Fancy-Free in Florence

Florence (or Firenze, in Italian) is a big fancy city chock full of big amazing things to do. A lifetime’s worth. Maybe centuries’. With only 3 days to explore, we had to exclude many things, we know. But we chose a handful of spectacular things!

Our first stop, the Ufizzi Museum, was stuffed to the brim with marble and canvases and tourists galore. There are a handful of works by the masters (think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), which were definite stand-outs. And lots of other pieces too. And looooots of people.

Mostly, our visit simply underscored the superiority of our next stop: the Galleria di Academia. Most notably, The David.  Michaelangelo produced simply exquisite work. Detailed. Thoughtful. Perfection. Especially knowing the odds he was up against: a flawed and veiny block of stone, already chipped at by other artists, with a narrow profile that left no room for error. Grateful we saw him with our own eyes.

And then everything else we did in Florence just seemed like play! We went into shops, fancy and fun. Like Fabriano, centuries-old paper fabricators (on whose product Beethoven wrote symphonies, Turner sketched paintings, and Michaelangelo penned some angry letters). And a novelty rubber duck store (yes, just ducks). Plus, we took advantage of the metropolis for an all you can eat sushi restaurant, and a different gelateria every day.

We also partook in a scavenger hunt that focused on lesser-seen points of interest and little legends of the city. (Like a petrified witch’s head in a church wall and a carved graffiti silhouette attributed to Michaelangelo.)

And I love me a formal gardens! So we sauntered through the Giardini di Boboli for a morning. Grottos with statuary and ponds with islands and paths with arched canopies and we definitely did not steal a lemon off a potted tree in a grove of potted lemon trees. (If we had, it would have been the most deliciously lemon-y lemon of all delicious lemons we have ever eaten.)

You know we did a fair deal of simply walking and sitting on benches to sketch and people-watching (Florentines are fancy!). And I guess we left plenty for a next visit too (we’ll come back for you, Galileo!).

Now on to the islands portion of our adventure. First up: Sardinia!