May 2012

It seems that everyone has been putting together their ‘bucket list’ lately… during the last month at Trove farm/vineyard in the Tuscany region of Italy, we’ve had plenty of time to contemplate ours. Here’s hoping you enjoy our very unique ‘bucket list’.  Parental guidance is advised; may not be suitable for all audiences, especially those with weak stomachs.

At Barbara’s insistence, we began our second week at Trove with a visit to Siena. You may recall that we had attempted a visit to this beautiful Tuscan hill town earlier during my sister’s visit but we had been rained out.  This time, the weather cooperated with warm sunshine all day long. We were looking forward to an excursion after feeling somewhat isolated on the farm all week.

We travelled to Siena by bus which we caught at the train station in Sinalunga (Barbara drove us to the station) and we took the train back.  Once in Siena, we found our way into the historic centre which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio which is a horse race held twice a year, once in July and then again in August right in the middle of town.  Like other Tuscan hill towns, Siena was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (c. 900-400 BC).  The Etruscans were an advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land.  Throughout Tuscany, medieval towns are perched on the top of hills – a legacy of the Etruscans who strategically built their settlements in well-defended hill forts.

We headed to the unusually shell-shaped town square, the Piazza del Campo which is famous for hosting the Palio horse race. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to take a few moments to tell you about this unusual horse race which began in medieval times and has been featured in many movies over the years; you might remember this from the 2008 James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

Source: Wikipedia

Before the race begins, there is a magnificent pageant, the Corteo Storico, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world. The race is comprised of ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, representing ten of the seventeen contrade, or city wards. Three times they encircle the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of dirt has been laid,  and the race usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is not uncommon for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and it is not unusual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys.  What makes this race rather unique is the fact that the jockeys not only try to win, but also try to prevent the other racers from winning by any means possible.  Also, it is the horse that wins the race, not the jockey.  Finally, the winner is the horse that comes in first and the loser is the one that comes in second.  It’s all or nothing with this race.

Piazza del Campo is also home to the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia.  I regretted not going to the top of the Duomo in Florence, especially after my friend Marc mentioned  in one of his comments on the blog that this had been a highlight for him when he visited Florence.  So I was determined to go to the top of the Torre del Mangia which promised and delivered beautiful views of the red rooftops of Siena and the rolling Tuscan countryside beyond.  We also visited the museum in the Palazzo Pubblico which features an amazing series of frescos (which means a mural that has been painted directly on a plaster or stone wall) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (I never heard of him before but maybe you have) that focus on the theme of good government and the results of good government versus bad.  These frescos showed scenes of day to day life in 14^th century Siena – just fascinating!  What was even more impressive was the building itself, a testimony of medieval architecture.  Unfortunately, photos were not permitted in the Palazzo.

View of tower from the palace courtyard.

Narrow staircase to the top of the tower.

Only one person at a time could go up or down.

View from the tower.- Siena and beyond

View of the Duomo from the top of the Bell Tower.

Tuscan countryside beyond the Duomo.

The construction of Siena’s cathedral, or Duomo, began in the 12^th century and is a great example of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture.  It reminded me of a smaller version of the Duomo we visited in Milan (remember, the one where we walked the rooftop).  It is unusual for a cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, with a north-south transept and an east-west nave. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

Duomo interior

We bought the OPI SI PASS (12 euro) which includes admission to six monuments and attractions associated with the cathedral, including access to the panoramic terrace  on the east wall (mentioned above).  It was a long, full day by the end of which I had reached my capacity to retain any more information.  I must admit that our visit to the cathedral and associated attractions was pretty much a blur to me but we have some great photos that will tell the story even if I can’t.

Museo dell'Opera: Stained glass window removed from the Duomo during WWII for fear it would be destroyed.

The Battistero at the back of the Duomo.

It was while we were on the terrace that tragedy struck.  A gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew Chris’ cherished hat onto the rooftops below. This was the ball cap that Chris had bought a few days before we began our trip and I didn’t realize how attached he was to it.  I watched as he went through all the stages of mourning – denial (maybe another gust of wind will blow it onto the street so I can get it), anger (why did that damn wind blow at that moment), bargaining (if only I had taken my hat off, if only I had tightened it, if only…..) and finally acceptance (my hat is gone).

When we arrived back in Sinalunga we decided to take the local bus back to Trove.  With an hour to kill before the bus came, we enjoyed a couple of glasses of vino in the train station bar that also serves free snacks each night at 7:00. This was probably our fourth time in this bar in a week (first a drink with Ugo on arrival, drinks with Barbara when we did our laundry/grocery run, lunch with Barbara when Chris ran errands with her). The bartender recognized us, and treated us like we were locals.  It was a great way to end the day!

Note:  Chris has commissioned his buddy Kaj in Ottawa to find a replacement ball cap, or rather, to find the exact hat.  Good luck Kaj, you’re a good man to help out your friend this way!

On our second day at Trove, Ugo gave us a crash course on vine pruning and staking.  He was leaving the next day for a week-long tour and the old vineyard was in desperate need of attention.  Chris got some driving lessons on the tractor, and a lesson on how to empty the poop bucket in Ugo’s absence. I may have mentioned that already, but it’s worth another mention as I must admit, I was pretty impressed that Chris accepted this job without complaint.  And so our work began.  We worked hard on that first Saturday and again on Sunday in response to the urgency of the task at hand.  Good progress was made and by Monday the vines had been pruned quite ruthlessly as per our instructions (I’ve got my fingers crossed that we didn’t do any permanent damage) and we had begun to clear the rows of debris from previous seasons.

The new vineyard with the olive grove in the background.

There are two vineyards – one that is about a hundred years old and a newer one that is about 40 years old.  In a good year, the vineyard might yield about 1,000 litres of wine but in some years, they get nothing for one reason or another; last year it was the birds who came and ate all the ripe grapes just before harvest time! They use the wine for their own consumption only.  They also have two olive groves that yield the most delicious olive oil that again they use for themselves.

Part of the old vineyard.

We pruned the old vineyard as Ugo had already pruned the newer vines.  But the entire vineyard, old and new, needed to be cleaned up of old debris and that task took us a couple of days of back breaking effort.  Chris drove the tractor up each row and I followed behind collecting all the twigs and placing them in the tractor bucket.  After a while we changed our tactic as quite frankly I was doing all the hard work and Chris was just sitting on the tractor waiting for me to finish.  We got into a routine where he would drive the tractor about fifty feet ahead and then together we collected the old vines.  No reason why I should be the only one breaking my back!  We then put all the dead branches into a huge pile that we will burn one day soon.

Our pile of debris - what a bonfire it will make!

At this point, we had already had a discussion with Barbara who had outlined the tasks she wanted us to do and their respective priority.  She also shared the details of their schedule for the month of May and it was at this time that we learned that they would both be gone for a 10 day period doing tours and we would be left to hold down the fort.  Once we were finished in the vineyard (number one priority), Chris had a list of jobs to do including refinishing some old windows and furniture.  My job would be the garden – weeding it and then planting the vegetables. It was a large garden, completely over run with weeds.

By mid-week, we were pulled from the vineyard (we only had the staking left to do) as other tasks became more pressing.  One day, we all went into town to do laundry, grocery shopping and some miscellaneous errands.  And then Chris was recruited to assist in getting the house back in order – moving things around, hanging pictures, etc.  Meanwhile, I started in the garden tackling the heavy weeds and pruning the bushes near our patio.  There was another tour scheduled for the following Monday which included a cooking lesson at the end of the week so Barbara was under the gun to get the house in order by then.

Collecting wood.

I’ve mentioned tours a few times and should probably offer an explanation.  Barbara and Ugo run a tour company, Tuscany Under The Skin, that focuses on walking tours in Tuscany.  Springtime is one of their busiest seasons and this year was no exception. We were offered the opportunity to join in some of the local walking tours the following week which gave us incentive to work more than our required hours that first week.

By the end of the week, we were physically exhausted and were so grateful for a rainy, cold Sunday which gave us a good excuse to light the wood stove, and have a cozy movie day, giving our weary, aching bodies a much needed rest.  We didn’t realize how soft we had gotten these last few months! We had spent much of the week on our own, what with Ugo away on tour, and Barbara distracted with getting her house back in order and working on upcoming tours, work she had fallen behind on. It was obvious that Chris had made a good impression on Barbara as she kept complimenting him on his many talents but it wasn’t clear to me where I stood.  Frankly, I often felt like “hair in the soup”, like my presence was just being tolerated.  It was a strange situation to be in, one that caught us off guard.  We chalked it up to their distraction with their renovations and their tours, and I did my best not to take it too personally.

Arriving almost two hours late isn’t the best way to make a first good impression, but the train from Rome was delayed, which caused us to miss our connection in a small town called Chiusi.  At least we were able to phone our hosts to let them know of our delay, thanks to the generosity and friendliness of a fellow traveller.  Luca, a dentist from Naples, was on his way to meet a friend in Siena from where they were going to begin a three day pilgrimage route on their bikes.  They were planning to stay in a convent along the way.  I couldn’t help but notice that I seem to keep bumping into pilgrims these days.

When we finally pulled into Sinalunga, Ugo was waiting for us and welcomed us warmly.  We piled our stuff into his car, and we got our first introduction to this small town (population around 12,000) as Ugo did a few errands before heading out to the farm which is called Trove, just 10 km south.

View from the farm

The countryside in this area which is about 50 km south of Siena is breathtakingly beautiful marked by lush rolling hills dotted with geometrical vineyards and olive groves, old stone farm houses with laneways lined with tall slender dark green cypress trees, and fields awash with wild poppies and streaked with yellow canola.  This is the same luscious landscape used for movie sets like “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “The English Patient”.  In fact, the monastery where some of the English Patient was filmed is a stone’s throw away and a place we plan to visit sometime later this month. The farm is nestled between two medieval hill towns – Castelmuzio and Petroia both of which are within easy walking distance from the farm.

As we approached the farm, Ugo explained how they were in the middle of some renovations that they decided to do rather spontaneously and as a result, things were a little upside down.  Although we assured him that we have lived through renovations and would be fine, I couldn’t deny the sinking feeling that settled in my gut.  What had I gotten us into?

After meeting Barbara, Ugo’s wife, we were shown to our “quarters” and given a tour around the house and the property.  The farm dates back to the 14^th century although the house has “only” been around for a couple of centuries.  It is an authentic, unrenovated stone farm house that has seen very few changes over the years.  Barbara, who is from Australia, and Ugo who is Italian born and who grew up in Lucca which is just north of Florence, bought the farm in the early 70’s but only started living here full time 14 years ago.  Before that, they lived in Australia where they raised their son and worked in the film industry.  About 20 years my senior, this hardworking couple would give people half their age a run for their money.

Entrance to our “suite”.

Necessary improvements have been made to the place over time – like fixing the roof and replacing some of the windows – but they did not make any significant changes until now.  They have electricity but no indoor plumbing (more about that in a minute).  As part of the renovation project, a new kitchen was installed with running hot and cold water. The first indoor plumbing! The floor in the main living area was reinforced and retiled – a major undertaking that was necessary to prevent the whole floor from collapsing.  A new bathroom is also part of the renovation project but it won’t be ready for a while, at least not while we’re visiting.

As is typical of these old farm houses, the main living space is on the second floor.  The house has four bedrooms, living/dining room, a kitchen and a sunroom/storage room; while the farm was operational, as many as five families would have lived here.  Today, it is home to Barbara and Ugo, their dog Merry Moon and their two cats.  And of course they open their home to a steady stream of helpers like us.

Storage area next to our room. One of our first jobs was to get this area cleaned up and organized.

The ground floor would have housed the animals.  You can still see the manger that would hold the animal feed, the sloped floor that allowed the animal waste to slide down into a trough.  Today, Ugo’s workshop, a storage room and the helper’s “suite” is located in this space.  That’s right, we are living in a stable.  Aside from the whitewashed walls, it looks pretty much the same as it would have looked back when it was housing animals.

Our “suite” is one  large room with a small window at one end, a doorway to the storage area along one wall and a door leading to the patio outside on the wall opposite the window.  The floors are tiled in terracotta.  The bed (two twins put together so lots of space) is at the far end of the room along with a dresser, two night tables and two lamps. The other half of the room has a couch, a kitchen table, some cabinets that serve as kitchen storage, a fridge, a cooking stove and a wood burning stove.  The space is very well equipped with all your necessities – bed linens, towels, dishes, pots, etc.  The room has a rustic charm.  We didn’t mind having this little “apartment” to ourselves and we later learned that we would do all our own cooking too which has suited us very well.

Video:  Welcome to our humble abode for the month of May.
 

Outdoor kitchen sink

We couldn’t help but wonder where the bathroom was.  Ugo showed us their toilet system which was a little room next to the storage area that offered two options – you could sit on a toilet seat that was on a bucket, or you could squat over a bucket that was in the ground.  An old fashioned wash basin was in the corner with a clean towel and soap. A bucket of wood shavings sat next to each bucket.  After doing one’s business, you were to throw a scoop or two of the wood shavings into the bucket to neutralize any odor.  Surprisingly, it works as there is no odor whatsoever.  The wood shavings, by the way, come from a harpsichord maker in Castelmuzio.  On our first day at Trove, Ugo showed Chris how to dump the poop bucket into a larger poop bucket which would become Chris’ job during Ugo’s absence. At the risk of sounding sexist, I wholeheartedly agreed that this was definitely a man’s job.

Outdoor shower area

Now we were wondering where do we shower.  Hadn’t we noticed? It was the two buckets stacked in our room along the wall.  Oh, well, we’d have to give that some thought as to how that worked.  The next day, after working in the vineyard under the hot sun, we had no choice but to figure out our bathing system.  This is how it works.  We boil a pot of water on the stove.  We have a tap outside our room, next to a sink.  The tap (cold water only) is connected to town water and is the clearest, most delicious water I have ever tasted from a tap.  But the sink drains into a bucket.  Didn’t I mention this was rustic?  So, we fill a pot from the tap, bring it to a boil on the gas stove, dump it into the larger bucket and then add two more buckets of cold water.  We then stand in the largest bucket and using a plastic pitcher, we pour warm water over our bodies.  We give ourselves a good scrub and then rinse off with more warm water.  Surprisingly, it only takes the three pots of water (one hot, two cold) for both of us to get cleaned up.  Where do we do this?  Well, Barbara suggested we could do it inside, in front of the wood stove since it was still a little chilly when we arrived.  We opted for the outdoors, in the warm sunshine.

Kitchen sink

As I mentioned, after our first day, Barbara proposed that we do our own cooking as Ugo was leaving for a tour (more about that later) and she was swamped with work and seemed quite overwhelmed by the upset the renovation had caused.  She gave us some provisions from her reserves to get us through the first few days.  We have then gotten into the routine of doing a weekly grocery run in Sinalunga where I select our food for the week, and she pays for it.  That is the deal after all – free room and board in exchange for four hours of work a day, six days a week.  She is very generous and urges me to not be shy about getting sufficient provisions. We pay for our own treats and snacks. This past week, we went to the local market held in Sinalunga every Tuesday to get our fruits and vegetables and the local porcini cheese which is absolutely delicious.

We have slipped into a familiar routine where Chris makes the coffee each morning using a mocha pot, then I make breakfast (something hearty since our work is quite physical) and we take turns doing the clean up although it seems Chris does it more often than I do.  I’ve been doing all the cooking which I’ve enjoyed.  It has been a bit of a challenge to cook in such a small space – there is no counter, just the table on which to work.  But we keep our meals simple and it has been working out well.

We have been at the farm for two weeks already and we have been quite comfortable. At first, the nights were cold and we were grateful for the warmth of the wood stove. And we’ve given our new down sleeping bags a good test run before using them on the Camino next month. (Thanks again to Sonja for picking them up from MEC and bringing them with her!) During the second week we had more summer like temperatures and we were grateful for the coolness that comes from the metre thick stone walls.  I would compare our living conditions to camping as you spend a lot of time outdoors, but with some of the comforts of home thrown in like a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in.

I love getting up in the morning and stepping outside onto our patio, feeling the crispness of the morning air, drinking in the beauty and serenity of our surroundings. It’s not a bad way to start each day!

As we pulled into the train station in Venice, the sun broke through the clouds promising us a respite from the rain.  Once we figured out the water bus system (conveniently located on the canal immediately in front of the train station), we managed to find our apartment without too many wrong turns along the way.  The apartment, located on the third floor of another old building without elevators, was everything we had hoped for.  It was in the heart of the historic district in the Cannaregio neighbourhood, just a five minute walk from the Rialto bridge and within walking distance to all the major tourist sights.  Each of the two bedrooms had two large, shuttered windows overlooking the canal. It had a large living room, dining room, kitchen and even a balcony on which was a washing machine and clothes line from which to hang our laundry – just like the locals.

We settled into our apartment, and then explored the neighbourhood; we were delighted to find the following amenities within a couple of blocks radius: a grocery store, an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand, a cheese shop, bakery, and a unique wine store that sold wine in volume by the litre.  In this shop, the wine was stored in an array of large carboys from which you selected your variety, after sampling it, of course.  The shop keeper then poured the desired amount into a recycled plastic water bottle.  We picked up a couple of bottles on the first day but our enthusiasm for this concept waned as we realized the wine was not as good as we had hoped.  No worries, as there were several wine shops in our neighbourhood as well as wine in the local grocery store.

Our first full day in Venice was spent visiting the nearby islands of Lido, Murano and Burano.  We purchased a 12-hour water bus pass for 16 Euro each and we were determined to get our money’s worth.

Lido is an 11 km long sandbar, home to about 20,000 residents.  It is renowned for its beaches which became popular way back in 1857 when the first bathing facility was set up. This was the first time that anything similar had been seen in Europe. Soon, it became “The Lido”, meaning a beach resort. Major beach facilities, hotels and private summer villas have remained the heart of the island that is still known as the “Golden Island”.  But we were not going to see the beaches, we wanted to visit the local market held every Tuesday morning.

We followed the ladies with the shopping carts right to the market.

View of Venice from the Lido market.

Water bus on the Grand Canal

Water buses travel slowly along the Grand Canal offering plenty of opportunity to sightsee along the way.  As we inched our way closer to Lido, the tourists thinned out and were replaced by little old Italian ladies with their shopping carts.  I made the observation that all we needed to do once we arrived in Lido was follow the ladies with the shopping carts.  And that is exactly what we did, practically running after them to hop onto a regular bus, and then jumping off at the last minute as they quickly exited without warning.  And so we found the market, a bustling affair full of locals out doing their regular shopping at the food stalls.  We saw lots of clothes, shoes, and household goods too.  It was as much fun to look at the merchandise as it was to people watch.

Video:  Taking the water bus along the Grand Canal

Next stop was Murano renowned the world over for its hand blown glass.  It is a series of small islands connected by bridges about 1.5 km north of Venice.  It measures about 1.5 km across with a population of just over 5,000.  We were taking full advantage of the glorious day of sunshine – our first since we stepped foot in Italy.   After a couple of hours meandering along the canals, admiring the exquisite works of art and jewellery all made from glass, we stumbled upon some glass makers making intricate pieces for a huge chandelier. It was fascinating to watch these artistic craftsmen at work.

The final stop of the day was the island of Burano, also accessed via water bus.  This island is renowned for its brightly coloured houses and lacework.  The colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development so if your house needs to be painted, you must make a request to the government who will then let you know what colour you can use.  We ended our busy day with a relaxing glass of white wine on a patio basking in the fading sunshine.

Accommodations were scarce in Milan on the weekend we planned to visit because of several events going on in the city including the Milan Marathon.  Sonja managed to find us two nights in an apartment a little outside the city centre.  This modern apartment with paper thin walls (and a screaming baby as a neighbour) lacked character, in stark contrast to the museum-like apartment in Florence.  It was less than ideal, but it was across the street from a Metro station giving us easy access to the entire city.  This was the smallest apartment we stayed in – a loft bedroom with twin beds and a double bed in the living area – but it was also the cheapest.  For two nights, it was sufficient to meet our needs.

As the second largest city in Italy (Rome is the largest), Milan is the main industrial, commercial and financial centre of Italy.  The city is recognized as a major world fashion and design capital with 12,000 companies, 800 show rooms, and 6,000 sales outlets, and four weeks dedicated to top design shows each year.  It is also well-known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, which was one of the events happening during the weekend we were there.

But we were there for the marathon so the first order of business was a visit to the race expo where Sonja picked up her race kit, after which we headed towards the historic centre to check out the sights – in the pouring rain.  In fact, it rained from the minute we arrived on Saturday afternoon until we left on Monday morning.

We found the Castello Sforzesco, one of the most famous monuments in Milan dating back to the 14th century, and wandered around the grounds for a short while; you could easily spend an entire day going through the twelve mini-museums and large archives that cover a vast array of subjects and periods from Palaeolithic history through to 1950s furniture of all things. The Castello complex includes The Museum of Ancient Art, The Furniture Museum, The Museum of Musical Instruments and the Applied Arts Collection, The Egyptian and Prehistoric sections of the Archaeological Museum and the Achille Bertarelli Print Collection. The best known of the current civic museums is the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, with an art collection which includes Michelangelo’s last sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, Andrea Mantegna’s Trivulzio Madonna and Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Trivulzianus manuscript. During the 15^thcentury, this castle was home to the aristocratic court of Lovico ‘il Moro’ Sforza, patron of Leonardo da Vinci.  Of course, we didn’t have time to visit any of these museums.

The highlight that afternoon was a visit to the Duomo.  This gothic cathedral took over five centuries to build; it is the third largest cathedral in the world and the largest gothic cathedral in the world.  To say it was impressive would be an understatement.  We entered the cathedral during mass and so we were privy to the medley of sounds of the organ, the choir and the priests.

On Sunday, Sonja arose before dawn to find her way to the marathon starting point. It was still raining and it was quite cold.  Chris and I thought of her as we stayed behind in our cosy beds (yes, we had the twin beds in the loft) sipping our espresso coffee.  We could easily have just lounged around all day, but we pushed ourselves and went back to the historic centre to do a little more sightseeing.  Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves next to the marathon route when we exited the subway in front of the Duomo.  We watched the runners for about a half an hour, clapping and cheering them on as loudly as we could even though the handful of other spectators lining the course were as quiet as church mice and kept darting puzzled looks our way.  We were even more surprised and pleased to see my sister heading our way – we couldn’t have planned it any better.  Chris managed to get a few photos of her as she made her way through the piazza.  I think she was happy to see our familiar faces even though she still had 16 km to go.

We went into the Duomo for a second look and I was surprised to see so many things I had missed the day before, like the huge crucifex hanging high above the alter at the front of the church, reputed to have one of the nails from the cross Christ died on.  After climbing 250 steps to the roof top, we stood outside on the Duomo roof in absolute awe.  Even though it was raining steadily, we walked slowly around the entire perimeter of the Duomo, taking in all the fine details of the gothic spires that were adorned by over 2000 statues.  I have never seen anything quite like it.

Off to the side of the piazza, we discovered the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where we joined hordes of tourists seeking shelter from the rain under the double glass vaulted arcades. Apparently, this Milanese Galleria, larger in scale than its predecessors, was an important step in the evolution of the modern glazed and enclosed shopping mall. It has inspired the use of the term galleria for many other shopping arcades and malls.

We only spent a weekend in Milan but it was enough time to see the most important and memorable sights.  We found the city to be rather drab, an impression that I don’t think was entirely influenced by the dismal weather.  It seemed ironic that some of the world’s leading fashion designers came from such a dull and dreary place.

By now you may be wondering if we spent any time at all in Florence with all the day trips we had been doing.  Since it was our home base, we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing after our excursions to Pisa and Sienna but we hardly did the town justice.  A case in point, we stayed across the street from Santa Croce Basilica and didn’t have time to visit it!

As you probably know, Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area.  Florence is famous for its history and is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance.  It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, and it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, due to Florence’s artistic and architectural heritage.

The best-known site of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo, whose dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi. Some 600 years after its completion, the Duomo is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world. The cathedral has an imposing presence in the centre of the historic district. When we entered the cathedral, the sombre notes of an organ echoed throughout the cathedral.  While I loved the exterior of the Duomo, the interior was a disappointment for me.  Sure it was huge and had some beautiful mosaic pictures on the walls, but the overall architecture was just not very inspiring, at least not to me.  I still can’t say whether or not the music, which I must admit was a nice touch, was live from the huge organ or whether it was just piped in, no pun intended.

A visit to the Uffizi Gallery marked our last afternoon in Florence.  Imagine, for centuries, people have been walking the hallways I was standing in, admiring the very paintings I was admiring.  Next to each painting, after the artist’s name, title and date of the painting, was the date the painting was acquired by the museum.  I was intrigued to see paintings that had been acquired as far back as the 16^th century and as recently as the 1970’s.  As for the art, well I think Sonja summed it up rather nicely:  “If I see one more painting of the virgin and baby, I’m going to scream!”  Yes, the renaissance artists loved this theme and we saw it repeated in room after room.  This was the first museum where I have seen paintings represented in relief format next to the original painting for the visually impaired.

My favourite part of the gallery was the temporary exhibit of tapestries that left me perplexed as to how it could be possible to create such magnificent masterpieces on the loom.  One tapestry was hung backwards to demonstrate the original, vivid colors which had long since faded from the front.  Much effort and expense is expended annually to restore these beautiful pieces of art to their original glory.

We elbowed our way through hordes of tourists and tour groups in the museum.  You could barely move without bumping into someone.  I hate crowds like that, especially in a museum because it is so difficult to see anything (notice the crowds in the photo above).  Florence in general was inundated with tourists.  I shudder to think what it is like in the middle of summer at the height of the tourist season.  No wonder the locals flee the cities to escape the heat and crowds.

“Pinocchio”, a classic of children’s literature and Italy’s second most read book after Manzoni’s “The Betrothed”, was written by Tuscan writer Carlo Lorenzini who was born in Florence in 1820.  He wrote under the pen name of C. Collodi and the story was first published in Rome in 1881. Naturally, there is an abundance of shops selling everything imaginable with a Pinocchio theme.  While very touristy, Sonja and I found this particular shop (photo above) to be very charming, filled with hand made wooden Pinocchio paraphernalia.

Sonja, posing with the artist of the artwork she bought.  
The Duomo is in the background.

Sonja’s photo – she was obsessed with bikes – and
had lots of photo opportunities to indulge her passion.

Our time in Florence was far too short, as there was much more to see.  I was disappointed that we didn’t have time to visit the Accademia Gallery where the original “David” sculpture by Michelangelo was on display.  I guess we’ll have to go back one day.