Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

With the knowledge that we have two full days of exploration to do here, we were able to relax a bit and not worry about being time strict. And yet, by the time we got into bed tonight, we were exhausted! Florence is so easy to get around by foot, in fact it seems very little people catch public transport in the centre, that your day fills up quickly, even if you’re retracing your steps.

We started our day with a lovely breakfast prepared by our host Silvia, and then set off for Santa Maria del Fiore. We wanted to beat the crowds and the heat by getting to the bell tower early. We beat the crowds at least. 414 steps later and we had our first beautiful panoramic view of Firenze, including the cathedral next door which we would climb later in the afternoon. The terracotta glow of roofs here mimic those of Bologna, so its a good thing there are plenty of monuments in photos for us to distinguish which is which!

Anthony was in need of some new shorts, more specifically shorts that don’t have a hole in the pocket and bum. We looked in a couple of sporting stores, but to no avail. Only in a sports store in Italy will you find Columbia next to George Armani! Later this afternoon we made a new line for North Face where he found some really smart looking shorts, fingers crossed they don’t get too roughed up in our travels!

A daily predicament is trying to find a coffee shop with a toilet so we don’t have to pay for a public loo (on average you will pay 1€ per “session”). Walking down one of many hundred alleyways, we found a large industrial-chic cafe with a florist in the back, and lots of non-dairy coffee options. I was fooled to think we hadn’t fallen into a vortex, transporting us back to Fitzroy! More importantly, it had a loo. I really enjoyed my coffee but Anthony was undecided about his Ciocaccino that the waitress had recommended. You can’t win them all!

Mercato Centrale, which is the Queen Vic of Firenze but with a huge food court and a little more va-va-voom, called our names for an early round one of lunch. We loved wandering through and eyeing off the crazy butchers dividing up the ginormous T-bones with cleavers, the little old ladies spraying their fruits and vegetables with mist, piles of Limoncello, and all the Willy Wonka-esque pasta carefully placed to make displays pop. We found a pasta store that was selling plates of fresh pasta with your choice of sauce, and if the growing queue indicated anything, that was our pick! Half an hour later we were sitting outside on a dirty step admiring our ravioli al limone with a sauce of pomodori con olive. We are in love, and definitely going back tomorrow for more!
Round two of lunch took us back to Rosalia, a funky salad spot near the main square, which was both convenient and well priced. Plus we get a huge bowl of greens in (yes mums, we’re getting our serves of veggies in!), which is perfect on a hot day. We shared a Mexican salad, so imagine lots of lettuce with beans, corn, onion, tomato, pineapple, avocado dressing and tortilla chips!

We returned to Santa Maria to visit the Baptistry, which closes for a few hours in the middle of the day for religious purposes. Unfortunately it too is undergoing maintenance so some of the interior was covered but what we could see was beautifully decorated, and many people sitting down on the benches provided were obviously entranced.

By a small miracle Ant secured us tickets to climb the Duomo at 3.30 so at 3.00 we lined up and got comfy. All of this queuing makes for great people watching, it’s not too tedious!
The construction of the cathedral itself, named after Santa Maria del Fiore, began in the 13th century Alforno Di Cambio, and the dome that towers over the gothic style building wasn’t added until the 15th century, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. Apparently it was made without the aid of scaffolding! Another 463 steps took us up through the inside of the ornately painted dome, which on closer inspection is really quite dark and twisted. From my interpretation, it represented the many levels of humanity, and the afterlife, as the painted figures ranged from the perverse and violent down the bottom to Christ Jesus who sat on his throne higher up surrounded by many followers. It was quite steep closer to the top, but the view made it all worth it! In fact, we probably overstayed our welcome by staying up there for so long but if no one is telling you to go, why leave? We could see right over the city towards the Tuscan countryside, including the Piazza Michael di Angelo which we will walk to tomorrow.

We walked home to rest our weary feet before dinner, but not before sharing another gelato. It’s like a daily Yakult, I swear.
Dinner was at a sweet restaurant nearby, and again we ate well. We shared a plate of a variety of pecorino cheeses from the region, accompanied with berry jam, honey and bread. For first course, Ant enjoyed spaghetti with an incredible sauce of bacon, tomatoes, Chianti wine and a healthy serving of olive oil. As I only wanted one course, I ordered the tagliatelle with scampi and tomatoes. Dad, you’d be proud! I tore into those huge scampi and made sure there was no meat left in the shells. Luckily I had Ant who was on hand to mop me up afterwards! For second course, Ant ordered grilled chicken with rocket plus a caprese salad. The salad unfortunately did not live up to his expectations as the tomatoes weren’t completely bursting with ripeness, but the grilled chicken was lovely.

We finished the night off by watching the sun set as we sat on a bridge over the river. Oh, and Anthony got another gelato.Okumaya devam et