Firenze, Toscana

Solemnly, we left Roma for a trip to Florence and Tuscany on Sunday. We drove through many storms/showers, but arrived in a sunny Florence Sunday evening. After dinner, we all walked along the Arno River to the main squares to see the incredible Cathedral and Bell Tower.

Here is Giotto's Bell Tower!!

Monday we were off on another adventure to Chiusi and Citta' della Pieve, nearby towns, where we visited a museum of Etruscan artifacts and then had a personal guided tour of two Etruscan tombs located in the nearby hills. WOW!

Here we also stopped for a very leisurely "lunch"

 

with pasta typical of the region: PICI

plenty of wine, turkey, potatoes, cheese (for the vegetarians), grilled vegetables, and an incredible dessert, with limoncello!

Then our local guide made us walk 5 kilometers to visit an woman's home/laboratory where she paints and "cooks" ceramics. Fortunately our faithful bus driver, Silvia came to rescue us and take us back to Florence.

We spent the last two days visiting the most incredible works of art - the Gallery of the Academia, home to David and Michelangelo's Prigioni - his unfinished scuptures, which seem more like people escaping from a block of marble! We also spent quite some time at the Uffizzi Gallery looking at Botticelli's masterpieces.

Then we also visited the Brancaccio Chapel to see the frescos on the wall.

We broke for another amazing lunch at this unbelievable restaurant and then headed for the Pitti Palace where we had tickets to the 6 museums!!

 We visited one, and tried to see the gardens, but gave up, our feet rebelling!