Firenze: Home to Great Art, Music and Cuisine!

Have you been following along on the map of Italy? Florence is the last stop in Italia and then the map changes. 

As much as "Firenze" is cradle to the Renaissance, it also is the heart of music and fine cuisine! I was inspired with so many ideas for the bakery here!! Best part of all is that the whole city is within a 15 to 20 minute walk, which beats Rome by a landslide victory!

Besides checking out some of the historical Cathedrals and Basilicas, I also wandered to Ponte Vecchio and took an afternoon soaking up the Uffizi (the “Offices”). Ponte Vecchio is the famous bridge you might have seen in common pictures of Florence. It was a busy area with shops, cafes, and tourists galore! The Uffizi boasts over 1.6 million visitors a year. The strategy is to get there early when they first open so you avoid the two hour wait to get it. Inside, the museum is arranged in chronological order. The Uffizi is home to wonderful works of art from pre-Renaissance, Renaissance, and post-Renaissance eras. Besides world famous paintings, it also has sculptures and wonderful frescos on the ceilings. Florence has been called home or is the birth place of famous people like Botticelli (The Birth of Venus), Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Dante and hosts of others! One interesting note is that in the piazza of the Uffizi, many local artists and musician are displaying their work all trying to capture the tourist’s attention. These artists are surrounded by huge sculptures of past greats like Michelangelo. It’s a contrast of past and present and all of it worth a bit of your time. Enjoy the slide show of pictures!

Next stop is Innsbruck, Austria!

Sienna: A Place where Time Stood Still

Sienna has signs of being frozen in the medieval times. The town was like a breath of fresh air! Everyone was very nice and seemed so happy! And why shouldn’t they be? The Tuscan region nearby, rolling hills, and wine in abundance! Prices are less expensive than Rome for pretty much anything you may want. 

Our class went on a walking tour of the city. The knowledgeable guide filled us in about the history of the area along with some interesting side notes. During the Medieval era, only the very rich could afford the conveniences of modern bathroom facilities. They added the bathrooms on to existing dwellings. See the slideshow to get an idea of the concept. The addition had a hole in the center of the floor where waste would fall to the ground below. Prior to that, the general rule of thumb was to yell out a warning to those passing by below as one dumped the contents of bathroom waste out the window. Failure to yell something out was a good way to get fined! These fine tickets were similar to fines of speeding tickets of today. 

Another additional interesting aspect of Sienna is their passion for the Palio horse races. Twice a year, in July and August, they have a brutal and dangerous horse race with bareback riders. Sienna is separated into wards, or Contrades. Each Contrade is represented by a mascot or animal. Those in the ward proudly display their Contrade flag! Horses are assigned randomly to each Contrade and the intense training period begins. Prior to the race, the horse is even blessed in church. They also have a separate entrance for the horse to enter the church. It is the horse not the jockey that is revered. On the day of the Palio itself the horses are accompanied by a spectacular display of drummers and flag twirlers dressed in traditional medieval costumes that first lead the horse and jockey to the Contrade parish church and then join a procession around the Piazza del Campo square. The race lasts al of three minutes but the coveted trophy is proudly cherished by the winning Contrade.

Sienna was a teaser because we only stayed one day. Then it was on to Florence!