Firenze, Italy

I do not envy you.

I DO not envy you.

I do NOT envy you.

I do not ENVY you.

I do not envy YOU.


Nahhh...none of 'em seem right yet.

I'll work on it and get back to you!

i do not envy myself. at least they are paying me to be there

Lucky girl! Yes, I was there a few years ago - we stayed at a friend's in a little town called Fiesole about 20 min out of Firenze. I wasn't taken with the Palazzo della Signoria or whatever it's called because I'm not fond of sculpture, but the Palazzo degli Uffizi nearby is impressive. Plus the Ponte Vecchio is neat (shops line it) and there are oodles of churches which is my fave.

Have fun!

churches are good.... that's a great strolling material, less organized pressure and planning required.

Bisogno di un traditore?

Throw a rock in any direction and you are bound to hit some masterpiece from the early, middle or late Italian Renaissance. Be a tourist and get a guide book - in this case it would be worth it. They also have a nice Opera House for evening entertainment. I seem to recall it's a quick train ride to Pisa (the tower is open again), but my memory might be fuzzy.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yea.

Well, you can find a list of museums to lure you. I like the Bargello..

Me, if I only had a day or two not in conference, I'd walk myself silly and eat my way to happiness.

I'm mad for the buildings, and mad for piazza history.

Important to me historically is the most tourist laden piazza, but this is winter so it shouldn't be too full... pza Signoria by name, where the (many) bonfires of the vanities occurred: these were festive events at the time. The dominican monk Savonarola was a popularizer of the protests against the vanities/papacy. Not only were vanities burned but he was too, about five years later, same piazza, just about the same place in it... 1497.

In a loggia in the same piazza is Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus and the Medusa. Nice and gory for you, and also beautiful, probably my favorite sculpture.

Another square I love, probably love the best, is pza S. S. Santissima Annunziata, where I've stayed at different hotels on different trips - one, Le Due Fontane, was, at least at the time, sort of a dark rust color - we had a great room with balcony where we could look out across the piazza at sunset. At Sunset in March, there was low orange gold light cast on arcade of the church with the piazza's name. Next time I was in Firenze by myself for four days, two of them early - I lucked out at got a tiny room at the elegant Loggiato di Serviti, also on that piazza. After those two days I stayed at the also-wonderful (whatsitsname, starts with C), one street over.

What's so great about the piazza? It's beautiful and is thick with architectural history if one is interested in that. I'll make this short and sloppy - from notes.
-- first came the church, completed mid 13th century (Servite order of monks)
-- almost two centuries later, Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti was built , following up his study of classical architecture in Rome. (I think he went there with Donatello, not sure I remember right). Brunelleschi stopped with it in 1427; an arcade with corinthian columns crosses the front of the orphanage (swaddled babies on the columns by della Robbia).
-- then part of the church was remodelled and an arcade added in harmony with the Brunelleschi work. (Michelozzo di Bartolommeo)
-- then a monastery was built (1516 - Sangallo and d'Agnolo) on the opposite side of the piazza to the orphanage, also with arcade harmonizing with Brunelleschi's, its columns having S's at the capitals instead of della Robbia bambini. (That or part of that is now the Loggiato di Serviti hotel).

If you stand in the piazza a few feet in front of the arcade of the monastery, and look to your left, you'll be looking down via dei Servi ... at Brunelleschi's duomo.

re architectural history, the positioning of the monastery predated Michelangelo's spatial arrangement of the capitoline hill buildings, another "landmark" in design planning.

Cool, but me, I just like being there.

I'll flip through my mind to see if I can think of things you might like. Back later.

Adds, in case you do decide to hit the Uffizzi, look online to see if you can get tickets. (That's new since I was there in '99)

Adding -

I was glad I walked to see the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine - important fresco by Masaccio, "The Tribute Money".

I have a bias - while I really love most museums, I like even better to see art "in situ", such as the Masaccio.

oops, Uffizi, not Uffizzi.

Hey, Le Due Fontane is 80 Euros... I'm still looking for a hotel for one night...might go there!

And look to the right, that's the Loggiato -
it's usually expenive, but I lucked out when I got to town early and went into the
train station info office and asked for a single room - they handed me a list of available and I remember the name from the piazza. I got a teensy room for $90. then - but a wildly extravantly gorgeous teensy room and snapped it up. I'd stayed in waaaaay lower priced places for most of that trip.

I remember the place starting with C - Crocetta Morandi. Also elegant, cool... on a street with a name like via della flora (starts with f)

On the hotels, if you don't know, and they still do that, many hotels will take the breakfast price off the bill if you ask when you reserve. Too many great pasticcerias out there for me to pay hotel breky money if I don't have to.
Others may differ.

well, i can't afford much, but i am looking to make it into a mini vacation for myself and for once treat myself to something nice... the due fontane definitely looks like a perfect place for a very decent price... will give them a call. would be nice to be right on the piazza.

we only had one day in firenze but packed as much as possible into it .
just walking across ponte vecchio , seeing all the people strolling around , admiring the "door to the paradise" at the baptistery was enjoyable .
you may also want to bring a padlock (or two) along :


we ended the day with a meal at the "palazzo borghese" .
a day well wasted .
enjoy firenze !
hbg

I'm listening with interest. I'll be in Italy in June, and I've done some research, but I'm no expert (yet)!

you are and your mother is even worse!

The Crocetta may be quieter - or my having a courtyard facing room might have made it quieter there. The room in the loggiato was quiet because of the heavy shutters and velvet drapes. I think the room facing the piazza in Le Due Fontane wasn't noisy either, good shutters and drapes.

thanks, hbg, i will do my best!

mac, i shall report my findings here.

The place I wanted to eat but didn't get around to was the less expensive caffe connected to the Il Cibreo ristorante. It was raved about at the time, but of course, I dunno.

No matter how many restaurants I read about, I tend to look around when I get hungry and eat at the most likely place I see.
Mmm, there's a family style place in piazza dei Mercanti.. Za Za? Got to do some googling.

(will osso ever shut up?)
(no)

On guide books - I like either tiny discerning ones or big fat ones where I tear out the pages, like the old Let's Go guides.
Hmm, wondering if Richard Saul Wurman had a Florence guide - I think so. I like his old guides, as he'd tell you what you were looking at on each block. Very knowledgeable about a lot of cities. Not that tiny though.
Now that the internet is with us, there's always print outs. (I'm a travel lite person). On my last trip (about 30 days), I typed notes and then photo reduced them. Of course, I happen to be crazy.

Oh........... I am so not envy green... nope, not even a little..... nope nope nope!

DAG GAL - you are sooooooooooooooooooooo fortunate - have the BEST time...

pics girl.... details - will expect a full report when you get back!