Florence and Rome, Italy

Florence - city of art and culture and birthplace of the Renaissance movement. The city's place on our European 'to do' list had been guaranteed after we had watched countless documentaries about the great painters and palaces of Italy.
However, as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, we were conscious that the place could be uncomfortably crowded during the 40+ degree Mediterranean summer. And we were not wrong. Thick crowds plus heat radiating off sandstone walls and cobblestone pavements, made sightseeing incredibly tiring.


Arriving to Florence
Our arrival into Florence was via a train from Milan that crossed through two food related areas of Parma (ham) and Bologna (pasta sauce). When we crossed over the border into Tuscany, we saw the scenery change to mirror what we had seen in movies - sandstone farm-houses on green hillsides that felt all very postcard and tea-towel picture perfect.

Florence from an 18th century painting

On top of Florence

The heat and glare reflected strongly from the marble statues

Tourist House Ghiberti
The train station was located approximately 15 minutes from our hotel - Tourist House Ghiberti; a 5-star bed and breakfast family run business located in a medieval building with a lift where you had to pull the cage door shut and used an antique ring pulley system. The owners were incredibly friendly and provided a desktop computer, free internet, breakfast and great tourist advice on where to eat the famous Florentine steak.

Classical artists in the modern era

Osteria Del Porcellino
This restaurant was identifiable by the little boar statue outside and served some delicious Florentine steak.

The boar icon of the restaurant

Baby boar in the condiment bottles

Duomo
Our first sightseeing destination was the Duomo - the imposing cathedral that dominates the historical part of Florence. We walked around the perimeter, taking a rest within the shadow of the dome and found a tourist information centre set up in the walls of an ancient church.

Appreciating the scenery during twilight

The Duomo

An open air palazzo

From there, we walked towards the river through the arch of the Piazzo Victor Emmanuel, Palazzo Vecchio (and the imitation statue of David) and the famous Ponte Vecchio - a medieval bridge with shops that was the only bridge not destroyed by the retreating Germany army in World War II.

Palazzo Vecchio

Perseus and Medusa

The Triton

By night

Palazzo Vecchio
Later that night, we took a walk back through the city centre as the temperature had dropped, making it more comfortable to play tourist. Luckily for us, one of the museums - Palazzo Vecchio (former home of the Medici family) was catering for night owl visitors - opening until midnight and therefore enabling us to do a quick tour of the apartments and the main hall.

Walking over floor tiles that the Medici's ruled  Florence from

A statue of Cupid

Hall of the Five Hundred
The Hall of the Five Hundred is perhaps the most famous part of the building, as quite recently an art expert came up with the theory that a lost painting by Leonardo Da Vinci from 1503 'The Battle of Anghiari' exists on the wall hidden behind another painting. A documentary about the theory and discovery of traces of paint have been transformed into a National Geographic documentary.

The Hall of the Five Hundred

Could a painting similar to this be hiding a lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting

Climbing the Duomo
The day after our trip to Pisa and Lucca (see the separate blog post), we decided against all reason (in the almost 40 degree heat) to summit the Duomo. Starting early, we queued up to ascend the medieval spiral staircase to the upper balcony at the rim of the dome. The frescos depicting heaven / hell were very clear in their meanings, acting as a warning to the common man with regards to abiding by the church and its teachings.

The Duomo and dome that we climbed

The inside of the Dome

The top of the Duomo was worth the effort, as the views of the red tiled roofs of Florence were amazing. We saw in the distance, the Uffizi Gallery - one of the most famous art museums in the world, but sadly we did not have time to visit.

Palazzo Vecchio in the foreground

Statue of David
Back on ground level, we headed over to the Accademia di Belle Arti to see its most famous treasure - David by Michelangelo. The queues stretched far into the next side street, and given that we had limited time, we decided to pay an extra five euro to cut the line with an appointment ticket that got us straight in. The size and grandeur of the statue amazed us, in comparison to the replica outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Olie snuck in an 'illegal' photo and we spent some time looking at the other artwork, finding out that a lot of the yellow pigment used in medieval times was made from horse urine.

David by Michelangelo

Rome
After a quick gelati, we headed back to the railway station for our onward trip to the capital, Rome.

Rome - one of our favourite cities, ended up being more of a rest and relaxation stopover rather than one spent sightseeing and therefore we haven't given it a separate blog post. The heat put us off visiting anywhere and we had already ticked off most of the other main attractions when we had visited Rome in 2011. .

The icon of Rome

The monument on top of the Spanish Steps

Hanging out with the tourists at the Spanish steps

Moka House
In Rome, we stayed at a small Bed and Breakfast - Moka House, owned by a friendly guy called Marco, with each room decorated with an Italian icon - Vespa or Fiat.

The Fiat 500

And it was by chance conversation that we found out that Marco runs a number of Bed and Breakfast establishments around Italy and is also the head of corporate hospitality for Brazil World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. Definitely a handy person to keep in touch with and he recommended that we contact him for tips on World Cup accommodation if we decide to head there in two years time.

Next stop - Naples and Pompeii.

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