time for an afternoon siesta. That evening we decided to try another of Leonardo’s recommendations for dinner – perhaps a wise choice considering what we chose when we were left to our own devices at lunchtime!

We went to a little trattoria, around a 5 minute walk from the Duomo, named Yellow. Fresh Tuscan bread to start, a simple green salad with olive oil and balsamic drizzled over the top, and gnocci della gorgonzola as my main – I was in heaven… and had to be rolled out of the restaurant and back to the hotel! (Mind you, I did manage to fit in a gelato stop – remember there are two stomachs – one from savouries and one for sweets – so even if your savoury tummy is full, you can always fit in dessert!) The gnocci was the highlight of my meal… a beautiful, creamy blue cheese sauce covered the gnocci and the whole dish was garnished with chopped walnuts, which normally I detest, but have now realised perfectly compliment the rich flavour of blue cheese.

So, full on Italian food, and giddy with what felt like the initial stages of love… that is the love of a good city(!)… we headed back to the guest house for a well deserved rest to prepare ourselves for day number three!