Florence Roofs (Photo credit: plemeljr)
While I was in Italy, f. and I decided to take a trip down to Florence for a few days. To get away from the hustle bustle of Milan and into warmer climes. Well, we succeeded on the first count, but not so much on the second. First of all, the freakishly warm winter temperatures that we had been experiencing in Milan were at an end, and the cold that came in hit Florence almost as hard. Second, we discovered that the Florentines don’t seem to be big fans of indoor heating! Well, perhaps it’s a bit categorical of me to imply that all indoor spaces are cold, but the first few days everywhere we went, from our bed & breakfast, to restaurants, and even the movie theater, was freezing!
On a happier note, as we were trying to escape the cold, we stumbled upon a couple of perhaps not-so-hidden treasures.
The first is a place that I was introduced to by an American violin-maker I encountered by happy coincidence on my first trip to Florence in 2009. It’s called La Cité and it’s in the Oltrarno district (specifically, at number 20 borgo san frediano) and is basically the kind of place that I’ve always wanted to have just down the street. It’s a sort of combination bar/café/bookstore/hangout perfect for having an aperitivo with friends (on Fridays they have an Ethiopian aperitivo with both vegetarian and meat versions. I personally vouch for the quality of the veg. version and the originality of the idea), studying (as some of our neighbors were), listening to live music, or just chilling with an herbal tea and one of their many, awesome books (the only catch being that you have to be able to read in italian). I briefly considered moving to Florence just to be near this place.
The second, just down the street at number 11, via santo spirito (don’t be confused by the name change, it’s the same street, just further towards ponte vecchio), is a slightly more upscale and trendy (La Cité has a bit of a centro sociale feel to it) but still reasonably priced restaurant called Il Santo Bevitore, or “the holy drinker”, with a yummy-looking wine bar next door (Il Santino). I say trendy because when we showed up at 9:00 on a Thursday night, the entire place (an enormous, cavernous room with small offshoots for more intimate dinners for 2 or 12 people) was packed and since we didn’t have a reservation, it took us until 10:30 to get seated. However, I found it hard to hold this against them because as we waited, we were served free prosecco and slices of pecorino by an apologetic and very courteous staff. As for the food, I may have had my senses slightly dulled by wine and hunger, but nonetheless, I think it’s safe to say that it was some of the best of the trip.
Image via Wikipedia
And last, but certainly not least of my favorite stops of this trip were the Uffizi, one of Florence’s (if not the world’s) most famous museums of renaissance era art. Now, I do not love renaissance art and won’t pretend to be an expert, or even remotely educated about it. To the horror of my Italian friends, for me, art history has always started around the time of Monet and the stuff that came before that is just a blur of Madonna with child and gold-covered altars (medieval era) and a bunch of dark paintings and marble statues. However, I admit to having been thoroughly awed by some of these dark paintings. In particular, the not-so-dark Botticelli’s la primavera and the birth of venus, were, of course beautiful. I also really enjoyed a series of paintings of young women portraying the 7 cardinal and theological virtues (see Temperance at right), done by Botticelli and Piero del Pollaiolo. F. and I agreed that several of them looked very similar to their respective tarot cards, and I would have liked to know more about the symbolism. In fact, this ties in to my big complaint that all of the museum plaques described the various years of creation/ownership, etc., but said little or nothing about the subject. I suppose that’s why audio guides exist, but on the rare occasion that I do use them, they seem to stop working just as I get to the only thing I was actually interested in. But I digress. My very favorite things about the Uffizi, are the following, in no particular order:
1. the view over the Arno in the big, windowed corridor between wings. I spent at least 1/2 hour watching the tragi-comedy of an ambulance trying to bring a stretcher through the medieval streets to an apartment just below where I was watching. I permit myself to say comedy, because in the time that I was watching, nobody appeared who seemed to be in any kind of grave condition appeared and the whole thing had a very relaxed, formulaic feel to it.
2. the bar/café. I am beginning to fear that I might be the kind of person whose favorite part of museums is their bar, but in this case I feel myself justified. Certainly not because of the quality of the food (although to be fair, I only ordered a hot chocolate), or the fairness of the prices, but more because of the place itself. At the end of one wing on the top floor, the bar has two levels, and it was at the uppermost of these where I was seated. The whole place is full of windows that look out on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, onto the terrace, and out to the panorama of Florence itself. And the whole thing, at least on the day in which I was present, has an incredible luminous quality, created by the windows contrasting against the stark white of the walls and tables. I think I would like to live here, if they would just let me move a bed in.
3. This actually pertains to art, I promise. On the lower level of the museum (which has always had the majority of its works on the top floor, but is now in construction so this may change soon) there are a series of three small rooms with works by Caravaggio and similar artists (imitators, I assume). The works by Caravaggio are striking, but what really impressed me were the works of an artist called Gherardo delle Notti or Gerrit van Honthorst. In particular I was struck by this painting. The way the light draws attention to the face of this one girl, who seems to be attracting the attention of the men seated next to her as well, is so beautiful and delicate, and the whole scene, apart from the clothes, seems so relatable and relevant today. I can imagine the personalities and the attitudes of each of these characters, so to speak, and imagine this scene re-enacting itself as a dinner with friends in my own home. And that, in my ignorant opinion, is magic.
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