The Piazzas and Churches of Florence

Since coming to Italy it has become clear that we need to reschedule our days. Noel Coward sang "Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun" and it was clear that even though we are Welsh not English we needed to miss that midday sun in this climate.

Hence since Milan our plan has been to get out reasonably early, see as many sites as we can and find somewhere to eat at lunch-time before returning to the hotel room for a cool until the evening brings some respite. With the Florence temperature at 30C and heading toward 36C we did just that.

Florence has the advantage of a lot of small streets, meaning that, apart from at noon, there is a good chance of finding shade. In the shade the heat is bearable, but the moment we go out into the direct sunlight we begin to flag, but the layout of Florence was a real help with this.

So early on Wednesday morning we left the hotel at just before 8.00 and walked a few blocks to the laundromat. It is one of those places which, in addition to allowing for you to wash your own clothes, will wash and dry a bag full of clothes for you which you can collect later. As the cost of this was 8.50 euros (the cost of laundering one shirt if we had used the hotel laundry) we left our suitcase and carried on into the town. 

Given this is Italy and people who live here permanently eat breakfast in the bars and cafes rather than at home, we had opted to do the same, rather than pay the 20 euros each for the hotel breakfast. Having reached the Santa Maria Novella square we went into a small bar and had a panini each with a cappuccino for Drew and an Americano for me. I'm still struggling with the language, indeed I've got to the stage where I'm not sure what language I am going to speak. The look of bewilderment when I asked for a queso y jamon panini reminded me that I should have been asking for a formaggio e prosciutto one. With the help of pointing we managed to get there! I'm worried that by the time I do get to Spain I'll be using Italian by mistake!

Then we began to visit the sites, I think it is enough to say that Drew took over 300 photos today - they are all on Flickr so feel free to browse.

We came first to the Palazzo Strozzi which wasn't on our list of places to see, but proved an excellent location to get a feel for the merchant houses of medieval Florence. The Strozzi's and the Medici's had some run-ins over the years (so much so there is a boardgame about them), and the house reflects the ups and downs of the family fortunes. Like many of the museums and galleries in Florence once you get past the ticket point you are unable to take photos. So the pictures and other articles were for viewing not sharing, but I hope the glimpse of the palazzo from inside and out gives you a sense of the great scale on which Florentines built.

Walking through Florence you quickly get the sense that you are either in a different Piazza or facing a Church. It seems there is a Church every block of the route, almost all of them with works of art by Giotto, Botticelli, Da Vinci and many others. What a special town simply to mooch about in.

The range of porticoes, arches and little side-streets can take your breath away, every turn was an adventure - it is no wonder so many people came to this town over the centuries and saw in it the heart of an age of prosperity and rich, generous donors to the arts. 

I can only name a few of the sites which provided amazing sights. The Uffici with its range of paintings enough to satisfy any art lover. The Palazzo Vecchio itself a museum piece of art but with its own museum within it. The Piazza Signoria with its amazing range of open air statutory (most of the statues being naked - much to Drew's amusement) 

The Ponte Vecchio, with all the gold shops across the bridge, is an amazing site. Indeed I was thinking how lucky Drew and I are that we don't wear jewelry. I know some of my friends, their partners, wives or husbands could do some real damage to their credit cards on that bridge.

Then onto the other side of the Arno up the Via de Gucciardini with its tourist focussed shops to the Palazzo Pitti with its range of museums with a more modern flavour than back in the old town.

This side of town also has a range of Piazzas and Churches, from the Holy Spirit Church in Piazza Santi Spiriti, a artisan part of the town. To the pretty and quiet Church of Our Lady of Carmel (which unusually for Florence allowed photos), it must have been impressive, even Drew came in - he tends to avoid Churches.  Then the St. Frediano Church which was very square and almost ugly.We were so captivated that we hadn't stopped to drink a coffee or water, we just carried on walking, and enjoyed every minute of it. 

While still on the other side of the river we walked past a tower that had formed part of the old City walls and came to a park where we at last sat down and realised how tired we were. The park provided good shade from the heat so we sat for twenty minutes before moving on and up to the Ponte di Vittoria and back to our side of town.

At 1.30, five and a half hours after we had set off we came to a little restaurant called Salotto Del Gusto and stopped for lunch. We had soon consumed two litre bottles of sparking water (acqua frizzante) before we began to eat. We shared an Antipasto Toscana between the two of us. The Antipasto was crostini with chicken livers, crositini with tomotoes, brasola, salami and prosciutto. It was all lovely, but the chicken livers were especially tasty. Drew then had Risotto al funghi porcini, and the porcini had given all their flavour to the rissotto, this is one I'll try to make at home when we get back. I had another flavoursome dish Pappardelle al sugo do cingliale a rich meaty sauce with the pasta.

Finally just before 3.00 p.m. it was back to the hotel, to the 16 degrees at which we have set the air-con, to a comfortable afternoon.