Florence and Bologna

After leaving the big city of Rome, we arrived in Firenze (local spelling of Florence) before noon at Santa Lucia Station. I must mention that the nice man in Rome’s Termini station that offered to carry some luggage and show us to our seats was not an employee of the train station. Yes, he got us! But we learned our lesson. To purchases train tickets, register on the Trenatalia website and use roninrome.com to help you understand how to book a ticket. I found wonderful fares, perfect times, and reserved my seats before our Italy arrival. Firenze is a classy city. As we walked to our hotel, we noticed people in business attire heading out for lunch along the narrow stoned roads lined with stores that wanted me to enter and spend my euros! We could see the famed Duomo standing erect and made our way to this masterpiece to find our hotel. Norma, my contact for Palazzo Gamba had been in contact with me and was available to check us in. She is a hip and sweet young lady that showed us to our two bedroom apartment with a balcony that overlooked the gothic marble Duomo and the piazza.

The view was spectacular and I will never forget it. After enjoying our beautifully decorated apartment for a few moments, we headed out for quick bite on our way to the Academia to see David. Norma gave us a map, showed us the way and in ten minutes we arrived. Norma had made reservations for us ahead of time so we didn’t have to wait in the long line and went right in. The Academia is full of statues, paintings, music history, and, of course, the massive and beautiful David. No photos are allowed so as we left the Academia, we took a picture in front of a replica outside that is painted in wild colors.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying Florence for her Renaissance art, history, and architecture. This polished city creates an environment of education and plenty of self-enrichment opportunities. It also offers many interesting shops and restaurants to explore. After wondering, shopping and perusing a local grocery store, we went inside the Duomo. We were, again, impressed by the vastness of the building, the art work, and the calm feeling you have as you take it all in. I can’t help but think about what it took to build buildings like this given the period and technology. It is truly amazing as I consider the buildings in Italy the ART! As the evening approached, we spent time on our balcony watching the square change from sightseers to the youthful night owls looking for a good time. It was like watching a 4-D movie; we loved it! Of course, the backdrop was magnificent.

The next day we made coffee in our kitchen and had some pastries we had purchased from a bakery and then headed to the train station to meet our guide for a full day tour of Tuscany. We went with a company called Walkabout and our guide was a post-graduate student that gives tours of Tuscany in the summer and works at the universities in the fall and spring. She was knowledgeable and experienced. While leaving Firenze, our guide discussed the history of the city pointing out important locations and then showed us a short film about the area we were about to see. Within an hour, we arrived in the medieval walled town of Siena. This quiet town is explored on foot.

The Piazza del Campo is the sea-shelled piazza that has historic cafes and shops in the center of town. There are winding side streets lined with apartments, shops, restaurants and offices. There are some cars here and it is unbelievable to see them on these very narrow stone lined roads. We took a tour of the town and ended at the Duomo of Siena, which is a Gothic Cathedral noted as one of Italy’s firsts.

Like many Cathedrals across Italy, the Duomo houses art works by Donatello, Bernini and Michelangelo. One of the highlights here is the marble floor that took 200 years to complete. After the tour, we walked around the city and then met our guide for the bus ride to the Fattoria Poggia Alloro, an organic farm and Chianti vineyard and winery. This was a true highlight for us. We took a tour of the farm and vineyard, had a four course meal served outside on the hill overlooking the Tuscan hills, and we could see the walled city of Siena in the distance. Each course was served with a bottle of wine for us to taste and share. They produce their own Chianina beef (considered to be on the edge of extinction), wine, olive oil, saffron, honey, and flour for their homemade pasta. Four bottles of wine later for our table of six and we were ready to head out and explore more walled cities! This winery and farm is a must stop if you are in Tuscany!

Next, we explored another medieval town called San Gimignano. This is a small village with picturesque streets, shops and Tuscany views from every edge of the walls. Ceramics, leather, cheeses, and meats are widely available here, as they are in all parts of Italy we toured, as well as, the award winning gelato from Gelateria di Piazza.

There is another Duomo here located near the town hall filled with medieval frescos and towers to climb for stunning views. When our time here was up, we were off for a scenic drive through the hills and I noticed that our wine filled passengers were trying hard to keep their eyelids focused on the scenery.

After an hour, we arrived in the walled city of Pisa to explore the Duomo, Pisa University, and, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa! This is a small city and it is easy to explore. We had a wonderful day and we were exhausted when we arrived back to Florence. We walked toward the Duomo near our home and had dinner at a nearby restaurant wishing we had more time in this city to explore the churches, museums and parks but we know what we will do next time we return! The next morning after breakfast, we headed back to the train station for a quick ride to Bologna. Bologna was an important stop because this is where my father’s family is from.

There are Morandi museums to visit downtown and on the edge of town in the hills. Our hotel, Internazionale Hotel, was a larger hotel and the least expensive we stayed in so far. It was beautifully decorated, served a wonderfully large breakfast, and the location was perfect. Bologna has striking architecture, similar to Florence with its own flair. These beautiful old buildings are surrounded by the youthful energy of college students and fashionable stores. With so many high fashion shops, I started to imagine what it would be like to be in Milan! They even had Lush!

Bologna is a medium sized college town that is very easy and safe to explore. It was a youthful city, even in the summer. We had a sense that smart, educated people lived here. We love the ambiance of college towns and Bologna was no different. More importantly, the food in Bologna is worth the visit. My father’s family made tortellini on a regular basis and I grew up with this staple in my home. Needless to say, we had our share of tortellini dishes while we were here! Even though this city is youthful, there is something to do for all ages. This town is not as touristy as Rome or Florence and it was nice to see this side of Italy. We ended our night here with a popular after dinner drink called Grappa (I call it Grossa and will take Limoncello any day) and had to immediately replace the taste in my mouth with the always delicious gelato!