Florence and Tuscany

Here is Brittany, on the train from Rome to Florence.

Why is it that whenever I hear the word Tuscany I am metaphysically transported to a happy and relaxing and beautiful place? I need to spend more time here.

When I realized that we would not have much time to see Florence, but that we would be going through their on the train from Rome to Vernazza, I looked into wine tours around the region. I found Tuscan Wine Society Tours with Rebecca, who is highly recommended by travelers on Trip Advisor and other sights.

I have wanted to visit Florence for several years now. I wasn’t wild about it the first time I was here, when I was 17. It wasn’t as exciting as Rome and Venice. At Furman, however, I used to teach the Renaissance period, and was able to learn so much more about Florence as a result. Now, I am dying to spend more time there, to see the many sights and to visit some of the wineries. I’ll have to return one day to see the sights; this crew was excited about the wineries.

We took the early train at 6:15AM from Rome’s Terminus Station to Firenze. It cost 44 euro and took an hour and a half. Easy, with no changes. We arrived in Florence and I immediately remembered all the leather that is for sale everywhere. I bought a lot of that stuff when I was 17…belts, leather backpack, etc. I also remember buying a lot of cherub paraphernalia and I saw lots of that around as well. We checked our bags at the train station, which was convenient but ended up being pricey. It certainly was nice not to have to lug all our stuff around, as we have accumulated quite a bit already.


We walked into the city, and Britt and I bought a map and asked about the location of the tower of San Niccolo, where we where supposed to meet Rebecca. This sweet man highlighted streets we should take to see things along the way. From the moment we left the train station, I was jacked bc I could see a bit of Brunelleschi’s dome in the distance.

We walked immediately towards the Duomo, and it was spectacular…really, really spectacular. It was closed, which is a bummer bc the painted dome is supposed to be gorgeous and there are other things in the church and adjacent museum I wanted to see, especially Michelangelo’s Pieta that he sculpted with the intent of having this as part of his funery monument. Giotto’s belltower was impressive as well.

Brunelleschi's Renaissance-era dome:

I looked across the cobblestone street to see Ghiberti’s bronze Gates of Heaven, as Michelangelo referred to them. I remember seeing them when I was 17. Mom and I had our photo taken in front of them.  The originals were removed in 1990 and placed in the Duomo Museum and are undergoing cleaning. I tried to see if the Accademia was open, but it was too early and we didn't have time. I’d like to go there one day, to see many things, especially the original David that Michelangelo sculpted.

Afterwards we walked past the Uffizzi Gallery, which already had a long line, and the Piazza Spagnia. We saw the Palazzo Vecchio and the Piazza della Signoria, the old town hall of Florence. There is a copy of Michelangelo's David here.

There are lots of stautaury on display in the Piazza della Signoria.

We arrived at the River Arno and I looked to my right to see the Ponte Vecchio, constructed in the 1300s. It is appropriately named, as Ponte Vecchio translated into Italian simply means Old Bridge. Of course it reminded me of Diane Vecchio, whom I miss.

Vespas everywhere!

We crossed the bridge and had great views of the sun over the water. Right at 9:30, we met Rebecca at the Tower of San Niccolo. A lot of guides meet you outside the city center bc they have to have a special permit to get inside. We all immediately liked Rebecca and were pleased to discover it was only the 4 of us on the tour for the day. I have also wanted to visit Tuscany for several years now and so I was particularly excited about this day. Soon after we got into the car we stopped at the overlook to see another copy of David and the view of the city from the Piazza Michelangelo. Gorgeous.

We drove outside the city on the Firenze-Sienna highway and had some amazing views. The weather was really, really beautiful…sunny, and for most parts of the day we didn’t need coats. At our first winery visit, Rebecca took us on a tour of the winery and educated us about the vinification process. I was impressed with her knowledge of the process and of wines in general. She showed us the grapes beginning to sprout on the vine, and then we walked through the different stages of the wine making process.

We visited the Chianti Classico region, which has a black rooster as its appellation. The French system of regulating wines is the AOC, while the much younger Italian system is the DOC/DOCG. It began in the 1960s and is modelled after the AOC. In the Chianti Classico region, however, there is a much older system of regulation. A group of winemakers gathered in the 1700s and began to self regulate themselves so as to limit the number of people who could claim to produce Chianti. They chose the black rooster as their symbol.

The first tasting was sit down tasting with 5 wines accompanied by crackers, one with chocolate, one with wine jelly, and also a piece of chocolate filled with red wine. Mom, Britt, and I loved it and each bought some of the chocolate. The olive oil was also particularly good.

Leonardo da Vinci invented this apparatus to control oxygenation:

I couldn't believe these people were putting togeher these shipping boxestogether by hand. That must take forever.

Next we went to a smaller winery, Castello d'Albola. I loved how we were the only people at most of the places we visited. We got a lot of attention. The next places had a desert wine which Mom liked, and I loved these wheat crackers that accompanied the wines. All of these places have the greatest ambiance, which makes me feel so spoiled. We all loved it.

We stopped in this tiny little town to walk around. Evidently the town was abandoned after WWII. This man bought much of the property and gave it to his daughter as a wedding gift. She has sold some of the property and is credited with bringing this little town back to life.

We saw the Villa Vignamaggio where the Gherardini family lived. Lisa Gherardini married into the Giacondo family; her husband commissioned Leonardo da Vinci, who grew up in this area, to paint his wife. That portrait, Mona Lisa, has obviously become perhaps the most famous painting in the world. The family owned this property until fairly recently. Keep in mind Mona Lisa was painted in the 1500s. That is a long time.

Then we went to a butcher’s for lunch…not just any butcher, but a world famous butcher, Dario “il Magnifico” Cecchini, known as the Butcher of Panzano. His family have been butchers in Panzano for 600 years and he continues to use Renaissance-era recipes found in some of the Medici family cookbooks. His ancestors supposedly fed Dante Aligheri and Leonardo da Vinci around the time that he painted Mona Lisa. Cecchini has a reputation for being very humane to the animals he uses, and evidently travels the world speaking about organic practices, etc. I went with a vegetarian lunch but tried a tiny bit of the pulled pork which was moist and tasted good. We all shared bread with homemade ketchup, 2 other sauces, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (made from this area) and a salt and mediterranean spices mixture.

We had a beautiful setting outside underneath some trees.

Carpaccio:

We were served a basket of carrots, onions, and fennel after the bread, and instructed to dip it into the olive oil and salt mixture, Tuscan style. My vegetarian lunch consisted of fresh mozzerellla cheese, which made me happy bc we didn’t get to visit my mozzarella bar in Roma, and roasted potatoes. The wine was nice and dessert consisted of coffee and olive oil bread topped with a crusted sugar. I have had more dessert in the past 5 days than I have had in the past 5 years. I really do not think that is an exaggeration. It is getting sort of ridiculous. It is a good thing that we are going to get some good hiking exercise in Cinque Terre.

Dario "il Magnifico" Cecchini, the famous butcher:

After lunch Rebecca took us to this adorable little town called Verrazzano after Giovanni da Verrazzano. In one of the stores, I came very close to buying a print from the late 1800s and a map of Italy ostensibly from 1748. I liked the statue of Verrazzano, a mid-16th century explorer from this town. He is considered the first European in about 500 years to explore parts of modern day New York State and the Atlantic Coast of modern day North and South Carolina. Evidently he also has a bridge named for him in NYC. Another notable explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, was from one town over. Awesome.

Last stop...a wine and balsamic vinegar tasting at Castello di Verrazzano. Their balsamic vinegar ages for 40 years. It is sold in a tiny bottle, is thick and sweet, and is not inexpensive. Interesting thing aout olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings here: you are expected to drink it. I'm not accustomed to drinking olive oil, but it was good.

Then we drove back to Florence and we all enjoyed talking with Rebecca. We walked alongside the river to cross over the Ponte Vecchio. Evidently, Lorenzo Medici of Renaissance-Medici fame didn’t like the smell of the butchers on the Ponte Vecchio and he was also worried about his safety so he had a passageway constructed above the bridge that would house goldsmiths. Mom and Sandy really enjoyed seeing all the gold and the coats.

Mother-daughter photos...great memories.

On the way back we walked through the Mercato, which was closing. We didn’t get pizza on the way to the train station, but it looked so colorful. Britt and I got a gelato, which was particularly delicious. I tried mango, nutella, and mint. They put a tiny waffle piece on top of it. Then we climbed aboard the train, heading to Vernazza, the Cinque Terre village where we had reservations for the next several days. Hiking and beautiful scenery…here we come.