View of the Duomo & Palazzo Vecchio
Top 5 highlights of the weekend for me:
- Saturday's lunch was an absolute delight at Vini e Vecchi Sapori (the best meal of the weekend)
- Enjoying gelati from Perche No (flavour selections: chocolate, cassata siciliana - twice, hazelnut) in the sun at Piazza della Signoria
- My first glove buying experience (I bought 3 pairs in anticipation of winter at Madova just beyond the Ponte Vecchio)
- Giardino di Boboli (seeing an orangery that didn't serve tea and still had orange trees in it was fabulous, and the baroque gardens were beautiful)
- Glimpsing the open-air sculpture gallery at Piazza della Signoria from a side street before walking into the square
Ponte Vecchio
Laura post-leather market in Piazza della Signoria
Shopping - gloves, handbags, shoes, anything - was very much on our agenda for Saturday, interspersed with the odd famous building and statue here and there. On our way down to the Ponte Vecchio we passed the Duomo and Campanile stopping for a quick look inside. It's big, really big. Really like the pink, green and white marble colour combinations which must have inspired Kate Spade (she's a fashion designer who happens to like that combo) among many others. [That comment sadly demonstrates my complete lack of understanding of the art & architecture of the period.] Throughout the day we crossed several piazzas - della Signoria and della Repubblica definitely warrant a mention - and walked by innumerable churches, palaces and sculptures to admire.
On Saturday night we ate at a restaurant at Piazza di Santa Croce. I had the best cheese platter ever there - turns out I love pecorino cheese. And gigantic green olives. We had a drink with the two men from the table next to us at Cabiria on Santo Spirito and then headed to Slowly (a not-so-slow bar in town).
Sunday saw us head to the Giardino di Boboli which was an absolute highlight for me. Beautiful baroque gardens scattered with statuary behind Palazzo Pitti built for the ailing wife of the ruler of Florence at the time. It even had an orangery! After lunch and gelati number two we wandered aimlessly toward the Galleria dell'Accademia aka the home of Michaelangelo's David to see the finest demonstration of...no, not masculinity, I was going to say, sculpture.
Modern sculpture mixed in with old at Boboli Gardens
Looking down to the Orangery
Me on a rather large pebble we came across in the gardens
And then the journey home began. I really did like Florence. That one is constantly surrounded by art, sculpture and extraordinary architecture is fascinating. I just wish I appreciated more of it. Unfortunately I am just as thrilled by a refreshing scoop of gelato but I guess that makes me easily pleased by Italy!
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