Hong Kong John

I had heard much about Florence in the year or two leading up to my trip and met many people who had nothing but fond memories for this centre of art and culture. This was the first stop on my trip that I intended on staying at for any prolonged period of time – and by that I mean three nights instead of one, haha. After the chaos that were the preceding days in northern Italy (that said, the entire hop-off-plane-and-make-plans-later approach seemed to suit me quite well) I decided that using Florence as a rest stop was a good idea.

The road into Florence coming down from Bologna was breathtaking; I was winding through the Appenines as brief glimpses of civilisation are seen through the gaps in the mountains as the car twisted and turned its way through. Unlike many of the north-south highways that can make driving seem rather monotonous and sleep-inducing, a lot of the east-west routes take similar windy paths through this mountain range and make for a highly enjoyable drive. There are almost innumerable places to get beautiful photographs of Florence, as the city looks great from almost any angle.

 

Upon arriving, I checked in to the local hostel (a particular shoutout here to Plus Hostel Florence who in my opinion were the best hostel I stayed in the whole of Italy hands down! Rather helpful, free WiFi, and a great party atmosphere even though I’m not much of a partygoer) and grabbed a quick bite to eat before driving up to the famous Piazzale Michelangelo with a few friends that I had met while checking in. A must-see, it is located on a hill on the south bank of the river Arno and offers magnificent views of the city. There is also a large replica of David in the middle of the square, as well as the inevitable souvenir vendors.

The hill is undoubtedly the best place to get some great shots of Florence as well, at any time of day. Photographers should note that coming back here several times a day will probably always give you unique results, and frequent visits are recommended.

On the way back, I passed by the beautiful Ponte Vecchio, an absolutely gorgeous medieval bridge that is particularly famous for still having shops along it, which was commonplace way back when. Nowadays, instead of grocers and butchers, visitors will find art dealers and jewellers along the bridge with the occasional souvenir ship. At night it lights up beautifully, giving those out for a stroll a real treat to look at.

This is where my blog goes off the beaten track slightly. Despite my enjoyment of music and photography, I’m not generally that creative / artistic a person, and as a result I did not actually visit any fine art museums while in Florence (slightly sacrilegious I know, although there are a lot of art works on free public display throughout the city)!  That said, the first stop for anyone interested in such things must definitely be the Accademia art gallery (www.accademia.firenze.it), founded by Medici in 1563. A special wing of the gallery was built especially to house the original statue of David, which is undoubtedly the main reason most people go. Be warned, though: it is well advised to attempt to book tickets in advance and arrive early, as there are often long queues. Depending on how into your arts you are as well, there have been many reviews publicly available on the internet suggesting aside from the statue of David there is not too much that is spectacular. More recommended for this sort of thing is the Uffizi gallery (www.uffizi.com), which houses many masterpieces including Da Vinci’s Annunciation and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

So, instead of going down this route I chose to explore Florence and dip in and out of wherever I happened to pass by along the way. The obvious focal point of the city was the famous cathedral (duomo). The most popular front courtyard has the main entrance opposite St. John’s Baptistry, a small octagonal building famous for its three sets of bronze doors with sculptures depicting various Biblical references. The doors facing the duomo are the most popular and called the Gates of Paradise, a photo (big crowd so side view!) of which is below.

For those wishing to identify the characters in the scenes, they are as follows (1 and 2 being the top row, 3 and 4 being the second row, etc.): 1. Adam and Eve, 2. Cain and Abel, 3. Noah, 4. Abraham, 5. Isaac with Esau and Jacob, 6. Joseph, 7. Moses, 8. Joshua, 9. David, 10. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Directly across, of course, is the daunting duomo with Giotto’s bell tower just behind it. Opening times for the public to take a look inside can vary, so it’s advisable to take a quick glance at opening times and planning your day around being to return. Once inside, however, the place is huge – and by huge, I mean ridiculous. There are a total of forty four stained glass windows throughout the hall, but the most mesmerising sight has to be towards the end of the church hall, where looking up into a warm glow reveals the amazing Last Judgement fresco, started by Giorgio Vasari and being finished years later by Frederico Zuccari.

After being awed by the duomo, I went on a hostel-led tour of the nearby San Lorenzo market, aptly on Piazza del Marcato Centrale. I believe it’s also Europe’s largest food market, but either way it really doesn’t disappoint! The sheer number of Italian delicatessens, butchers and eateries inside this big building will be enough to satisfy even the most demanding of foodies. And for the more eccentric, lots of unorthadox foods are here as well (I managed to find a lamb’s skull for example – I believe that about sums that up!).

Lots of cheese, wine, cured meats and olive oil later, and dropping off the shopping at the hostel, I venture back out to another of Florence’s old markets, the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, otherwise known as the Loggia del Porcellino to prevent confusion between it and the Mercato Vecchio (in Piazza della Republica, the city square). If you are walking here during the day, the Loggia del Porcellino is only a few minutes’ walk away from the Ponte Vecchio and makes for a nice walk across the bridge up towards Piazzale Michelangelo.

 

This loggia is most famous amongst modern day tourists for the (you guessed it) Porcellino, or the piglet, which is a bronze boar on display in a fountain. It’s said that rubbing the boar’s snout brings good fortune on your return trip to Florence, which is why that area of the statue has a particular shine to it! It is also common practice to put a coin inside the boar’s mouth, with good luck being brought when the coin drops into the fountain’s waters.

My next day’s outings were somewhat marred by rain, but that didn’t stop me from venturing out and hunting for a restaurant, many serving the city’s famous Florentine steak (Bistecca alla Fiorentina – although I did not end up eating one on this day as I was quite full up from lunch – but still highly recommended!) followed up with some gorgeous gelato – dare I say the gelato in Florence, for some awesome reason, tastes better than that which I tried anywhere else in the country! That said, it’s still very good pretty much everywhere. Windows displaying the different flavours on offer were generally a mouth-watering sight.

I took the opportunity in the overcast weather to practice photographing some of the duller colours that have a more even shine when the clouds are out, and even made a fool of myself in the middle of the street to try and get this nice reflection of the duomo (and in the process requiring going back to the hostel for a change of clothes – but so worth it!). On this particular trip I found the best gelato to be a place called (rather un-Italian-like) Queen Victoria, on via Roma just a few minutes’ walk away from the front of the duomo.

Given that I had missed out on museums this trip, however, I was absolutely determined to visit one of them – and after a bit of research I chose a place slightly more off the beaten track. Tucked away in Via dei Servi behind the duomo is the Leonardo Da Vinci museum (www.mostredileonardo.com) which was the perfect treat for an engineer / gadget enthusiast such as myself. There are working and even some interactive replicas of a grand number of Da Vinci inventions, and I comfortably spent over an hour in there playing with and figuring out these beautiful tools and toys.

Finally, I moved on out to a rather wet Piazzale Michelangelo for another spectacular view of the city, this time in the day. It did not seem to matter that the weather wasn’t great, simply because the place is that beautiful.

As I spent my final day in Florence walking around in Pisa and Lucca, this evening would technically be my last here for now in terms of time spent exploring the city. Before moving on though, a few useful pointers: If you have an extra day and want to get away from the relative hustle and bustle in town, I recommend a day trip to Fiesole, which is just north east of Florence and can be gotten to via the number 7 bus. It’s a beautiful town on a hill overlooking Florence, and offers a bit of piece and quiet in addition to great food and views.

Finally, if you happen to have access to a car, various hotels and hostels will have maps of the nearby area showing where all the local farms and vineyards are. Depending on the season (ask for more information wherever you’re staying) it’s a lot of fun to drive around these farms and vineyards, sampling local produce and even having a chat and buying stuff from the farmers themselves, who regularly open up their residences for you to go and have a drink should you pay them a visit, as you can see above with some friends I met while travelling.

Florence is one of my favourite places in Italy and I can’t wait until my next trip back – and the next one will definitely be an extended stay frequenting the museums and sampling a lot more of the local food and drink!