Florence

27 May Camping Michelangelo Florence

We planned to take a train to Empoli to avoid the hills on the way to Florence, but when we got to the station, the train was going right through, so the only puffing and panting involved in getting to Florence was lugging panniers and bikes – and in Pierre's case, their trailer – down and up platform steps. Phil and the GPS took us through Florence to the campground, and it seemed quite surreal because we rode past the Duomo and the Baptistry, through the famous Piazza della Signoria and across the Arno, successfully dodging hordes of tourists.

The campground is right beside Piazza Michelangelo, where we free camped 29 years ago because the campground was shut. It's on a hill above Florence, so we have beautiful views of the city through the trees. The red-tiled roof of the duomo is just over my left shoulder as I type sitting here in the outside cafe.

It was late afternoon by the time we found a spot and put up the tent, so we cooked a joint dinner and planned the next day.

28 May Camping Michelangelo Florence

We walked around Piazza Michelangelo, taking photos and pinching ourselves to believe we were really here, down the steps where we discovered a little neighborhood of shops we could buy things for tea at, and across the Ponte Vecchio dripping with jewellery shops. We saw the outside of the Chiesa di Orsanmichele, with all its statues, gave our regards to the boar at Mercato Nuovo (on the last day we'll rub his shiny nose to ensure we return again!) then walked to the Duomo and admired the facade from a handy doorstep.

The statuary is more restrained than that of the Siena Duomo, but it has a powerful poetic, geometric grace – and it's huddled up to the 12th Century Baptistry and surrounding buildings, which adds to its impact. After this we were exhausted, and found a little restaurant and had pizzas for lunch. Sitting DOWN! Then back to the Duomo to see its inside and the excavations underneath it. You can see the remains of three preceding churches, all at slightly different floor levels including some areas of beautifully preserved Romanesque mosaic floor. We could also see the galleries inside the dome where the walk to the top went. It looked “frankly terrifying” to Phil and was immediately crossed off his 'to do' list. He says has no problems with heights. He leaves them alone and they leave him alone!

We passed the rest of the afternoon strolling past Palazzo Davanzati, wandering along Via de'Tornabuoni looking in the windows of some very expensive shops (Prada, Gucci....) and through Palazzo Strozzi. Then to the Piazza del Signoria (the civic centre of Florence from time immemorial) for a close look at the statues in the Loggia Dei Lanzi.

By this time, the end of our tether was well in sight, and we called it a day. On the way back we picked up provisions from the little shops in our new neighborhood. Eleanor cooked, or at least supervised the cooking of, dinner, which was a 6 part joint venture between us, Pierre and Eleanor and Karen and her husband from Lucerne. A good time was had by all and we fell into bed at about 11 after realising that we had spent 7 hours in Florence in the day, with all but 45 minutes on our feet.

29 May Camping Michelangelo Florence

Too tired to move. Time for a rest day today. Wrote postcards and diary in the outside campground cafe with Florence spread before us, then I shopped for dinner while Gail had a long nap in the tent. Made a shared dinner with Pierre and Eleanor.

30 May Camping Michelangelo Florence

The rest day was refreshing. We began by pre-booking the Uffizi for Tuesday as part of a combined ticket. It has a wonderful collection of art by the greatest renaissance painters, but with marathon queues unless you spend an extra E4 and pre-book. The combined ticket can be used over three days and also lets us into the Palazzo Pitti - more great paintings - and the Villa Bardi. However we have to see the Uffizi first and it's closed tomorrow.

This required further thought, assisted by a coffee and a shared vanilla slice from a flash cafe on the Piazza del Signoria. It's one third the price if you stand up at the bar, so we did.
We made new plans to visit Palazzo Davanzati, go to the Bargello (lots of sculptures by Michelangelo and Donatello) then perhaps to the Acaddemia to look at Michelangelo's David and others of his sculptures including the emerging giants. We did get to Palazzo Davanzati which was really interesting – maintaining the layout, furniture painted finishes and general appearance of a 14th C fortified noble house. The rooms were beautiful, with intricately painted walls. We liked it a lot.

The rest of the plan was less successful. The Bargello was shut (it being the 5th Sunday of the month), and the queues to the Acaddemia were hopelessly long with pre-booking not available today.

The only sensible solution was to have lunch, which we did. Investigations showed we were near Santa Croce, where the queue turned out to be merely a bit long. The Church, chapels, tombs, cloisters, and historical information on the audio guide were comprehensively exhausting, but it was pretty remarkable to find the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Dante within a few metres of each other.

Time to go home, buying food on the way. No socialising tonight – quiet dinner for 2, then to bed to listen to the disco in the nightclub next to the campground. (It's awful!)

31 May Camping Michelangelo Florence

Our plans today were to see the Palazzo Vecchio, the San Lorenzo church and the Baptistery. We managed 2 out of 3.

We began with the Palazzo Vecchio, getting there by backstreets (though we thought we were on our way to San Lorenzo, when the PV bobbed up we thought, we're flexible). We expected it to be a short-ish easy visit. Wrong again. This was a complex which began as the municipal centre of the Florentine republic, but was extended as time went on both by the Medicis and at the instigation of Savonarola (who was ultimately burnt as a heretic in front of it).

It is grand, complex, intricate and beautifully decorated, combining vast public spaces reflecting the power and wealth of Medici Florence with opulent private apartments and terraces for the Medicis, intimidating reception areas for foreign delegations and chancery rooms where Machiavelli worked. We were there for hours, even without getting on board the guided tours of the secret passages which enabled the Medici to get from there to the Uffizi and across the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace on the other side of the river. It was all splendid – not a room without a fresco, not a ceiling undecorated. An English tourist observed to us later in the day that the Medicis had not only made Florence wealthy when they ruled but had ensured that it continued to be wealthy from tourists coming to see the treasures they had commissioned or gathered. It's hard to think of any local plutocrats who might leave a legacy of that kind.

We decided lunch was in order and went wandering, finding ourselves at the Bargello, which was open (the moon must have been in Aquarius) but we needed food. Found a nice restaurant and realised that it was about 3.30, with the Bargello shutting at 5. We finally just went to the Baptistery (after finding a sophisticated high tech public toilet which stung us a Euro each for the privilege. (For 2 Euros yesterday we got a coffee and vanilla slice at a very flash cafe with a free visit to the toilet. We will keep this in mind!).

The Baptistry, dating from the 12th C is the oldest existing religious building in Florence. The whole of its inside of its huge dome is made up of glittering gilt mosaics depicting stories from the bible. You can get a very sore neck looking up at it.

We got back to the campground with food for four people, to find Eleanor and Pierre back from their trip. We were dying to find out if they had been successful. Where had they been?

Pierre's father was captured in Africa in WW2 and was made a prisoner of war in Italy. When the Italians overthrew Mussolini in 1943, the POW camp guards simply opened the gates and let the prisoners go. But then the Nazis occupied Italy and re-instated Mussolini, so Pierre's father and two companions spent the last 2 years of the war hiding in the mountains behind Genoa.

They were protected and fed by local peasants and partisans until the Allies arrived. They had built a rough hut, which the Germans once found and burnt, but they had escaped by hiding among boulders in a hidden pool in the river, after being warned by a little girl who walked for several kilometres by herself to tell them. (The villagers had sent her alone because they thought she would not be suspected. They were right.)

Pierre's father had kept a long diary which talked about the terrible conditions and the kindness of their protectors. Pierre and Eleanor's daughter had found information, including the address of one of the families referred to in the diary, and had had a letter translated into Italian .

His father had come back to thank his protectors in 1961, but Pierre and Eleanor were hoping to make contact with someone who had been involved, and see the area where he had been hiding. They decided to leave their bike and tent here at the campground where we could keep an eye out, and hire a car to drive to Genoa and then up to the village.

So, we were all agog to hear their story. It went like this:

They took the wrong road after Genoa but people kindly helped them. They climbed and climbed through pristine mountain scenery, and along tiny, winding roads with barely enough room for two cars to squeeze past each other and a huge drop to the river below, looking for the village, but couldn't find it until someone else hand drew a map for them.

The first people they asked in the village didn't recognise the family's name. The next suggested they try asking in the village square. Their last ditch attempt produced gold. There was much reading of their letter, and then a person got into his car and indicated for them to accompany him. He took them down a muddy, rocky lane to the house identified in the diary.

The two brothers there read the letter. They weren't the family they were looking for – they had moved away - but they knew the story. One of the men said “come” and led them on a stiff climb for a kilometre or so into the forest. Suddenly, there before them in a dell was the remains of the stone hut his father and the others had re-built 67 years before. They were overwhelmed.

Back at the house, other people had arrived, including an 82 year old man and his nephew who had some English. As the story unfolded, the old man referred to a photograph and the nephew was dispatched to get it. He came back bearing a photograph of Pierre's father's wedding, with an inscription by Pierre's father to the old man they were talking to, thanking him for his help. This man, as a 17 year old, had been one of the Partisans.

Pierre and Eleanor made to leave, but they were taken for a tour of the farm, then shown the milking, then invited to dinner – baguette with pork lard, new-laid eggs from the 'libero' chickens, minestrone soup and a very good red wine made by a neighbour. They made to leave again, but this
time were invited to stay for the night, and sleep in the neatly made up bed of the parents, now deceased ten years. Finally, after a breakfast of bread dunked in milk coffee, they were allowed to leave. This was their story, which they were happy for us to share with you. We hope we've done it justice.


1 June Camping Michelangelo Firenze

Today we spent the whole day in the Uffizi gallery, pacing ourselves and spending what we needed on the “light refreshments” available in its cafeteria, which we expected to be a bit pricey. (In fact it was laughably, ridiculously pricey, but you're not allowed to take in any food or drink – though we did manage to smuggle a large block of chocolate through the security scanner.)

The Uffizi contains one of the two major Renaissance painting collections in Italy and therefore the world (the other one being in the Vatican), and is based around the personal collection of the Medicis, who were patrons or customers of, among others, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens etc etc.

We couldn't have spent a whole day like this when we first arrived in Florence. It seems to take time to develop the mental attention and power of concentration you need to spend a long time looking at great art. The first few days we were just overwhelmed and wiped out pretty quickly. Today we had a wonderful time and found the stamina came pretty easily. The two bowls of gelati and large mineral water for afternoon tea (a mere 24 Euros – about AUD$37 – don't even ask about lunch) did spark us up.

We loved a lot of things but found the Botticellis in particular pretty fantastic. As you go from room to room in historical order, you can see a revolution (or series of revolutions) in how people are depicted and paintings composed, including the arrangement of figures, use of colour and the way paint is put on the canvas. Being able to see that development made the experience of going through the gallery really powerful, even apart from the impact of specific pieces.

It is a bit of a commitment to go there. We pre-booked a couple of days ago for an entry time of 10.15 to 10.30. We arrived at 10.15 to find a massive queue for the pre-booked entrance. Thank goodness, we found we were in the tour groups queue. The queue for individual pre-booked entry was not massive, just really long. The system worked however, and it took only 15 minutes to get from the end of the queue into the gallery building, and join the queue to get into the galley (just another 10 minutes). The poor folk who had not pre-booked faced a waiting time of three hours. And they would not find much relief when they got in. This is where the system broke down a little. There are toilets in the Uffizi. Multiple toilets. Three cubicles for men and three cubicles for women. And you know who had a long, long, queue to join, don't you. If you guessed it wasn't Phil, you were right! So,after another 20 minutes (i.e 45min altogether) we were looking at an actual painting.

We were there from 11am to 6pm, and it was worth every minute, every inconvenience and every Euro we spent in the cafeteria. In defence of the cafeteria, we should say that it was on a terrace o0f the building formerly used by the Medici to listen to concerts, and it looked straight at the Palazzo Vecchio and its tower (see yesterday;s entry). No doubt the purpose of the prices was to make the customers feel like extravagant renaissance princes for 30 minutes or so.

After this epic of art appreciation, we made our way back to the tent for dinner and a sleep.

Wednesday 2 June Campground Michelangelo Florence

This was renaissance art appreciation day 2. There were some clouds about but we ignored them and headed off to the Bargello. This was a building dating from about the 11th Century and had been, in broad terms, the Court then the headquarters of the officers of justice, then, until the mid 19th C a prison. It was restored in the 19th C and brought back to something like its original appearance and configuration. It is a stern and imposing building set around a courtyard. As we got near to it, rain started and got heavier and heavier with rolls of thunder. The effect in the Bargello was quite atmospheric as we watched the rain fall into the courtyard and the run-off from the roof cascade down from the spouts 20 or so metres above us.

The Bargello is primarily a sculpture museum and contains some wonderful pieces, including a sculpture called Leda and the Swan that Gail has been crazy about since she first saw it 29 years ago.. We had always thought it was a Michelangelo, but in fact it's a sculpture of a painting he did which has been lost. It's an incredibly sensual piece in which Zeus has turned himself into a swan for the purpose of seducing Leda. It makes no bones about what is going on, yet it was made in the early 16th Century. Other highlights were a Michelangelo Madonna and child, and Donatello's famous David, cast in bronze.

Lunch was round the corner, and then because it was still pouring, we bought an umbrella for me and a very fetching (not) orange plastic poncho with hood for Gail, as her filmy silk top was less than effective against the elements.

Thus equipped, we went in search of Museo Bardi, another venue of the Caravaggio exhibition. The art there wasn't wonderful. The gardens looked fabulous, but weren't very enticing in the rain.

We decided to walk home. The route took us along a long, meandering walled road, with villas and gardens, including large olive groves, hiding behind the walls. The wealth was obvious, and with it comes some of the best views in the world. The sky cleared and the sun came out strongly on this walk, which -with a slight detour - took us to San Miniato, an 11th Century Romanesque church, which was wonderful, with soaring columns, frescoed walls and a beautiful floor.

Home, then off again, round Piazza Michelangelo, back down the steps because we'd decided to have dinner out in Florence. (We sit outside our tent to eat, and the rain had produced sticky, wet clay – not enticing!) At dinner we chatted to Robert, who was living here while researching refugee problems in Africa, and had just started doing some cycle touring. We had much in common to talk about.

We discussed catching a bus, but in the end it was quicker – and nicer even though there were all those steps - with Florence twinkling below– just to walk back home to round off a huge day.

Thursday 3 June

Today we completed our Caravaggio card by seeing some actual Caravaggios (!!) and working our way through the Palatine Gallery at the Palazzo Pitti. The Cs were pretty good, and we saw some lovely pieces in the Palatine Gallery, but the paintings aren't organised in any way, and are hung thickly all over the walls of each “salon',so we were glad we'd been to the Uffizi first.

This time it was possible to leave and go back, so we didn't have to use the cafeteria thank goodness. After a few hours we went in search of a neighbourhood trattoria recommended in the Lonely Planet. It was the real deal; full of locals as well as tourists – lively, friendly and energetic with lovely food at very reasonable prices. We were given CHAIRS (ahhh!) to sit on while we waited for a table. It was worth the wait.

Back to the Pitti until it shut at 5.15 – so we certainly got our money's worth!

We wandered back across the river to Cafe Gilli (their vanilla slices are pretty good!) and met some Australians from near Newcastle who've travelled a lot. They save hard at home and keep going away. Impressive.

After about one and a half hours of chatting to them at the bar (you can't afford to sit down at Gilli) we were desperate to be off our feet, It was after 8pm so we went had pizza for dinner. A note about pizza in Italy. It's respectable food here, and it's quite normal to order pizza for dinner. Baked with care, with a thin crispy base and a luscious top, it's delicious. We devoured ours gratefully.

Then because we'd been walking or standing ALL DAY we decided to be really wicked and track down a gelateria recommended in LP. Here we have to add a note about gelati (ice-cream) too. You have no idea how incredibly restrained we have been. This was only our second gelati in Florence, but gelati shops are everywhere – really everywhere! - and people are dreamily licking cones or industriously digging into little cups everywhere you look. We had piccolo (little) ones. Think of hazelnut and vanilla in a divinely crunchy little cone. We staggered home after this, not entirely sure we'd earned it, but completely unrepentant. We'd been out for twelve and a half hours.

Friday 4th June Camping Michelangelo – Firenze

We'd booked The Galleria for ten o'clock today to see Michelangelo's unfinished 'prisoners', and his gigantic David and it took a fast 45 min walk to get there. It's a clever piece of display, because the prisoners are in different stages of emerging from their blocks of marble – one is trying to stride out (“If I could only get my other leg free”) another 's head is still entirely encased and his arms are up as if he's trying to push it off. And you can see all the chisel marks. So, they're fascinating and strangely moving. Then there's David, and although there are two copies in Florence, the real thing is amazing up close. Particularly because he's not supported by much, and he's got enormous hands and feet and a thick neck, yet the overwhelming impression is of balance and grace.

We needed fortifying with a coffee and cake after this – sitting down! Phil ordered a beautiful little custard one with pieces of fresh glazed fruit on it. Yum!

Then to the Spedale degli Innocenti, which was an orphanage for abandoned children, most often girls. There was a revolving door where babies could be left. In fact, we realised, girls usually spent their whole lives there – they had no family, no dowry, and so no marriage prospects. They worked in the cloth workroom, or looked after the little children as they grew up. Boys were abandoned too, but not as many, and they could be apprenticed out, or we think, adopted out. (For poor families boys were useful – girls were just expensive to keep.) Unmarried mothers who came to the Ospedale had to work for a year as a wet-nurse - as compensation in return for their care. We didn't expect this rather moving history lesson; we came to look at its famous cloisters, which I'd read were among the most beautiful in Florence. They were completely lovely – a wonderful symmetry of line and balance and proportion, with small orange trees glowing green in terracotta pots in the centre.

We went to look at the fresh food market next. It was closing down, but we bought and ate a couple of lovely peaches. Then it was lunch time.

Lunch today required a 20 minute wait – standing outside Trattoria Mario – another recommendation from the LP. The third generation of the family is running it, and it's famous. The entire outside of it was covered in different reviews.. Customers sit on stools crowded around tables for 8. We finally got the next available space. The food was good and not expensive, though probably not quite as good value – and not as comfortable – as yesterday's.

San Lorenzo leather/jewellery/souvenir market was close by, so we had a look around. I'm still using the little snakeskin evening bag I bought on the Ponte Vecchio last time, and leather is so good in Florence, I decided over the last few days that I'd like a nice bag as a souvenir. The making wasn't all that fantastic but we got the prices of some.

Since the piccolo cones are really pretty modest, we decided we should try another LP gelateria recommendation. This time I had nocciola (hazelnut) and strawberry, Phil had nougat and nocciola (it was VERY good).

Now we had a benchmark we went off to the leather shops across the Ponte Vecchio. (This is the ancient covered bridge lined entirely by jewellery shops.) Eventually I found the bag of my dreams, Phil bought a wallet, and we bought a few prezzies.

It was 7.30pm and time to go home to soup with fennel. Today had been a mere ten hours. Up the steps and around the outside of Piazzale Michelangelo for our fabulous view of Florence. The clay around our tent was drying out nicely. We can't tell you how exquisite it was to sit DOWN.

5 June Camping Michelangelo

We started today by catching up with the diary, downloading photos (a mere 330 or so of Florence of which we eliminated 80) etc and then we realised that it was lunch-time and we were just a bit too weary to go sight-seeing. Instead we used the remainder of our 'rest' day to sort out the next move including a change of plan to incorporate seeing our friend Morag, who will be in Brescia next weekend. The plan is now to go to Bologna on Monday and Como via Milan on Tuesday, then ride from Como to Bergamo and Brescia, finishing up in Mantua. We will go from Mantua back to La Spezia and Cinque Terre and Lucca. It was really our feet which were resting – there was a fair bit of mental activity.

6 June camping Michelangelo

Last day in Florence today – went to the Bardi gardens (the grounds of Villa Bardi where we went the other day), and the Boboli gardens which are the grounds of the Pitti Palace, which we also visited the other day.

The Bardi gardens were lovely. They go from the level of the river up a steep hill to the Villa. Nicely planned, multi-tiered flower gardens, wisteria and rose covered walkways, a pond with fountain and statue, a picturesque mini-canal and a mixture of modern and renaissance sculptures peering through through foliage. Wonderful views of Florence spread out below. Gail was busy with the camera.

The Boboli gardens were a bit of a disappointment. They were more like a park with sweeping gravel walkways. We were hungry after all this walking, so found a nice little trattoria for a veggie lasagne and gnocchi with aubergine, which we shared. Then, after a bit more walking, we found ourselves right outside one of the very good icecream shops. So we indulged (well it was our last day!) in [piccolo] raspberry and baci cones. They were VERY good!

We said goodbye to the Duomo then visited the boar at the straw market and waited our turn to rub his shiny nose. This ensures that one day we'll return!

Then up the steps and around Piazza Michelangelo one last time. Back home Gail did a bit of washing, and then washed the fly of the tent (just with water) because those birds which sing so sweetly in the morning have been pooping all over it. I sorted the trains to Bologna, programmed Mr GPS, pumped up tyres and oiled chains. We have to ride the first 25kms to Prato – we just hope we can remember how to turn those pedals. We've had a wonderful time in Florence.