Forget the art (okay, don't forget it), Florence is a gastronomic feast! I had the most unbelievable spaghetti (Spaghetti a Pomodoro ... very basic with tomato, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese, much like the pizza here) as my first course (pasta is normally first course in Italy) with a very tender steak for my main. The steak was bursting with flavour! All washed down with some delicious local Chianti - the house wine. Unlike Australia, house wine here is generally very good. It was so filling I could not manage dessert!
Earlier, I started the day (my birthday) with a walking tour of Florence, which included a lot of the major sights such as the Ponte Vecchio (the “old bridge” across the Arno with shops built along it, the only bridge not destroyed in World War II), Piazza della Signora (the beautiful square featuring the fountain of Neptune, lots of impressive sculptures including a copy of Il David, and the old palace, Palazzo Vecchio), a number of churches and the city’s famous cathedral, the Duomo. Following this I climbed Giotto’s bell tower for fantastic views of Florence and the Duomo’s dome.
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| From Florence |
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| From Florence |
In the afternoon I joined another guided tour (it was part of a package) to Italy’s most famous art gallery, the Uffizi. The Uffizi is one of the most amazing galleries I’ve visited and I think forking out for the tour was worthwhile, both to avoid the queues and for the insights the guide gave us into how art progressed through the centuries (the Uffizi is set out in chronological order). It was sort of like Art History 101! I think the Uffizi was one of the most, if not THE most, impressive art galleries I have visited. Taking a guided tour made a big difference, as the guide was able to take us on a journey into the age of the Renaissance and explain the progression of art as she took as to masterpiece after masterpiece. It gave me a new found appetite for the subject.
Despite being on my own, it was a wonderful birthday!
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