Tuscany - Gelato, Art, and Hospitality

A few weeks ago James and I took a belated anniversary trip to Italy. We had planned to do our first anniversary in Italy but that didn't work out. What a blessing to be able to hop on an hour long plane ride to Tuscany for our 3rd anniversary. We learned a couple of things while we were there, most refreshing was the kindness and hospitality of the Italian people. After months in Germany where a smile from a stranger rarely happens, it was so nice to be around loud, happy, and friendly people (not to say Germans are not this way but in Italy, it is abundant).

We started our trip in Pisa and man, the Leaning Tower of Pisa reallllly leans.

I thought it would be a slight lean that one could only see from a certain angle. But this sucker was leaning from every direction. They have actually made it worse by trying to fix it over the years but they still let people hike up it. It was hilarious being part of all the tourists (from all over the world) taking ridiculous pictures with the tower.

Pisa has such great little alleyways and surprising things just around the corner. We found this great fruit market in the back alleyways on the way to the Tower. It is ideal Tuscany.

The gelato in Pisa is made by the hands of angels. I have never had gelato but after having it 2-3 times per day on our trip, this gelato in Pisa was by far the most amazing. And the atmosphere next to the river with school field trips and families out for lunch was fantastic.

The train system in Italy was great. We hopped on a cheap line to Florence and arrived on Saturday afternoon, ready for another adventure. Florence has a LOT to offer. Florence is filled with tons of architecture, art, history, food, and culture. We spent 4 days exploring and only covered a small bit.

Our first day we arrived and checked into our awesome hotel located about 2 minutes from the Duomo. The Duomo is so beautiful and massive. The dome is supposedly 18 million pounds and as big as the baptistry that is near by.

Duomo Dome

Famous Duomo Baptistry Doors

We also got to check out the square famous for the Renaissance sculptures including Michelangelo's David (remake, original is in the museum). We like to pretend we're famous Renaissance sculptures...

After touring the downtown area of the city, we walked to the famous Ponte Vecchio where there are little shops hanging off the bridge. The river is so calming in such a busy city and we seemed to find ourselves wandering near it whenever possible.

Our first night we ate at a classy little place on the river and enjoyed a nice hike up to the top of the city. This was the ideal Florence that I had imagined.

Quite little hilly roads, old style buildings, and quaint squares with little places to eat. And lots of Mopeds.

We spent the next few days touring the art galleries, Galileo science museum and walking the the Campanile (Duomo's bell tower). The view up there was stunning and you could see forever.

Campanile

Climbing all 400+ skinny stairs to the top

View from inside the Campanile

View of the Duomo Baptistry from the top of Campanile

We spent an afternoon in the Boboli gardens of Pitti Palace. These gardens were massive and they went on for acres. We could see the whole city from them and felt like we were in a baroque novel. There were fountains, sculptures, and hedges around every corner.

We had another great dinner in a little place in the back alleyways. It was delicious wine, fresh bread, succulent meats, and pasta to die for. And Gelato for dessert, of course.

We visited the famous Uffizi gallery that houses paintings from all of the famous Renaissance painters like Michelangelo, Donatello, and all the other Ninja Turtles. It was a great walk through the historical transformation of art. Moving from flat one dimensional paintings when artists did not understand perspective or horizons or vanishing points. The renaissance painters figured out how to make things look realistic and also began painting things other than Jesus and Mary. The art was a great parallel to what was happening in Germany at the time with Martin Luther and the disagreement with the catholic church.

Later, we hiked to the top of the city and visited the Piazza de Michelangelo. The views from up there were great but it just so happened that my camera corrupted all but one of our photos from up there.

  
The next day we visited the Church of Santa Croce. It is packed with art and history. This is where Galileo and Michelangelo are buried. It is also ornamented with colorful and extravagant frescoes that barely survived the flood of the 60's that left the church deep in water and mud.

We had yet another amazing day of meals with lunch in a packed-with-locals cafe. Our last dinner in Florence was by far the best. We were crammed in this little restaurant that served traditional Florentine cuisine. We enjoyed local wine, home-made zuppa, great entrees, and I even got James to have dessert wine again (last time he was in Italy, he took it like a shot....). On Wednesday, we sadly departed Florence to head back to Pisa for our flight home.

On our way back, though, we decided to stop in Siena. James had been there before and was so excited to show me this cute little village, stuck in time. The town was never popular enough in the old times to get updated so all of the architecture is medieval. You can almost hear the knights on horses tramping down the hilly cobblestone streets. We walked down to the main square and I had my first taste of real Italian pizza. We quickly hiked back up the hill to see what James calls the "Zebra Church". Siena's Duomo was a magnificent contrast to the dark browns of the other buildings in the town.

We ended our trip with a whirl-wind adventure back to Pisa. On our way to the train station in Siena, a random parade stopped all of the buses. We had to hail a taxi driver, who had to weave through the tiny alleyways of Siena to get us to the train station in time. Our train ride ended up taking 4 hours instead of 2 because it was a holiday and many of the trains were not running. We finally arrived at the Pisa airport and had a wonderful journey home, back to the pouring rain of the Eifel region.

I can't comment enough about the hospitality of the Italians. We look forward to going back to Italy next month with my parents. I can't wait to have more Gelato...