Florence

I had passed through Florence on two separate trips, some 13 years ago – in both cases it was only for a few hours, and in both cases I have only very (very) vague memories. From the first trip I remember some sort of a big cathedral; from the second time I sort of recollect a bridge, biting cold and wind, and the hot chocolate I desperately trying to warm up with.

(So much for my memories – I think you can understand why I write this blog.)

That was a bit of a time ago

Over this last year, I’ve seen lots of the Florence train station - several times a month, in fact, on my regular way up and down to Turin. There was always the latent idea of making it into a weekend visit, but being so close to Rome, it fell into the "we can do that any time" category. Accordingly, it wasn’t until the now-or-never pressure of the last weekend in the Rome-Turin commute that I managed to actually, finally, get beyond the train station.

And so before my memories shrink to vague irrelevant flashes, here comes a post on the Florentian weekend.

It was reassurring to see that the "big cathedral" from the memories of my first trip still stands.

"The big cathedral", aka Il Duomo, Florence's major landmark

In all versions of light and shade

 

And there is still also the bridge I recollected from the second trip - which turned out to be Ponte Vecchio, the other major attraction of Florence. I was on track.

Originally, the little shops on the bridge were butcheries, put out there so they wouldn’t smell in the town. But when in 16th century the Vasari Corridor – a passage connecting the town hall and palaces – was built above the shops, butchers were considered too smelly and unglamorous, were banned, and (more suitable) jewellers took over.

What I didn't remember was how pretty Florence is.

Though maybe it’s by coming from Rome that Florence stood out – it’s so wonderfully small, walkable, and medieval.

Palazzo Vecchio

After all the baroque of Rome, I just loved the Florentine gothic (I definitely arrived to the point of baroque saturation... there are two - or really one and half - gothic churches in the whole of Rome).

Basilica di Santa Croce, amazing church which just seems to float in the air. With frescoes by Giotto and lots of VIP tombs (of the likes of Michelangelo, Galileo or Machiavelli, all buried there).

Florence was clearly a medieval VIP hotspot - famous people were either buried or born there.

Dante - born in Florence - looks like he wants to be your friend

And stripy churches seemed to be a hit at that time, so they built them all over the place.

The un-fun part of Florence is its flood problem: every hundred years or so, the Arno river overflows in quite an attention-seeking manner.

Arno in its standard shape

The last time it was in 1966. By then humanity’s wondrous advancement brought about proliferation of cars, so when the 5 metres of water receded, the town emerged covered in slimy oily mud. Unpleasant.

Source

Signposts with water levels from a collection of different dates can be found all over the place.

The more fun part, you can also find quite a few other signposts, apparently the work of CLET.

I'm so glad we managed to do this trip.