This is the second in a two-part series about Mary Collins’ recent trip to Florence and the hill towns of Tuscany.
I ended my first article about my recent trip to Florence and the hill towns of Tuscany describing our day-trip to Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci.
In our second day in Florence itself, we visited the church of Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Dante are buried (Actually Dante is not there, but as Florence claims him as a native son, his crypt is). Getting a little silly that day, we started calling these giants of history by the nicknames of Mike, Mac and Dan!
We visited a leather workshop that has been in the square surrounding Santa Croce since the Middle Ages and then ate lunch at a little cafA?© in the shadow of the church.
In the afternoon, we went to the Bargello Sculpture Museum, where among others there is a curious “David” sculpture by Donatello, and a number of colorful terra cotta sculptures by Della Robbia, both 14th century Florentine artists.
Lucca was my favorite Tuscan city. It is a city which is still surrounded by its original wall built at the time of the Renaissance.
Its narrow streets, bordered on either side by pastel colored villas, open into square after square. This time, lunch was at a traditional Italian trattoria, crowded, noisy, long tables with the waiters shouting and occasionally singing.
We had a wonderful bean soup, chicken cacciatore and for desert a strange pastry made from piecrust and filled with spinach, Swiss chard and raisins.
Returning from Lucca, we went through the town where the author of Pinocchio lived, on our way to a vineyard. Some of the group wisely returned to the hotel, while the rest of us sampled two white wines, three red wines, a dessert wine and finished off with grappa, while munching on bread, olives and salami-all these produced at the farm.
Upon our return to the hotel, we were expected to enjoy the dinner waiting for us!
Perched on a hilltop above the town of Montecatini, where we stayed in one of the many resort hotels, is the old town of Montecatini Alto.
There is a funicular to take you to the top, but, after our excesses of the day before, some of us chose to walk. It’s a delightful spot where only the rich can afford to live. My favorite “meal” of the trip was the cappuccino we had in the little square there.
I have come to our last day and last meal in Florence. This was the long-awaited visit to the Uffizi Museum, which is famous for its collection of Renaissance art. It would have been overwhelming without a preparatory lecture the evening before.
There is so much to see, and the museum is so crowded. There, one finds rooms of art by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael and many more. When we had absorbed as much as our tired eyes and brains could take in, we ate lunch on the roof top cafA?© at the museum.
I remember when I was young how romantic I thought it was reading about people in Italy eating bread, cheese, olives and wine under the Tuscan sun; so that’s what I chose for my last meal in Florence.
And now for two or three final thoughts.
I had always thought of the Renaissance as the re-awakening of Europe from the Dark Ages, particularly in the arts, but of course with magnificent cathedrals and their frescoes and stained glass windows being built from the 11th century onward medieval Europe was actually quite rich in art. This medieval art and architecture glorified God and made humans insignificant.
The Renaissance, however, was a re-introduction of classical Greek and Roman art and thought into Europe – an art and philosophy that is secular, rational and humanistic – leading ultimately to the social and political systems that we have today.
Travel and educational programs, such as those offered by Elderhostel, help us to understand our own place and time better, not only through the study of history but through exposure to other contemporary societies.
We spent a lot of time on the bus trips to and from the hotel talking with our guides about present day Italian family life, educational systems and political issues.
I was struck by how similar the issues are, even though the solutions that are being tried may be very different.
Finally, Florence, like so many other special places around the world, is being loved to death. It is crowded, noisy and dirty.
Ugly, black stains caused by automobile pollution cover the marble sculptures and buildings. The waiting period for reservations at the Uffizi museum is more than six weeks. Cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and pedestrians crowd the narrow streets and sidewalks.
And all of this begs the question: How do we cherish and enjoy, but also protect the natural and built wonders of our world?
– Mary Collins is a resident of Gorham and a regular contributor to the newspapers of Current Publishing.
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