Keeping Up with the Bardini and Strozzi

We knew ahead of time that today was going to be a hot one. It probably reached 40° at the hottest part of the day and when Chris and I sat down tonight to start writing tonight around 7.30pm, it was still 38°. We therefore decided we would venture out in the morning before midday and the hours just after, to do whatever sightseeing we could manage and then return to the burrow to avoid the sun.

We headed up the Arno, Firenze’s beautiful river, and crossed the Ponte Vecchio, a jewellery store clad ancient bridge which was the only crossing I understand to survive the Nazis’ bombing. The Ponte Vecchio looks old. Its name says it is old. There is a narrow roadway across it but either side, there are jewellery stores, glistening with gold and silver, rings and chains and precious stones. They take up the whole bridge and there are no other stores there, just the jewellery stores. When I first came upon the Italian word for a jewellery store some months ago, it vexed me seriously due to its successive vowels. Gioielleria. It still does.

We had breakfast at the Café Ponte Vecchio on the other side and then set off on foot through this district known as the Oltrarno. The Oltrarno is where the locals go for food and drinks and coffee. It is replete with alleys and shops and bars and laneways and lots of discoveries to be made. Just one of those discoveries was finding Galileo’s house on our way to discover a garden. In truth, there is not much to Galileo’s house, and I don’t know if it is the one where he stayed when he was under house arrest, but there is tiny plaque over the door, and two doors down, a more worthy plaque designating the place where he took measurements using his telescope.

The garden we went to find was not any old garden. In fact, it was the Giardino Bardini, a garden attached to a historic villa of a 17th century wealthy Florentine family. It is high up over Firenze and layered in winding paths with fountains, ponds, trees, shrubs, flowering plants and terraces. It is very beautiful. They have an open-air cinema there too and a little bar. The views over the city are wonderful and although the Boboli Gardens are more famous, there are many voices that say that the Giardino Bardini is the better garden. We stopped at the caffe house for a rest and just took in the gardens and views. Stunning and very restful.

After walking down the hill, we stopped off at the Palazzo Vecchio, the great castle-like tower that we see from our living room. We didn’t go in. Perhaps another day. For three hundred years, Michelangelo’s David stood proudly outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Now there is a life-size replica in the same spot, all 17 feet of him, while the real one is in a museum here. There were many other statues there of the Roman and Greek gods and we marvelled at how wonderful they looked and how well they represented their own unique stories in the ancient world pantheon.

Lunch at a side street bar, and a walk home. We stopped off at a bookstore where I bought a history of the Medici, then a coffee in the Palazzo Strozzi which is virtually next door to us. We walked in their massive doors. Have I mentioned the doors in this city? They are really something else. Massive. Decorated. Statued. Gated sometimes. Inside was a huge atrium, where no doubt in the 15th century, the Strozzi horses would clip clop across the cobblestones and enter the palazzo, stopping in the atrium. Beside this is an up-market bar and I wanted a coffee, so we stopped in.

Home for a nap and a rest. The heat out there at this time of day was vicious. People were sticking to the shady side of the streets and scurrying off. I was very glad to be home.

Come 5pm, we emerged and returned to Palazzo Strozzi for an aperitivo. My aperitivo discovery on this trip has been Campari Spritz. Campari, soda, prosecco, a slice of citrus. A little bitter, but somehow sweet too. Very refreshing.

After the evening passeggiata, we happened upon the Odeon, a gorgeous old cinema, whose stalls have been turned into a fabulous bookshop, and whose circle upstairs, remains as seating for cinema. They play movie trailers quietly while you’re browsing for books. It was very cool. We both loved it. And, hand on heart, I couldn’t help myself. Italian publishing is so lovely, I bought three crime stories by the same author, Death in August, Death in the Tuscan Hills, and Death in the Olive Grove, all by Italian author Marco Vichi. They look a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to them. Some good conversation about life when we got home to the air con. A lovely day. Tomorrow starts off with a bang. A full tour of the Duomo.Baca selengkapnya