Today we headed back to Florence to again meet
up with Fiona and have her show us more of the city. Our brief when asked where we wanted to go was
‘anywhere without crowds’. Arriving at
the station reminded us of Cinque Terre with masses of people and tourist
groups but we managed to lose them as we headed to some of the less visited
sites in the city. First to the church
of Santa Maria Novella from the late 1200s with frescoes and paintings from the
14th and 15th century, then a wander through Florence’s
central market with stacks of fresh and interesting produce and finally to the
Bargello museum. The latter is meant to
be second only to the Uffizi in Florence but unlike the Uffizi you don’t have
to order your ticket in advance then spend hours in a queue to collect it and
then shuffle around the museum’s corridors behind the huge crowds. The Bargello is very quiet and houses an eclectic
mix of renaissance sculptures by the greats such as Donatello and Michelangelo plus
many others we probably should have, but had not, heard of. We headed to Fiona’s for a nice lunch cooked by Giuseppe which we then
walked off in the nearby Boboli gardens in the city, gardens originally set out
for the Medici and which offer a slice of peace and tranquility within Florence
and great views of the city.
On the walk back from the station to the flat
we wandered through the peaceful cathedral piazza where we were unexpectedly ambushed
by a couple of Negroni cocktails…
No comments:
Post a Comment