Florence (Italy Post #8)

Florence proved full of neat gothic, medieval and renaissance architecture at the heart of the Tuscan country side. On our first day, we had booked a bus tour of 3 different towns and a winery for lunch. Carson was thrilled to be a true "tourist." I had a hard time not rolling my eyes haha.

Visiting the different towns was actually a lovely, full day of interesting buildings and yummy food. At 8am, Carson and I loaded the bus and rested our eyes as we made our way to our first stop, San Gimignano. San Gimignano was an interesting little spot, with tall stone walls at the entrance, old house-towers dotting its skyline, tasty, award-winning gelato, and even a museum of torture... We didn't go to that last place, but I'm sure it would have been interesting. And unsettling.

Next was Monteriggioni, a tiny town similar to San Gimignano, but even more surrounded by medieval walls, with only 2 ways in or out. I met a friendly stray cat sunbathing on a bench, so it was a great day for me already.

Our lunch at the winery was our next stop before we finished in Siena. A loud, enthusiastic man served us lunch and 4 different kinds of wine, explaining each thoroughly with words only true wine enthusiasts could appreciate. Carson and I enjoyed a few of them, but didn't buy anything as it was 3x the price it would have been anywhere else...

At each previous stop, we had been forced to wait as there was always 1 or 2 people late to the bus. We even left someone behind in San Gimignano in order to keep us slightly on schedule! When we reached Siena, our guide explained how it could be a confusing city to navigate and joked about how many people she would lose here.

Siena is a beautiful, textured city built on a hilltop, with streets that wind and weave, grow narrower and wider, and end up meeting in confusing, sloping intersections. Many people wandered down the wider high-end streets leading to the popular Cathedral, but it was easy to branch off and find small, quaint shops and restaurants. I laughed when I pointed out how the outdoor patio sets were purposefully built with longer legs on the downward slope. It was a city full of character and Carson and I loved it.

The Cathedral in Siena was a very different style than we'd seen anywhere else in Italy. Textured, patterned marble with Gothic or Renaissance decorations made the building stand out from any others. The building itself was actually built into the hillside, with a large staircase along one side leading down a few stories to a second grand entrance on the lower level. We were very happy with the outside so we didn't end up waiting in line to enter the building.

Our next day in Florence was spent hunting for leather goods. The AirBnB we chose was next to a two-storey food market and directly above a large leather street market. At first, Carson and I were excited as Florence's leather market was well known.

Unfortunately, we ended up a little disappointed. We spent a long time searching for specific styles, but when we'd stop to look at a shop or start inspecting the quality of an item, a worker would shove different bags or styles in our hands or take the bag from us and show us all the different openings, buttons, zippers, and straps instead.

After visiting many stalls, stores and markets, we realized that the same bags and wallets were displayed at 80% of them, yet they all claimed "Handmade in Italy". We'd previously bought 2 items in Rome from shops that made their leather goods in house, and they were leagues ahead of the quality we saw in Florence, even in designer shops.

Of course, Florence is also known for Michaelangelo's sculptures, so on our third day we went to the Gallery del Academia. There was also an exhibit on the history of musical instruments and many, many early Christian paintings dating back to 1400. The paintings were all very similar, with basic archetypes, the same style, and elaborate gold frames. In the history of music section, we saw some of the earliest modifications to the violin, an upright piano, and wood winds. Everything was very old.

After wandering around a few different rooms, we reached the back of the museum and a hallway opened up full of Michaelangelo's work. Most of what survived was unfinished works with shapes and bodies morphing out of solid stone. It was all detailed and awe-inspiring. At the end stood David, a giant 17 ft tall stone statue sculpted with such detail and accuracy. They were all beautiful and impressive.

Another room opened up to the left of David and Carson and I were shocked by how many plaster and stone heads and sculptures were on display. Bernini, Michaelangelo's student, shared in the talent to sculpt and filled the large hall with his life's work. It was as impressive as the first hall of sculptures.

We then spent the rest of the day admiring the Cathedral di Santa Maria Della Fiore, a Cathedral, bell tower and baptiserie in prominent Gothic style. The building stood very, very tall with captivating patterned marble and detailed sculptures mesmerizing outsiders. We didn't want to ruin the impressive view of the outside (or wait in a 200m long line), so we just stood and stared for a while, like many other things on our trip.

We caught a train on October 24th that would take us to our next and final stay in Italy. Riomaggiore, one of the small coastal towns of Cinque Terre. It felt almost surreal, knowing we would be home within the weak.

Thank you all again for reading through all my posts! I appreciate anyone who comments, likes or shares it. Ciao!