Florence, Tuscany, and a quick stop through Cinque Terre
Reading: The Story of a New Name, book two of the Neapolitan Novels, by Elena Ferrante
We were traveling at breakneck speed through tunnels and past little farms of olive trees, vineyards, and beautiful countryside, green hills, villas perched atop. Snow capped mountains rose up in the distance, and as we sat on that train bound for Florence, we realized how much we had missed the rural landscape, and were very much looking forward to this next portion of our trip. It had been two weeks of cities at that point, being first in Amsterdam, and then in Rome. Two amazing cities, but after that time we both longed to be in nature once again.
We had decided to first take the train from Rome to Florence, spend a few days there, and then rent a car for a few days. A plus being that train travel is much more efficient, both time-wise and emissions-wise, than car or airplane travel.
I had booked a hotel in Florence, again through booking.com, again a pretty good deal for what looked like a decent hotel. A few days before arriving, I received an email telling me that due to technical problems (I have no idea what) we were to be upgraded to their sister hotel in Florence, Hotel Grand Amore, via die Servi 38/A. This hotel was located just down the street from the Duomo in central Florence. We took a taxi from the train station to the street our hotel was on, and it took a little wandering up and down before we found it, but find it we did.
The staff could not have been more friendly and welcoming. We were offered a drink when we arrived (we got two espresso's). Our room was spectacular (to us)... It was not that large, but it was very clean and had a large window looking out onto the street, and the bathroom had a beautiful white and grey marble shower, bathrobes, and the bed was very comfortable and big. We felt like royalty!
We asked the receptionist for a dinner recommendation, specifically a good place to get pizza (in Florence they have more of the Neapolitan style of pizza, the thicker crusted, round type that we are used to at home). The first place she recommended did not have any room that night, so we went to the second place she recommended, O'Munaciello (meaning "the little monk" in Neapolitan dialect) on via Maffia 31. This place was located in the southern part of the city, across the river in the neighborhood of Santo Spirito, popular for food and night life. It was built in a 17th century convent. We walked there from our hotel, it took about 20 minutes and was pretty easy to find. Along the way we passed many other cozy-looking, bustling, restaurants and trattorias.
Upon entry in the restaurant, my first reaction was, this place in huge! As the rest of the details sunk in, a mixture of observations and feelings, it almost reminded me of something out of Mexico, with colorful art, photographs, skeletons, lots of knick nacks. There was an eerie life size sculpture of a clown in a corner. The restaurant is set up as if in an outdoor courtyard, although it is inside, in a large building with vaulted ceilings. There was garlic and spicy peppers hung along the beams, and a small, ancient television set playing a highlight reel of the famous Argentinian soccer player (footballer ;) Diego Maradona, who played for Napoli for seven years, and is much beloved by the city. There is a brick oven for pizzas in the corner. I actually quite liked the atmosphere of this place.
We got a basic mixed salad as a first, and a martini (how could I not, in Italy). Unfortunately, I think we ordered the wrong pizza. Anyone will tell you, that in order to really tell the quality of a pizza, you must order the classic margarita pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil). We did not. we thought we'd get fancy and order some other kinds. We got two: one a white pizza with broccoli rabe and sausage and mozzarella, another with tomato sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella and basil. They were good, don't get me wrong, but not the absolute best. The servers were not that nice or helpful, but I'd say it was a good meal overall, and a cool place to check out for the atmosphere, however over-the-top it may be.
We walked back to our hotel, with full stomachs, and arrived to our bed having been turned down, slippers on each side of the bed, two waters, and some little typical Italian cookies with chocolate and jam. We had a great night sleep on our tempurapedic mattress.
The evening before, the hotel had given us a sheet of paper to fill out with our choice of breakfast options, included with the room. "Personalized breakfast". So we came down in the morning, and were served what we had chosen the night before. Everything was great: the cappuccinos, the little carefully made rolls of cold butter, placed on top of ice, the fruit plate, the eggs...
After breakfast, we walked up to Piazza Michelangelo, on a hilltop south of the river, overlooking the city. It was a pleasant day, and a very nice walk, it is a bit of an uphill for awhile but we figured we could use the exercise. Although quite touristy, the view was magnificent, and there is one replica of Michelangelos "David" sculpture standing proudly gazing out over the city and the surrounding mountains (there are two "David" replicas in Florence, and the real "David" is located in the Accademia Museum). There also seemed to be somewhat of a vintage car convention up there, which Josh promptly occupied himself with for a good 20 minutes. We walked back down the hill, and towards the Boboli Garden, through the Spiritu Santo neighborhood.
We were a little hungry from our morning walk, and decided to get some little treats for a snack on the way to the gardens. We found a fabulous little pasticceria, Caffe Pasticceria Neri , Simone bellisi pasticcere uffuciale a c f fiorentina www.caffeneri.it. They had the best looking selection of cookies, tarts, and biscotti. The man at the counter seemed to think we'd take them home and save them for later, and wrapped them all up in a fancy box. They did not last long, let me tell you. We got an espresso to go, and ate them as we walked. Our favorites were the tarts filled with cream and black raspberry, and actually, they all were our favorites. Just when you thought you found your favorite, you'd eat the next one, and then that one would seem better than the last. Absolutely must try this place.
We got to the entrance of the Boboli Gardens, located behind the Palazzo Pitti, a palace originally belonging to the, you got it, Pitti family, and subsequently changed hands to various other noble families. It currently houses a museum with 16th and 17th century paintings and household treasures. You can buy a ticket for both, or just one of the two. Since it was such a nice day, we opted to just check out the gardens. These gardens are a great work of "green architecture", and served as an inspiration for many other such European gardens, including Versailles. It's construction started in the 15th century and spanned until the 19th century. It contains and amphitheater, and numerous sculptures and fountains, and of course botanical gardens. It was not in bloom and many of the trees did not have leaves due to it being winter and all, but it was still beautiful. I'd like to go back some day in the summer to see it in all of its glory.
There were, however, plenty of little crocuses and wild anemones blooming in the lawns, which was a delightful sight after months without seeing anything growing. We loved walking through these gardens, especially since we both work doing garden design ourselves.
That night, we went to dinner at another recommendation from our hotel, for a traditional Tuscan osteria: Osteria del Porcellino (meaning little pig) on Via Val di Lamona 7. It was good, not the best meal of the trip. Josh got tagliatelle bolognese, and for some reason I chose that night to try fish, feeling that I'd been eating way too much pasta and needed something healthy: not the right call. Their specialty, clearly as the name indicated, was pork, and meats. When we got back to the hotel, once again they had turned down the bed for us, and left a little plate of biscotti and two glasses of desert wine for us, along with a little description of what they had left, (biscotti are an Italian specialty, etc.) We again marveled at how nice the hotel was and how lucky we had been to be upgraded.
Although it was a lucky twist of fate that brought us there, and normally we would not have spent the money to stay at a place like this, the longer we stayed at this hotel, the more it felt like a home away from home. The breakfast is great, the staff is amazing, there are thoughtful little personalized touches everywhere, they really go above and beyond for you, and seem to really care about your satisfaction and comfort, unlike so many other places that seem to just want your money. Our stay there was coming to an end though, for the present (we would be back again in a few days).
The following day, we rented a car from Enterprise, near the train station. As far as renting cars goes, our experience was quite simple and smooth with this agency. We had insurance with no deductible (we had a bad experience in Spain last year, in which the rental agency claimed we put an inch long scratch in the car and charged us 250 euro extra) and it was not outrageously priced. We ended up with a white Prius- a plus that we would save on gas as well (almost 1 euro/ liter at the time).
We started off driving south from Florence on the highway, and quickly took an exit off, and drove into the Chianti region. We drove through beautiful olive groves, and past many vineyards, up and down many hills. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were elated to finally be out in the country with the freedom of a car. We went down a few roads that turned to dirt halfway down, becoming narrower and narrower until we were forced to accept the fact that we must have taken a wrong turn. We were having fun exploring the countryside, and did so until around lunch time when we thought we'd try to find something to eat.
Unfortunately, as we soon discovered, it was the absolute wrong time of year to be traveling through this region, and it was a Monday to boot so most places were closed. We had had fantasies of stopping through wineries and finding small towns with amazing eateries, or bodegas with cheese, oil and wine. Alas, that was not the case. Finally, in Greve en Chianti, we found one little roadside restaurant that was open, where we ended up having lunch. Literally everywhere else was closed. That particular place had a worn out sign saying, "open every day" outside the door. It actually wasn't a bad meal. After that we realized that our dreams of finding a little winery to explore, or villa to sleep in in the countryside were probably not too realistic, so we drove to Siena for the night. We got there just before sundown, and watched the sun set from the gothic cobbled streets, over the Tuscan countryside, although chilly, still green and beautiful.
We ended up staying at the Hotel NH Excelsior, since we had the car and needed to park it somewhere outside of town (the center of most of these cities are off limits to all cars other than taxis and residents). They had a few free parking spots out front, and the hotel is also about a five minute walk from the city stadium where there is a huge free parking lot. The NH seems to always be decent (in my experience, which has mostly been just in Spain). It was poor planning on our part, though, choosing to travel on a Monday, because in Italy, a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays! We had figured since Siena was a small city we would find plenty still open. We were wrong, and ended up walking the cold cobbled streets for quite some time that evening in search of a restaurant before finding one. Alas, I do not remember the name of the place we ate. It was completely decent though, and we accompanied it with a glass of Chianti. Josh had spaghetti with pesto, and I regrettably don't remember what I had, and didn't take photos of it.
Digression: it is said that there is a small rivalry between Florence and Siena, Florence being a medieval city, and Siena being a gothic one, and both small cities in Tuscany. They definitely have completely different feels to them, and I must say that I definitely liked Florence more. Siena was beautiful as well, but felt extremely cold to us: not just temperature wise, but the streets and buildings were cold, dark, made of massive grey stones, the cobbled streets narrow and buildings tall so that even in daylight they crowded out light from entering too far down. It probably didn't help our opinion that so many restaurants were closed! It was a cool place to walk around though, and it almost could seem like it must have been exactly the same hundreds of years previously. The cathedral is stunning, and the central plaza also quite lovely, with plenty of tourist traps skirting the outside.
The NH had a good breakfast buffet, included in the price of our room, which we fully took advantage of. After breakfast, we walked again towards town, and went to a place we'd walked past the evening before, a large bodega specializing in traditional Tuscan fare, with sections selling various cured meats and pickles, a pastry section with breads, cookies and pies, and a fresh fruit and vegetable section. We got a couple of delectable looking sandwiches to eat on the road, some little fruit pies, and some olives and Marcona almonds (slightly less expensive than in the US, but still pricey) and got ready for a day of checking out the Tuscan countryside.
Being at the bodega made me think, it's amazing how my little knowledge of French and knowledge of Spanish makes it easier to understand the Italian. The woman behind the deli counter, speaking no English, had asked, "manger ahora?" And I knew, in French, "manger" means "eat", and "ahora" in Spanish means "now". So I said no. Just for example. It's harder to speak though, as always with a new language, but you do pick up a few words and phrases here and there, like "arrivederci" (we see each other again), "prego" (a multi purpose exclamation meaning "you're welcome!", "sit down!", "come in!", etc. etc.), "buona sera", (good evening) among others.
We headed out of Siena, and our first stop was to be San Gimognano, a beautiful little Tuscan town, called by some a mini Manhattan, as its silhouette from afar consists of eleven tall stone towers perched on a hilltop. It was another beautiful day. There are plenty of signs pointing toward San Gimognano as you drive through the Tuscan countryside, as its one of the main tourist destinations in the summer. We arrived, parked, and had a little picnic in a green park for lunch. We were in awe of how good our sandwiches were. Afterwards, we strolled around the town, up narrow streets ending in stunning vistas of the countryside, green hills dotted with villas and misty valleys. The town was quiet, with not many people, but you could tell it was quite a touristy town, with tons of little stores and cafes lining the Main Street; in summer it must be filled to the brim.
Next, we drove to Volterra, located about a half an hour's drive west, up high on a hill with a stunning view. (Fun fact: The town was featured in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, as the home of the vampire lords). We got out and walked around that town too, but we were slowly realizing it was not the season to travel around that part of the country: nearly everything was closed, and the narrow streets were dark and cold. Despite these things, it was still incredibly beautiful, and had a certain charm. We stopped in a little cafe and got some cookies and an espresso. The countryside, at least in this part of Italy is much like what I have seen in parts of Spain and France, with largely unspoilt countryside dotted with little villages. It's very quaint and beautiful, and although touristy retains its charm. As we would see though, closer to the coast there was more sprawl and ugliness.
We were not sure where we'd be spending the next night, and had left it open in case we happened upon a villa or great hotel in which to stay. Unfortunately, neither of those presented itself. So we drove on to Pisa. We went to see leaning tower of Pisa, because we were there, so how could we not! The surrounding areas were quite unimpressive, and we parked in a large lot surrounded by dilapidated, crumbling buildings and tons of graffiti, and people selling things on the street. The tower, however, is located across a massive manicured green lawn, and next to the duomo, which is very beautiful and looks well taken care of. Although it was late afternoon, there were still many tourists taking token shots of the tower. It was a worthwhile stop. We spent the night in a random hotel on the outskirts of town and had a non notable dinner, being overall unimpressed by Pisa, but to be fair we did not explore it in depth. During the recent economic downturn, the city suffered, but is a big university city, particularly for tech disciplines, so it is on the rebound, supposedly.
The next day we got up early and set out for Cinque Terre, since we were in the area. It was nice to be back on the coast if only for a day. We had toyed with the idea of going to the Amalfi coast, but decided, after asking around to local Italians, that it wasn't the right season, and things would be closed. I'm sure it still would have been beautiful, but we had decided we'd have to come back another year, in the summer or fall. Likewise, it was not the season for seeing Cinque Terre in all its glory, but it was still quite beautiful.
In order to get there by car from the south, (and to get the train also) you have to go through La Spezia. The road leading here from Pisa has a lot of industrial sprawl (Pietrasanta, a town near here is where a lot of marble mining industry is, and due to the proximity to the sea, also shipping, etc.). La Spezia, at first seems like the kind of dingy city on the road to somewhere else, but as you continue to drive through the city you begin to see what may be some of its redeeming qualities: it is a great big port with hundreds of boats, and the harbor has a nice boardwalk with palm trees, and as you drive up the hillside out of the city, mountains rise up opposite, to the north, making for a stunning panorama of the large port and snow capped peaks behind it. We didn't stop long to check out the city, but it was fun to drive through it anyway!
As you climb the hills out of La Spezia, roads clinging to almost vertical hillsides for dear life, the views are inspiring and vertigo inducing. One plus side of visiting during this time of year, was that there were far fewer tourists. The towns were quaint and quiet, the sea an amazing shade of azure blue. The roads were pretty treacherous and narrow and steep and we passed quite a few landslides. We did not do the hike through all of the towns, as weather was not ideal, so we picked a few of them to visit, parked outside them, and walked around them. We saw Riomaggiore and Vernazza, and Manarola. It was a good experience overall, and we got a gelato in a tiny shop that was open in Vernazza. It was an interesting experience eating it in the cold sunlight, in a closed down tourist town. It was quite delicious though (I got pistachio). You can tell that these towns, as well as the Tuscan towns, are huge tourist traps in the summer months. The Cinque Terre have an interesting feel of being removed from civilization, and going back in time, though not as much now as they may have some years ago. The views are unmatched, and the towns very quaint and picture perfect. Other than that, there is not much to do, non notable food, and only one of the towns has a beach (monterosso al mare), and one has a protected harbor (Vernazza). It would probably be great to go visit them by boat. I'm not sure what the permanent residents do for work, but I'd imagine it's something like Martha's Vineyard in which the economy is largely based upon tourism, some people fish, and there are some small vineyards in the steep hills.
Late afernoon, we headed back to Florence, and to the Grande Amore Hotel, whose staff had kindly agreed to let us stay again at the same price as we had paid before. This hotel, and Florence, had begun to feel like a home away from home. The staff is fabulous, it's in a nice quiet location, the beds are supremely comfortable, and they have an Italian marble bathroom, a definite plus. We got the same room as we had stayed in the first time... Not a huge surprise as there are only about six rooms in the hotel.
That night, we went to dinner at Ristorante Accademia, Piazza San Marco, 7, another recommendation of our hotel receptionist, for a good local restaurant. We immediately liked it: it was cozy, homey, and small. Nothing fancy. Our waiter was very friendly, and efficient. There were lots of students in the restaurant. We ended up running into a girl I had worked with the previous summer, named Bowen, whose family has island ties, and now live in Florence. It's a small world! They were sad that we hadn't run into one another sooner, and wanted to invite us for dinner but they were leaving for France the next day. We had a great dinner (the bread was the best we'd had in Italy, we had found the bread not to be very good anywhere), and had some great salads, and raviolis. We went back to our cozy room, again to some little cookies and aperitif. One great thing about this hotel was that even after staying there a few nights the service was equally as amazing as the first day we got there. We definitely were exhausted from traveling around and so happy to get into our cozy bed.
We had another amazing breakfast at the hotel, today being offered a Tuscan specialty cake, a light almond coffee cake, which was just delectable, and then went to the Uffizi Gallery. This gallery is one of the largest and best art museums in Florence, with a massive collection of Renaissance era art, including Botticelli, Leonardo do Vinci and many more. There were a lot of stunning religious icons. The building itself is also beautiful, with a couple of floors, and high ceilings, and beautiful black and white marble floor tiles.
For lunch we stopped into a little shop that had sandwiches, you could pick what you wanted on them. On one we had prosciutto, mozzarella, pesto, and sun dried tomato, and on the other we got salami, parmasean and pesto, both on focaccia. They were both sooo good. There are countless little sandwich places along these streets, I would highly recommend trying a bunch of them.
For dinner that night, our receptionist had thoughtfully made us a reservation at a place called Pizzaiuolo, supposedly the best pizza in Florence. it is hard to get reservations, and sometimes you may need to book at least a day in advance. Don't get me wrong, it's not an upscale, fancy place, it's just a small little traditional napolitan pizzeria, but it is known to be the best. We were not disappointed. We both got a mixed salad, glass of Chianti and a whole marguerita pizza. I finished the whole thing by myself. For desert we shared a slice of really good cheesecake. Overall an exceptional meal, maybe the best pizza I've had in my life! Makes me want to go to Naples and try the real thing! I was definitely super duper full though.
The following day, I got a great, much needed haircut at Lapo, via dei Fossi 34, a really nice salon that was not too expensive, and was very comfortable, and nicely decorated inside. My hairdresser spoke little English but she seamed to understand what I wanted, and I put my hair into her hands. I'd hazard to say that it was the best haircut I had gotten in years, and for the best price. It seemed like the woman who cut my hair really understood my hair type and what would look good, and it came out great, and feeling healthy. I was very impressed, and highly recommend this place.
We loved just walking around this city. It's quite a beautiful one, and has a special regal beauty to it, in the clean streets, and light colored buildings. It feels very comfortable and warm and you can definitely tell there is not lack of money there. There is lots of good food, a wealth of masterpieces of art and sculpture, not to mention the fashion. In addition to every big fashion house, there are plenty of smaller boutiques and vintage shops. There is something for every budget. It was fun just to stroll around and look, being one of the most aesthetically pleasing cities overall. Josh got a great pair of Italian sunglasses at a store called Aspesi. They have great men and women's clothing designs as well, which I was coveting but they were a little out of my price range, still having another month and half traveling. Everyone seems super fashionable and put together.
Too soon, it was our last night in Florence, and we were sad to leave, having fallen in love with this beautiful city.
We decided to go to Il Santo Bevitore, Via di Santo Spirito 64/66, a place we had walked past on a few occasions, whose windows beckoned with their cozy yellow light, and whose menu looked quite good, a rustic-chic take on local Tuscan fare. We had a good dinner, the highlight being the wine (they have an amazing selection of bottles, lining the walls of the large building), the cozy, bustling atmosphere, and the appetizer of local cheeses and charcuterie, and the desert. The mains were alright, but seemed like they were a bit confused in their aim, and mixed some odd ingredients together in a way that didn't quite work out for the best. Overall a nice place.
The following day, we took the train back to Rome, where we'd spend another night, before flying back to Amsterdam.
It was a bittersweet feeling, as we parted that city on the train, past graffitied tracks and partitions, leaving behind beautiful Tuscan hillsides and valleys, that very enchanting, mysterious and dreamy landscape, that reminded me of the old musical film Brigadoon.
Arrivederci, Firenze.
