Spring is now in full bloom. Cream and purple Magnolia trees, bright yellow Mimosa, Forsythia, masses of lilac wisteria and wild irises have appeared along our driveway, although a passer by decides to try and pick some! Tiny lizards are darting about and I find a surprise in our wash room... 8 little chicks have just hatched!
Annette's mum and dad, Chas and Mavis, have arrived for a 10-day holiday to see where I could possibly have brought their beloved daughter!!!
They are just fresh from a 3 week holiday in Spain and this is their first time in Tuscany. It's Easter weekend and we have a week off work, so it should be a little more relaxing than when we had my mum.
It's an afternoon pick up at Florence airport, so before we drive back to Greve, just enough time to take them up Piazza Michelangelo, to build anticipation for the Renaissance city. The weather is great for their stay, 8 days of sun, 1 of cloud and only 1 day of rain!
Thursday and a nice leisurely day for us. We drive into Greve for cappuccino, followed by a picnic lunch up Montefioralle. We bump into a guy who offers to take us for a look around 'Casa Vespucci' Apparently the great explorer was born here!
Friday and Annette can't contain her desire to take Chas and Mavis to San Gimignano! We go by way of the Francigena, "look Mum! Don't miss the view!" We reach the 'many towered city' and head for 'that' deli, the Neapolitan 'il Ristoro' one and order the same huge bruschetta with the different toppings as last time. The owner recognizes us from last time and treats us to some wonderful 'Pastiera' Neapolitan cake! As we leave he also presents us with 3 enormous bags of pasta! We enjoy a stroll round this pretty medieval town and peruse the shops. We find a wonderful ceramic shop with a guy at the potter's wheel. They have these great mugs and we buy a couple. Also we spot another nice looking cafe, for another time...
Saturday and we have been invited to dinner by friends. In the morning we check out the market in Greve. We buy some plants for the house and I pick up a jacket for only 8 euro! We have a pleasant drive through to Panzano and Castellina and decide to have lunch back at home.
On Lucia's property there are some vineyards, an olive grove and small woods. In the woods there are a couple of picnic benches. So Annette knocks up a huge salad, inspired by the one we had at Baldovino's, with pesto, sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts and we enjoy a long, lazy lunch. Al fresco eating in March, now we kind of see why it was a good move coming to Italy! In the evening we check out our closest restaurant, which is within walking distance up the hill, La Cantinetta. Chas and Mavis both have 'Ribollita' which is a kind of thick vegetable soup. Annette has gnocchi and I have Papardelle with a wild boar sauce. For main course, I have the sliced veal with peppers and porcini mushrooms, Annette has the rabbit and Chas and Mavis a char grilled veal and pork chop. All very tasty!
It's Easter weekend and Monday is bank holiday here too. It's called 'Pasquetta' or little Easter and the request is for a certain leaning tower... so Pisa it is then! The leaning tower is just outside the centre of the city of Pisa, which we haven't really checked out yet, although I don't think there's too much to see there. The 'Campo dei Miracoli', where the tower, church and Baptistery are is pretty spectacular though, a symphony of white marble and we have a pleasant time there.
On the way back we spot this tower on a hill and the road signs tell us is San Miniato... so we decide to investigate. It turns out to be a very pretty hill top town. The tower turns out to be the tower of Fredrick. Built in the 13th century, it was destroyed by the Germans, but reconstructed in 1958. There are some spectacular views of the Arno valley and we spot a cafe with an outside terrace overlooking the view. An interesting little detour.
Palazzo Medici Ricardi
Well it's the last day of our holiday (Not Chas and Mavis') and at last we bring them into Florence! Apart from Sunday, when we had a peek at the Cathedral, Gates of Paradise and Piazza S.S. Annunziata. Annette takes them over the Ponte Vecchio, while I park up. We book tickets to the Uffizi for tomorrow and then celebrate with an ice-cream! Chas orders a huge cone and manages to get more down his face than in his mouth, but then he is 78 bless him!
Annette takes them to see David in the Accademia, while, as I saw him a few weeks ago, opt for something new. The old Medici palace is my destination, after I negotiate buying a ticket. This is the spiritual home of the once great Medici family, before they took up residence in the Pitti Palace and where Michelangelo lived during his sculpting apprenticeship. It was built by Michelozzo in 1444, in favour to a more elaborate Brunelleschi design. It's a huge palace and in the grandiose courtyard a great sculpture of Orpheus by that artist hated by Michelangelo, Baccio Bandinelli.
The big draw here are the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes. They are in a tiny chapel and you can only fit about 30 people in at a time for about 10 minutes. They are very impressive though. On three of the walls is told the story of the three wise men, but in a rural Tuscan setting! And including portraits of the Medici family. In addition to these lovely frescoes there is a pretty Madonna and child by Fillipo LIppi, a frescoed ceiling by Neapolitan artist, Luca Giordano, some medallions carved by Donatello and at the moment a temporary exhibition of Greek marble heads! Obviously a shadow of its former self, as many of the works of art that once adorned its walls are now in the Uffizi or Pitti Palace, but the Gozzoli frescoes were worth coming in for!
Wednesday and I have been hired as the unofficial guide for the Uffizi, seeing as it's my 3rd time in here, only slightly more qualified than the others! Chas and Mavis are suitably impressed, however I do notice that some masterpieces are absent, either being restored, like Caravaggio's Medusa and Raphael's Madonna with the Chaffinch or out on loan at other exhibitions.
For their last full day, Mavis is determined to visit Radda, as she met a woman on the plane whose daughter owns a bar there... so we drive up to Radda and lo and behold we find the bar and the daughter! I am rewarded with a very pleasant glass of Brunello wine and Mavis is happy.
We finish up with a visit to the castle of Verrazzano on the way home. This is the one time residence of Giovanni di Verrazzano, discoverer of the Hudson Bay in New York and look we can see our house at Olmastrino from here. Job done!
(Original journal entry 5/4/02)
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