Today was Connie's birthday. Twenty-one years old again for the first time.
We had arranged for Niccolò and his wife to cook us a dinner this evening, so we planned a trip into Firenze for the day so we could be back in time
. Steve was tired from all the walking and sightseeing, so he decided to stay at the villa for the day and laze around. Bubba and Tracy took their own car into the city so they could take in what they wanted in their own time while Lori, Connie and I did the same.
Our first stop was at the Piazzale Michelangelo, which was just south of the city towards the top of a hill overlooking Firenze. This was suggested by Paola as a nice spot to see the entire city close up from a high vantage point. From here one could see all the major attractions in the city and get a sense of how small the central area really was. We wandered around for a bit taking pictures and noticed a couple of Ferrari's sitting near the roadway with a small crowd gathering, so we had to check that out. They turned out to be for test drives that one could take and it was only 55EU for 10 minutes or for 20 minutes you could get a deal...110EU. We decided to take a pass on it.
From the Piazzale we drove around a nice roadway to the Porta Romano, where we parked the car and spent some time walking through Giardino di Boboli
. This is a rather large garden area that was started in the 1500's that's home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through to the 18th centuries. There were numerous pathways networking their way in geometric patterns throughout the park and the sculptures were along pathways on pedestals or hidden in small alcoves just inside the high walls of shrubs that lined the paths. One could see that the sculptures were in various states of cleanliness…from some a bright crème colour from being recently cleaned all the way down to dark dirty ones showing signs of moss growth. Some pedestals were void of statues, so obviously they had a cleaning program going on regularly and these were out for cleaning.
We spent about an hour wandering around the gardens and I don’t think we even covered a quarter of them, but it was time to move on and see the other sites of the city. Our next stop was along the river where we managed to get a parking spot just outside the gelateria that Paola had suggested we try out
. Of course we took every advantage of using Connie’s handicap sign to get the best parking spots possible. With our gelatos in hand we made our way across the river and through the narrow roadways, lined with every high-end shop you could imagine, towards the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We didn’t spend much time here as, while the architecture was amazing, we were starting to get our fill of cathedrals by now. We were starting to get a bit peckish by now so we headed south towards the Palazzo Vecchio and stopped at a small bakery for a bite to eat. We didn’t want to eat very much because Niccolò told us to leave lots of room for dinner, so we only had a slice of pizza and something to drink. It was just a few hundred meters from there to Palazzo Vecchio, which is a 13th century fortified palace. The draw here isn’t the palace itself however, rather the copy of Michelangelo’s David and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. While these are all replicas, it was fantastic to see all of these major works in one place as the actual statues are spread all over Italy in various locations. According to Niccolò, these are so close to original that it would take a trained eye to see the difference. We took many pictures here and then moved towards the car on the other side of the river. To cross the river we took the Ponte Vecchio, which is a beautiful medieval covered bridge that’s lined with shops and art galleries, but more specifically gold and watch shops. We have never seen so much gold in one place at one time. Surprisingly neither Connie nor Lori stopped at any of them, even for a look. Connie did however stop at a leather shop on the street on the other side of the bridge where she saw some boots. Alas, it seems that the female Italian foot is narrow and as a result, the boots were too tight a fit.
Finally we arrived back at the car and started our way back to the villa but on the way I’m afraid I may have crossed one of the traffic limitation zones called ZTL, which restricts traffic to residents only
. There are cameras guarding the roads leading to these zones that take pictures of the plates of the car as they pass. I guess I’ll be finding out from the car rental agency in a few weeks if there’s a fine to be paid, which we’ve heard can be pretty hefty. We were back at the villa by 6pm leaving us with lots of time for an aperitif while getting ready for dinner.
Niccolò appeared just after 7pm and led us through the gate beside our patio to a courtyard next door that separated his parents’ house from the villa. On this side of the villa was built a single level area enclosed with glass doors that housed a kitchen and a massive dining area that was around 15’ by 40’. The furniture in the dining area was a collection of items that were found in various places and restored by Niccolò and his father. Some of the cabinets were over two hundred years old. Dinner began with appetizers five different types of bruschetta that included the traditional tomato topping as well as some other interesting and very tasty toppings, along with a punch made of prosecco and a slew of other ingredients
. The next course was a very nice risotto with saffron that was followed by a spaghetti dish. The main course was an amazing pork rib roast stuffed with a sausage meet that was made in a pot on the stove top. Finally there was a nice dessert of fresh fruit mixed with whipped cream and topped with strawberries. This was served with a bit of fanfare by Niccolò and Barbara as they carried the dishes on a tray and each had a lit candle on it and we sang happy birthday to Connie. Throughout the meal we had a choice of nice Chianti and a rose, which came from one of the local vineyards on the hillside that the villa was on. This was all topped off with homemade limoncello and coffee. Niccolò’s young son and daughter who were playing outside and with their grandparents came in afterwards and played in the dining area while we continued to chat and then we bid adieu as it was getting late and they all still had cleaning up to do.
Afterwards we just sat around waiting for all the food in our bellies to settle down as we were simply stuffed by a fantastic meal. Bubba and Tracy started to do their packing as they were departing for Stuttgart the next day. Finally we went to bed, except for Connie who stayed up to take some night shots of the spectacular full moon that was out and Tracy who gave Connie a bunch of tips on how to use manual settings to get the best shots.
Happy Birthday Connie!!!
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
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Comments

2025-02-13
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Wanda McClure
2015-10-04
The pictures are wonderful...I love the statues, the gardens, all of the history and
what a great place Connie to spend your birthday. The dining area at the Villa is beautiful