As we pack to leave Firenze…here are a few ‘holiday’ snaps!
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While on our adventures we have been up structures such as St Paul’s cupola in London, London eye, Eiffel tower in Paris and now…Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore cupola. We have left this adventure till the end of our stay as it put into context/perspective all the legwork we did throughout this city!! As anyone would know, in a new environment it is always difficult to get your ‘bearings’. Well in Firenze with the buildings lining the streets and very little horizon to see, we were/are often lost!! The only way we got to know our way ’round was with a LOT of legwork…ALL over the city!
One of our most memorable vistas of Firenze is from Piazzale Michelangelo…until now! The view from the top of the dome of the cathedral is magnificent. See below…
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We’re ticking off the sights in Firenze and one which we’ve been looking forward to is Galleria degli Uffizi. We were soooooooo lucky to be able to go along with Nicoletta…a friend from Firenze. She was so knowledgable! She put the history, architecture and art into a Fiorentine perspective which made such a difference. Patrick and Grace got to see masterpieces from Di Vinci, Giotto, Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. Maybe a bita kultya has rubbed off on them this year!! It was amazing that they actually recognised some of their works and could say who created them!!
That day we also ‘popped’ into La Basilica di Santa Croce. This basilica was a big surprise for us…it was magnificent! We were able to get so close and ‘personal’ to so many great works of art. And to hear the part about it’s recent history and its damage from the 1966 floods in Firenze was devastating. It harmed many pieces of artwork as well as the basilica itself. However, the passion in the restoration was remarkable. The Franciscans certainly did a unique job building the basilica and it’s community and was repaid in their time of need with the local support.
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As part of our touristi plans during the lasts weeks of our Firenze stay we visited Palazzo Pitti and Il Giardino di Boboli (Bobili gardens).
Palazzo Pitti (mostly built in the 15th century) is a huge palace in Firenze on oltrarno (south side of L’Arno) with the ruling families used as a great treasure house. It was also used as a base by Napoleon (who didn’t actually stay there) and later was the royal palace when Firenze was the capital of the newly united Italia. Grace got some MORE ideas for her bedroom redesign!!! She quite liked the colours in the Duchess room especially with the wardrobe ‘wing’!
Il Giardino di Boboli is the ‘backyard’ of the palazzo. It is beautiful but would be a bugger to mow and do the hedges! You’d need a beer or two when it was done!
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With our family being ‘a little bit’ interested in cycling (some of us, anyway) it was a bonus when we ventured out on a Sunday walk and found advertising and bunting up all around Piazza della Repubblica last Sunday (100m down the road). The Femmina Giro di Toscana arrived in town and was finishing in the square. It was very exciting to have our own ‘Giro’ viewing.
There was certainly not much of an advertising train in front of the pack to let you know the riders were coming. It consisted of 1 BMW convertible with some 15 year olds with make up on. We wondered if their mothers knew!? The finish was fast and furious…and very dangerous over the pavé street of Firenze!
After the race was the usual cool down for the girls, however, in the middle of Piazza della Repubblica, it didn’t turn out to be the most private place for the girls to slip out of their sweaty and stinky tops…I no longer need to give Patrick his Birds n Bees talk!!!!
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The whole crew went to the soccer (Fiorentina vs Parma) last weekend which added another 11 Fiorentina supporters to the crowd. Beforehand we picked up our violet Firenze T-shirts and dug out anything violet from our wardrobes. Fiorentina are not having the best start to their season (with a new coach) so they really needed to win this game.
It rained part of the way through the game, however, this didn’t seem to dampen the crowds enthusiasm. As usual the cherubs were in awe of the passion for the game and the atmosphere created by the cheering and flag/scarf/anything waving. The final score was Fiorentina 2 Parma 0.
We all just needed a Trippa Panini (Tripe breadroll) to complete our Fiorentine pomeriggio (afternoon). Funnily enough, no one was in for it!!!
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Italiano lezione lingua 101 – Brutto in Italiano means ‘ugly’ (see translation here). Some examples of the the use of this word is when the weather is harsh (raining/very cold) or (as we heard at the Fiorentina vs Napoli soccer) when someone from the opposition is taking a corner kick…the crowd is chanting ‘Brutto, Brutto, Brutto‘!
Another example Grace found was the ceramic statue of a ‘man’ in a shop at the end of our strada (street) – see pictures below. The statue of the lady in period dress looks wonderful, however, as for the ‘man’…I would hate to meet him at a bar on a Friday night!
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As we walk through the various areas of the culturally rich Florentine streets we try to point out to our ragazzi (children/cherubs) as much about the history of Firenze and the renaissance period as we possibly can. It gives them some sort of perspective as to the importance this time has on the world in the way of the arts, medicine, astronomy, architecture, finance etc.
We often walk through the narrow courtyard between the Uffizi Gallery’s two wings on our evening walks (passeggiata - click here for our explanation) and recently we started to take photos of the various statues surrounding the courtyard. As we read through the names at the bottom of the statues, it was noted by our ‘learned children’ part of the way down the courtyard, that we had photos of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donetello…now we just needed Raphael to make up the set!!! Madonna mia!!
Another collection of adventure moments…
We hope this doesn’t become like the dinner party from hell…’Would you like to look at our 3 million ’holiday snaps’?!!
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Firenze is a passionate city full of renaissance art, beautiful food (and obviously smells), colourful characters and alta moda! The Florentine display of these passions is what is so wonderful about this city. This also includes their display surrounding the affairs of the heart.
There is a tradition that a loving couple will attach a padlock (Lucchetti d’amore – Lock of Love) to the railing of a bridge (in the past this has been mostly the famous Ponte Vecchio that spans the Arno River) and throw away the key to the river below. It is believed that the padlock (chains and overly large locks are apparently frowned upon) like the enamoured couple, symbolises the unbreakable bonds uniting them.
BTW-Last year the local council set metal cutters to work removing more than 5000 locks which had accumulated on the railings. It apparently took a long time because workmen were battling against a never-ending flow of loving couples…new locks were being attached faster than they could take them off.
We are hoping that this natural display of love and affection won’t engender too many curious questions from Patrick and Grace for their parents! Come si dice (How do you say) ‘Birds and Bees’ in Italiano?
