Above is the River Arno, which flows through the heart of Florence.
The bridge to the far left of this photo is Ponte Vecchio, with the nearer bridge being the slightly less exciting Ponte alle Grazie.
All very peaceful, the building to the far left of the above photo is the Florence National Central Library, one of the largest libraries in Italy.
When we were meandering around in the evening, we stumbled across the Lindt Store, centrally located in Florence near to the Cathedral. It looked exciting with the vibrant colours and it was even more exciting when we got a free chocolate when we entered the store…..
Definitely colourful, although the prices seemed just a little combative…..
There were also bars of chocolate for those who preferred a more intense taste, especially that 100% cacao one….
A lovely shop though, which also has a cafe at the rear which we intended to come back to, although never quite found the time. Looking at the prices for the cafe, these seem very reasonable, so if I make it back to Florence one day I might pop in for a hot chocolate as these are apparently the pinnacle of liquid richness.
OK, I’ll start with the bad visit, which was the second one that I made. I had booked to go to the bar via The Fork, which had otherwise worked brilliantly this weekend, and would give me a 20% discount. Unfortunately, despite the bar having that booking they decided against opening which is fine if they had bothered to tell me. So, probably best not to book for this bar unless visiting in the evening.
Anyway, back to the first visit, which was much better.
The Brewdog in Florence is smaller than most of the others in the chain that I’ve been to, which is also reflected in the smaller selection of beers. However, the selection is still well-balanced and there was plenty of choice available. I had the Zombie Cake porter and it tasted as I expected, rich with plenty of chocolate in flavour, as well as some vanilla. The prices were as I’d expect from Brewdog, it’s not the cheapest, but the quality is pretty much guaranteed.
The bar was relatively compact, but there was a reasonable amount of seating available as there are two floors to the building. The welcome at the bar was friendly and immediate, with the staff member being engaging, helpful and polite. All rather lovely.
The downstairs of the bar, which shows live sports and can I understand get a little crowded in the evening at times.
This is the well, one of the features of the downstairs bar, which also felt slightly damp (the downstairs that is, not the well which was had no water in it at all). The atmosphere was laid back on the first visit, it’s a safe and comfortable environment.
I was so pleased with the first visit that I decided to go back for food, but as mentioned earlier on, the bar didn’t open. There’s one thing opening late as there are likely many reasons, but perhaps it’d be helpful just to alert customers rather than just ignore the situation. It might have been that they opened just a little late, but if I had known, I could have waited, but I’m not going to stand outside for what might be hours. So, unfortunately, I can’t say much about the food, but I like that they’ve got some localisation going in, rather than just having the standard menu which we have in the UK. Incidentally, they have free snacks in the evening, although I’m not sure between what times, although I suspect they’re probably erratic…..
Giovanni Martini was born in Udine in the 1470s and died in the city in 1535, having painted mostly religious images throughout his career. This image of Saint John the Baptist was painted in the early 1490s and I hadn’t realised that the Ecce Agnus Dei on this painting means “Behold the Lamb of God”, the words used by John Baptist before baptising Jesus. It’s one of the more sympathetic portrayals of John the Baptist that I’ve seen, quite an elegant artwork.
Martini spent most of his time in Friuli, north of Venice, so I’m not sure if he ever visited Florence. The National Gallery in London have another of Martini’s works, which is a panel painting which would have been used as an altarpiece. It was in such poor repair that the gallery didn’t show it, but recently a significant project was undertaken to restore it and bring it back on display, with details at https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/complex-conservation-an-altarpiece-in-need-of-attention.
For anyone who wants to visit a lot of attractions within Florence, which are nearly all historical sites or galleries, then the Firenze Card is likely to be worth it. It’s not cheap, costing €85, but it gives entry into more museums and galleries that it’s possible to visit in the three-day validity period of the card, with over 75 sites taking part in the scheme. I visited in February when Florence was relatively quiet, but the card also gives fast track into many of the sites, which can save plenty of time in queueing.
Although the card period is set at 72 hours, there is a way of extending it by 48 hours by paying an extra fee and there’s also the option of paying €7 more and getting free public transport. The card includes entrance into the Cathedral and its museums, with the handy benefit that this lasts 72 hours in itself, which can be used after the card itself has expired, as long as the ticket is purchased within the validity period of the Firenze Card. So, in my case, my Firenze Card lasted from Friday to Sunday and I collected the Cathedral ticket on Sunday evening, meaning that I could visit the museum on the Monday morning and complete the Dome climb on Tuesday morning.
I purchased by ticket at the Uffizi as this made it easier, with this museum requiring advance reservations, as does the Galleria dell’Accademia. By purchasing my ticket here, the helpful member of staff was able to make my reservations for both sites free of charge, saving time and hassle working out how else to do it. I was also given a map of where all the museums were and a thing to put round my neck, I forget what they’re called, although I decided against this frivolity.
There’s a list of all the sites which are included with the pass available at http://www.firenzecard.it/.
I visited the below, and I’ll add links to them when I’ve finished writing about them. I don’t think that I’ve forgotten any that I visited, but I likely have….
SITES I VISITED (and their usual individual entrance prices)
Grande Museo del Duomo-Battistero (€18 including all five Cathedral sites)
Grande Museo del Duomo-Campanile
Grande Museo del Duomo-Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
Grande Museo del Duomo-Cripta di Santa Reparata
Palazzo Pitti-Galleria Palatina e Appartamenti Monumentali (€10 including six Pitti Palace sites)
Palazzo Pitti-Galleria d’arte moderna
Palazzo Pitti-Tesoro dei Granduchi
Palazzo Pitti-Museo delle Porcellane
Palazzo Pitti-Museo della Moda e del Costume
Palazzo Pitti-Museo Giardino di Boboli (€6)
Museo di Palazzo Vecchio (€19.50)
Palazzo Medici Riccardi (€10)
Horne Museum (€7)
Museo Marino Marini (€9.50)
Franco Zeffirelli Museum (€10)
Gallerie degli Uffizi (€12)
Galleria dell’Accademia (€12)
Museo Galileo (€10)
Museo della Misericordia di Firenze (€5)
Basilica San Lorenzo (€8.50)
I think that’s €137.50 worth of admissions that I got for my €85, so I’m entirely content that I got my money’s worth. Ideally, I’d have visited a few more museums to get even better value for money, but some of the above locations are of international importance and it would be a shame to rush them, so I didn’t.
I’ve posted separately with photos from the top of the Dome.
The queue to climb the Dome is separate from the queue to enter the Cathedral, with the latter being visible on the right-hand side of the photo. The entrance to climb the Dome is on the door on the left in the above photo and it’s essential to have an advance ticket. The advance tickets have to be, well, booked in advance, which can be done by using the terminals in the Cathedral’s museum. I tried to book on Sunday morning, with Tuesday morning being the first available time that I could pick. There was around a twenty-five minute wait in the queue, during which time there were some people trying to extort money from those queueing. There is a charge to climb to the Dome, but I had a Firenze Card and this was included as part of that.
The climb up isn’t particularly difficult for anyone of at least average fitness, with a stop off at the base of the Dome’s interior where it’s possible to look down into the Cathedral.
Visitors can walk along the rim of the Dome, underneath the fresco painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari over an eleven-year period. It’s nearly 39,000 square foot in size, that’s not an inconsiderable amount of painting that was required.
The herringbone arrangement of bricks used by Filippo Brunelleschi, considered to be one of the first modern engineers.
Some of the brickwork above the steps.
There’s a display of some pieces of equipment which were used in the construction of the Cathedral.
The final part of the climb got steeper as it’s necessary to walk up the edge of the Dome itself.
A similar view looking down.
The last section is a little more difficult, with people needing to go down backwards.
I did this bit slowly, but very bravely…..
The view of the bell tower, which I climbed yesterday.
There’s not as much as protection on the edge of the Dome as there is on the Bell Tower, it’s a little more challenging for those scared of heights. On which note, I am scared of heights, although there wasn’t much of difficulty in that sense with the climb as there were no really exposed areas. Most of the climb up and down use different staircases, although there are some sections which are used in both directions, meaning a wait of a few minutes. There’s a staff member who guides visitors up the last section, but otherwise I didn’t see any staff during the climb up or down. However, it all felt safe and secure, although is a tougher climb than the Bell Tower.
The highlight for me was though being able to look down into the Cathedral and to see the frescoes on the ceiling of the Dome’s interior, all quite spectacular. Having written that, the views over Florence are of course exceptional and it’s a good little workout. There are 463 steps to get to the top, although it didn’t really feel like that, other than on the steeper section towards the end perhaps. It’s unfortunate that the sheer number of people wanting to do this climb means that it is often sold out for some days ahead, but for anyone who can get to climb it, it’s definitely worth it.
Photos from the top of the Dome of Florence Cathedral. I’ve posted separately about the climb itself.
I’ve visited this craft beer pub twice over this long weekend, the first with Richard just for drinks, the second on my own for food.
The craft beer selection. Inevitably there’s a slight disappointment of seeing so many imported beers rather than locally made ones, but such is the state of the craft beer trade in Italy and there were a least a few local ones. The draught drinks list has a variety of different types of beers on it although the “great bottle selection” remained a mystery as I didn’t see any list of these. The prices were all reasonable, generally around €6 for a beer, which is in keeping with the rest of Florence.
There’s a printed beer list, which still doesn’t have the bottles listed in it.
Some of the options on draught.
The bar area, which was all clean and organised. It’s possible to order from the bar, but table service is also offered for those wanting food. There’s also an outside seating area which is covered and I can imagine that this is most acceptable during the hot summer months.
I had a large (although they call it medium as they only have two sizes, the other being small) London Stout on my first visit and a large Freeride on my second visit. The London Stout was from Young’s Brewery, it’s a beer that I know well, perfectly drinkable although not exceptional in its richness. The Freeride IPA was interesting to me as it’s from the Italian Birrificio Del Ducato brewery, fruity and quite sharp, it was quite a refreshing option.
The Greek burger which was neatly presented and was at the appropriate temperature. I wasn’t asked how I wanted my burger cooked, but it came out medium-well done, which was fine and I received everything that I expected. There was a slab of feta cheese which added some saltiness and richness, the burger was meaty with a pleasant taste, whilst the other salad elements added some texture. The chips were well salted and very moreish, indeed, I could have likely eaten many more of them.
The service was friendly throughout, there’s a relaxed feel to this bar and there was a generally younger crowd there on both my visits. I booked via The Fork, which worked well here and got me a 20% discount, so the meal came to around £10 for the drink and burger. All entirely lovely, efficient and on-trend, just what I like. For the perfect visit though, I’d like more to be made of their bottled beers.
The outside of this gate, named after the now demolished nearby church, is impressive and the city is fortunate that it didn’t have idiotic local administrators who demolished it in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. I won’t name the not inconsiderable list of UK cities where marvellous city gates and barbicans were lost. Not only that, the city still has the keys to the gate, they’re now at the Palazzo Vecchio.
The gate was constructed between 1332 and 1334 under the instruction of Andrea Pisano and it was originally designed to be even taller.
The inside of the gate, which was located on the road to Pisa and is where King Charles VIII of France entered Florence in November 1494. This was when the Medici family were expelled from the city, although they returned a generation later, with the hope that a new moral climate would engulf the city. They got Niccolò Machiavelli, so perhaps all didn’t quite go to plan there…
The original wooden doors, which it must be said are subtle little things. I’m not entirely sure why they needed to make the door so high, but there was a design element to this gate and it was meant to look impressive, so that is perhaps the answer.
This is the highlight of the Galleria dell’Accademia’s collections and this sculpture has been there since 1873. It stands at just over 5.15 metres in height, which makes the sculpture taller than I had expected after seeing it in photos. It was sculpted by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504 using marble which had already been worked on by Antonio Rossellino and Donatello. I think it’s fair to say that they hadn’t made much impact on the marble beyond banging it about a bit, with some complaints having been made that the marble wasn’t of a very good quality.
The sculpture was originally destined to be used on Florence Cathedral, but after it was complete it was placed outside the Palazzo Vecchio on 8 September 1504, where it remained until 1873. There was quite a show on the day that the unveiling took place as it had taken the city’s authorities four days to move it half a mile, since it weighs over six tons, so the locals must have been quite excited to see what was gracing their city’s square.
Its loss from public view was a problem, so a replica was later produced and installed at the sculpture’s previous location in 1910, which is still there today.
This is a photo of the sculpture from before 1873, when it was in its original position outside the Palazzo Vecchio, with at this time the fig leaf which was placed there to ensure that was no-one was offended.
As an artwork, it is quite graceful and it’s hard to imagine the depth of artistic ability there must have been to sculpt this, as personally I can’t imagine that I’d have either the patience and dexterity to do anything even remotely like this.
