Category: Travel

 

How'd you like to walk out your front door, look down the street and see this first thing in the morning?

Well, that's the view as we exited the front door of our apartment in the morning.

Today's mission? Getting to Uffizi Gallery right when they opened at 0815. After a couple of shots of espresso….our apartment was well equipped, we still had some time on our hands, we admired the Duomo and the Baptistery for a bit.

The Missus especially enjoyed the bronze doors of the Baptistery.

So we decided that we'd have to visit the Duomo Museum to see the originals (these are reproductions) at the Duomo museum the next day. More on that in a future post.

We headed in the direction of Uffizi down Via Orsanmichele, taking some time to admire the statues imbedded in the exterior of Orsanmichele Church.

We made our way to Piazza della Signoria, usually bustling, was quite sedate at a few minutes before 8 in the morning.

This is pretty much the heart of Florence. With Palazzo Vecchio towering over the square, Michelangelo's David stood in front of the doors of this palace until 1873. A replica now stands in its place.

There's an interesting plaque in the square. Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican Friar whose prophecies and preaching helped to overthrow the Medici family rule (until 1530) and became the defacto leader of the ruling party of Florence. In 1497 Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Savonarola. On Palm Sunday in 1498, Savonarola and his followers were arrested and tortured. On May 23rd, 1498 Savonarola and two other Friars were executed by hanging on the spot where the plaque is located. Man, what a story!

To the right of the Palazzo is the Loggia dei Lanzi which is filled with statues like Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa, which looks kind of scary and creepy.

And right past that is Uffizi Gallery.

We got into line, under the stares of statues of great figures of the Renaissance.

So, one of the main goals of having the Firenze Card was to be able to get in the reserved line. And being early….there were still folks here before us as we arrived at 8am, we got in with the first group of folks.

There are of course, those works that we all know……Botticelli's iconic Birth of Venus

Or Spring (Primavera).

With so much symbolism.

Or Michelangelo's only known completed painting, Holy Family (Doni Tondo)

Look at the subjects…..they actually look like renderings of statues…….

There are also great views of the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio from various windows.

I loved the Seven Virtues.

Of which, a young Boticelli painted "Fortitude", at the left.

There quite a bit to keep you occupied for hours, like Perseus Freeing Andromeda by Piero di Cosimo, completed somewhere between 1510 and 1513. You see Perseus twice in this work, first flying from with winged sandals. He spies Andromeda, who is to be sacrificed to a sea monster. He swoops down and after dispatching the monster and rescuing the maiden, he wins her hand.

And St Jerome in the Desert by Giovanni Bellini. Bellini panted several versions of this theme, one resides in the National Gallery in Washington DC.

There's an interesting story about this version of Laocoon and His Sons.

You could easily spend the whole day here; though we think about 2 to 2 1/2 hours is more than reasonable.

We left the gallery and headed out across the Arno River on the Ponte Vecchio.

Once upon a time, many segmental arch bridge were covered and lined with shops like Ponte Vecchio; which means "Old Bridge". The bridge was the only way to cross the river in Florence until 1218.

Once upon a time, butcher shops lined the bridge. These days it jewelry and leather goods.

The Missus ended up buying a nice pair of leather gloves.

We walked across the bridge and ended up having a couple of double espressos across from Pitti Palace. Where the Missus planned for our next stop; the Bagello.

Did you know that the Bargello has something in common with my hometown? It turns out that parts of Honolulu Hale, specifically the courtyard, staircase, and ceiling were modelled after the Bargello?

The Bargello is known for its collection of sculpture and statues.

Like Giambologna's "Flying Mercury".

And then there was the one piece that caught my attention. I ended up sending "CC" a text with a photo of the sculpture below and a message that went something along the lines of "and you thought SNF made the Point Move famous. Heck no….it's been around since forever!"

To which CC responded with a comment about the, ahem, attire……no Angel Flights here!

As you can tell, I was getting a bit punchy, perhaps my own version of Florence (Stendahl) Syndrome, it was time for a break.

It was time for lunch.

There's was a place I wanted to try, a place only open for lunch, from noon to 3pm, Monday thru Saturday….three hours! A place that's been in business since 1915. It was just after twelve when we arrived at the rather discreet location across the street from San Lorenzo Church.

I don't think the place takes reservations and the dining area was almost full when we arrived. Luckily we found a table.

The menu is a single page, but it was pretty easy picking out what we were having.

The Missus wanted to try Ribollita (6€ – $7.25US)

Thick, but not too thick, very hearty; this version had beans (delici-yoso) which added a wonderful earthy touch, to the almost potage texture of the soup. The greens added a mild bitter-sweetness. This was wonderful.

Based on our previous meal, I wanted to try the Trippa alla Fiorentina (9,5 € – $11.65).

The surprisingly tender tripe was elevated with a slightly tangy tomato sauce; the flavor of celery seemed present. This was so good…..I've never had tripe so tender and delicious.

Folks in Florence love their meat….so I had to try the Bollito Misto (boiled beef and beef tongue – 10,5€)

This one was kind of odd…though you couldn't accuse the place of false advertising…it was indeed boiled meat……..no seasoning……

Overall lunch was a winner….with a couple of glasses of wine, who could ask for more?

We really enjoyed the service in Florence. Folks were relaxed, but very nice. Trattoria Sergio Gozzi was no different.

Trattoria Sergio Gozzi
Piazza San Lorenzo 8r
Florence, Italy

The Missus couldn't believe a place could survive for over a century open just 3 hours a day. But after eating here we knew why!

It was time for a nap…….

Thanks for stopping by!

In contrast to relaxed and laid back Bologna, Florence was a beehive of activity. From the tine we arrived at the train station there were crowds of people. And yet, there was the experience of walking from the train station and turning the corner to see the Duomo.

I have heard that there is no greater representation of the Renaissance than the Duomo. Walking down busy streets and turning the corner to suddenly have it right in front of you certainly has quite an affect.

One cannot deny the influence of the Medici Family on the Renaissance and on Florence itself.

And yes, the crowds were large, but that just made people and pooch watching that much more interesting.

We had a nice apartment on Via del Servi (more on that later), which was large, comfortable, and quiet at night. Our host Matteo was amazing as well. Our next mission was to get a Firenze Card

For me, once settled, I believed we needed to get a Firenze Card. There were places we wanted to see, and the 71 Euro price would allow us to beat some of the lines and I was sure the Missus would have us headed to more than enough locales to make up for the price of the pass. The closest location open was in Piazza della Signora.

So we headed on over.

After trying to figure things out and with the help of various folks at different admission windows I found the line. About thirty minutes later I had our passes in hand.

We headed right to Accademia which was fairly close and I knew we'd be able to cover in a short amount of time because everyone comes to see…..

The masterpiece that is Michelangelo's David in full glory. I must say, there are those great works of art that do not impress very much in person. David did.

This Renaissance symbol of the victory of divine good over evil stands seventeen feet tall. The detail, especially of the hands is amazing.

David hold the classic pose known as Contrapposto ("counterpoise").

And yes, it was a bit busy; but not super crowded as entrance volume is well controlled. Great for us as we had a short 15 minute wait in the "reserved" line with the Firenze Card. Not so great if you were in the line stretching down the block at the hour of 430 pm.

The rest of the Gallery was pretty empty.

We explored a bit; taking time to check out four unfinished works by Michelangelo dubbed "The Prisoners" each seems to be trying to be….to quote the "unofficial" Accademia website – "to free the spirit from matter".

These four works were initially intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II.

We spent about an hour in total wandering around.

The close location of our apartment allowed us some downtime before heading off to dinner.

I had made only three restaurant reservations before leaving on our trip, including one for the first night in Florence. I was curious about the traditional food of Florence and after reading a bunch of food blogs and such, especially this wonderful post on Curious Appetite (check them out), I thought we'd check out Enzo e Piero.

We had reservations for 7pm, which is probably "tourist time" for eating in Florence, but the folks working were so friendly and gracious. and we were indeed the first customers for this evening.

Though by the time our first bottle of Vino Rosso made it to the table; the place was half full.

We both started with soup courses.

The Missus with a very thick Ribollita. A traditional Tuscan "soup", in this case very thick like a potage.

I'd read that most versions had beans, but this did not. The "soup" was really super thick, bread is used to thicken the soup, and this seemed to have a tad too much of it for our taste. the flavors of the greens and other vegetables were muted.

I got the Tortellini en Brodo. Yes, it's mainly known as a classic dish from Emilia-Romagna; but it was chilly outside and I thought this would be nice.

While the broth was a bit light in the flavor department; man that hand made pasta was amazing. I'd really never had anything like this before. The texture, light yet substantial, just the perfect amount of springiness.

If the Tortellini wasn't enough of a pleasant surprise the Lampredotto in Zimino was just plain great.

For the unitiated, lampredotto, made from the abomasum, aka, the "fourth stomach" of the cow and named after lampreys due to the resemblance of the "tripe" to the color and shape of the eel like creature. I didn't expect much and man, was I surpised at the amazing flavor and texture. The texture is almost buttery, there's a mild "offal" flavor that's deeply beefy-savory, the light tomato sauce did a great job of not masking any flavors; just adding a touch of tanginess. You can tell; this was love at first bite. From this point on, it was going to be "all tripe, all the time" for us.

The artisanal beans; Fagioli Zolfini del Vardarno, heirloom Tuscan beans from Valdarno had a deep beany flavor, if a bit under cooked for our tastes.

Last up for the Missus was the Taglierini al Tartufo Fresco. The Missus asked me what "tartufo" was and I told Her "truffles"…..so you know She was going to order this.

The pasta was so springy. Another thing I learned on this trip, I'd been putting too little salt in my pasta water. We found the pasta, didn't need too much olive oil, garlic, onions…… These "fresh" (fresco) black truffles were very fragrant, but quite mild in flavor.

Amazingly, all the dishes, and most everything we had on this trip just wasn't very salty. It was a fantastic experience for us.

Enzo e Piero has been around since 1931, we wanted to start our trip eating more traditional fare, and this was a good start.

Trattoria Enzo e Piero
Via Faenza 105 rosso
Florence, Italy

Did you notice the "rosso" after the number? Well, Florence addresses have two different sets of numbers. The "rosso", red is for businesses, you'll often see a number ending in 'r'; this means red. Residences are in black or blue. While it can be a bit confusing; it's got nothing on the Japanese address system, which I've mentioned in a couple of posts before.

For dessert, well, we were in Florence, so the Missus grabbed some Gelato from one of what seems like thousands of Gelato shops in Florence.

Life was good!