We were definitely easing into our travels when we picked Florence as our launch pad for a stint in Italy. With 36 hours in the Renaissance city followed by two weeks in the region, drinking all the wine, eating all the food, drinking all the wine (did I say that already?), if there was going to be anything tough about this gig, it would be keeping our waistlines in check.
With our flight into Florence arriving in the evening, our march on the city started late, with a chianti in the shadow of the Tower of Pagliazza, the oldest building still standing in the city’s World Heritage historic centre (now the bar and reception at the posh Hotel Brunelleschi). We happened upon this ambient little corner by accident, and only after trying several closing cucinas. But kicking off our Italian tour with a vino at the foot of a 1,500-year-old tower was – for me – a little like providence. Even if did cost 12 euros a glass.
Start as you mean to go on…
We followed up our wine with a spin around the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, more simply known as the Duomo. This monumental gothic creation was started in the 13th century, though the extraordinary polychrome marble exterior wasn’t completed until more than 500 years later. I don’t use the word magnificent often, but I do when I’m standing here.
It goes without saying you could spend days – weeks! months! – in Florence. Having had the joy and privilege of exploring this epic city several times on travels past though, we decided this 36 hours would need to be strictly business: we prepared a hit list of our very favourite Renaissance heroes and Machiavellis, from stormy Caravaggio and the prodigious Medicis to….Hannibal Lecter.
Several scenes from the film Hannibal are set in and around Florence’s social nucleus, the Piazza della Signoria, including the magnificent Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. Having recently re-watched the film, we were determined to spend some time in this 53-metre long hall with its enormous, wall-to-wall battle frescoes painted by Vasari over two decades from the mid 1550s. Legend has it Vasari’s vibrantly coloured war scenes actually hide Leonardo da Vinci’s famously missing painting, ‘The Battle of Anghiari’. But that’s another story.
Hannibal’s stomping ground – Piazza della Signoria and Vasari fresco.
We’ve also long been fascinated by Florence’s historic power dynasty, the Medici family. While much of Florence’s art and architecture is a legacy of this great house, this visit we made a trip to the family’s own gobsmacking self-tribute: the Medici Chapels. Forty-nine family members are buried in this arresting mausoleum, adorned throughout with marble and semi-precious stone and decorated with beautiful sculptures by Michaelangelo. If you want to make a statement from the grave, be a Medici.
Death and taxes takes on new meaning in the Medici Chapels.
After heading back to the Duomo to mill with the masses through its massive interior (our first time venturing inside), and then admiring the extensive Renaissance sculpture collection in the beautiful Museo del Bargello, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio to search out Caravaggio in the vast Palazzo Pitti.
Duomo, Bargello, Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palazzo….oh!
But not before stopping for a roadside pizza at hole-in-the-wall Riva D’Arno. It was, quite possibly, the Best Pizza I’ve Ever Eaten.
Turns out we weren’t the only Caravaggio roadies adrift in the Pitti’s expansive Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments. With such an enormous collection of art to navigate, those seeking out the turbulent artist’s works couldn’t help but announce themselves on arrival at each painting with a quiet cheer of personal triumph.
From Pitti, we hiked the steep streets and green spaces of the Oltrano to finish the day on the steps of Piazzale Michaelangelo overlooking Florence, listening to a busking Italian Ed Sheeran and watching the sky over the city slowly turn pink.
Stunning views reward the Oltrano hiker.
36 hours after arriving, with sore feet, an antipasto doggy bag from dinner, and something akin to an art hangover, we trundled north out of Florence in the slowest car on the autostrada. It was another brief flirtation, but we’ll definitely be back for more.