So, I began writing this post on a Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed train, leaving the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence at 8:14am and arriving in Foggia at just after 1pm. Five hours of 300kph zipping along with 5 stops along the way. Today is actually a scheduled strike day for several of the transportation unions in Italy, with many routes delayed or cancelled. Luckily, this one from Milan all the way to Lecce at the tip of the heel is important enough that it’s legally protected from strike-distruption. Phew!
We just finished our second 2-night visit to Tuscany’s capital city, the first being a quick stopover transition from Rome to Siena at the beginning of our two months in Italy. Which, of course, you know nothing about, as we’ve been living the life of Riley and haven’t cracked open this laptop in days (weeks?!). Here I thought we’d be caught up by now, but alas . . .
Okay, let’s get to it. Here’s where we stand:
We last posted from Scotland after our storm-impacted stay in Inverness. So, we’re working on reports from our 3 days in the heart of Speyside Scotch whisky (and pursuing my Gordon roots a bit), our 2 days in the port city of Aberdeen, and then our incredible 5 day visit to Edinburgh during their immensely popular Fringe Festival. Then comes Italy.
This post and a second in a day or so will combine to bookend our visits to Florence, and then we’ll follow that up with separate missives on the between days in Siena, Pienza, Ravenna, and Bologna. Siena was a full 10 days, so we might even split that into 2 or 3 posts. We’ll see what happens as we go.
Florence
From Rome, we boarded a late afternoon train for the 2-hour zip to Tuscany. The scenery along the route reminded us of our rail journey from Prague to Vienna several years ago around this same time of year. Lots of dry brownery and detached villages, many noticeably unpolished and diminished in economic health. As we coasted into Florence, however, and its surrounding hectares of carefully-groomed vineyards, we began to see the beauty.
An easy exit from the Firenze station and a 10-minute six long block toaster oven trek brought us to our AirBnB, where we lugged up three and a half worn stone stair flights to an adequate apartment with a tired bedroom-only A/C unit on a 3-hour timer. For the duration of those initial two days, we closed the door to the kitchen area and committed to camp out in the boudoir, save dashes to the fridge for something cold. We lingered for an hour or so, unpacking and letting the A/C do its thing, then headed out to get a sense of the city.
Perhaps it was simply our timing – the late heart of tourist season and its onerous crowds – coupled with the sweltering temperatures, but that first blush late afternoon in Florence was underwhelming. We briefly visited the Piazza del Duomo and walked past the Uffuzi Gallery through the long corridor outside with niches filled by 28 statues of famous people from Italian history, politics, art, and science, including Galileo, Vespucci, Machiavelli, Dante, and three of the TMNT: Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello.
Which led us into the Piazza della Signoria and a gathering crowd of paparazzi and celebrity gazers, rubbernecking at (of all things) a glamorous sextet from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, on their annual “cast trip”. Yeah, oh-kay. Neptune, like, “Wait, what?”
All in all, we were unimpeachably awed by the city’s exterior majesty, but the stickiness of the weather and the masses spurred us back to our air-cooled bedroom and blissfully cold showers. And a gameplan for an early morning city survey, before the heat and the crowds.
When our weather apps advised us the temps had dropped into the 80s, we ventured out for dinner, revisiting a promising alley we’d routed through earlier, now bustling with a half dozen faerie-lit al fresco sidewalk patios. Garbo – Osteria Toscano looked perfect for us, a table across from the storefront and a pleasantly enthusiastic server. We intended pasta, but settled on a beautifully-scorched woodfire pizza, quattro formaggi (mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan, fontina) with added pepperoni, and a lightly-dressed Greek salad. And refreshing pints of Italian pilsner.
We finished our first day in Florence with highly anticipated cups of gelato – after all, isn’t Florence the gelato capital of the universe?! – but walked away dissatisfied. Tasty, for sure. But mind-blowing, not so much. And the portions were slight. To cut to the gelaterian chase, after an easy half-dozen attempts over our combined four days there, we never really discovered The One. Three or four grade C’s; a solid two Grade B’s. But never that Eureka – I found it! Grade A moment. Bummer, right?
The next morning we were out the door by 7am, excited for the light temperatures – and crowds – and happily rewarded for our early rising. Yet we still kept our heads on a swivel. For anyone who ventures to the ancient, therefore narrow alley-mazed, towns and villages of Italy, prep yourself mentally for the omnipresence of two-wheeled transport: bicycles, mopeds, and electric kick scooters. They’re absolutely everywhere . . . and they follow their own set of rules. Or lack thereof. Despite the narrowness of a street or the density of its foot traffic, they’ll fly through like they own the place. Several times Nancy averted me from man-machine disaster with a grab of my arm as I stepped from the curb, my Where the hell’d he come from?! met with a quasi-sympathic roll of her eyes.
So, bike sensors on high, we hit the road, our 10.8-mile path encompassing the Galleria dell’Accademia, Piazza del Duomo (Basilica of Santa Maria Novella), Museo Novecento, Basilica di San Lorenzo, Uffizi Galleries, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale Michelangelo, Boboli Gardens, Porta Romana, and Palazzo Pinti. We’d return in two weeks for ticketed tours of the first three venues, and appreciated our slow walk perusal of the others.
Our route steered us up the hill on the south side of the Arno to the Piazzale Michelangelo and its panoramic 270º vista over the city, and full-size replica of the artist’s David. A must see in our opinion, despite the souvenir solicitors there in the parking lot. We sadly came to discover the vendors are ubiquitous in Florence, in every streetside nook and cranny, irrelative to the significance of the historic structure 20 meters away. Too bad, so sad.
We only caught a wishful glance of the renowned (and walled) Boboli Gardens, and considered adding that to our ticketed venue list for our return (though ended up prioritizing the Galleria and Duomo). And we enjoyed the mile-long stretch on either side of the Arno, a bit surprised to see a few fishermen scattered along its shores.
With less than a mile to go, we took a much needed stop at Gambarini Bistro for iced coffee, biscuits, and a fruit bowl. Yeah, what could be more simple. We ordered caffé shakerato (described as iced coffee, which is what we wanted).
Nothing better than a tall iced coffee after a long morning walk, right? What we actually received: espresso, milk, and ice – shaken, not stirred – and delivered in a martini glass. Quite delicious, but not what we expected. And not very refreshing. And we never did get that fruit bowl.
We spent a leisurely and A/C-cooled afternoon in the room, then set out for dinner just after 6:00, knowing many places wouldn’t even open their doors until 7:30, and I found myself craving a Guinness after mega-dosing the black stuff on our 3-week gambol with the Gaels. As such, we walked the wee distance to Finnigan’s Irish pub, the self-proclaimed only Irishman-owned pub in Florence. The stouts were soothingly cool on our parched throats and the Irish-Italian bartender provided a few tips on local dining. The most-appreciated takeaway was learning the distinct differences between osterias, trattorias, and ristorantes – and what we could expect from each. Basically, osterias are casual with a wine focus, trattorias are casual with a food focus, and ristorantes are more formal with white tablecloths and such. And enotecas are wine bars with usually minimal food. We appreciated the pub-offered eatery lesson and found it held true throughout our Italian travels.
We’d planned dinner at the much recommended Trattoria Zà Zà, and by arriving somewhat early (by Italian dining standards) were immediately seated at a table, adjacent to the always hopping interior beverage bar. Giancomo would take care of us for the evening, along with his trainee in tow, Angel, an African immigrant in his first week on the job. They both were awesome, treated us with friendly enthusiasm, and advised us knowledgeably as to our must haves.
We began the meal with a half-liter of their vino rosso di casa, which unexpectedly led to a joyously eye-popping revelation for the two of us: Tuscany equals sangiovese! How we didn’t know this is embarrassing to me.
Sangiovese, the Blood of Jupiter
Back in my earliest days in the publishing industry, a teacher on a Walla Walla School District math adoption committee introduced me to her husband’s fledgling winery, Walla Walla Vintners, who in those early ‘90’s were one of the few Washington wineries growing sangiovese grapes, from the Latin sanguis Jovis, “blood of Jupiter”. And they were winning awards for their product. We fell in love with it, became early members of their wine club, and have been buying their sangio ever since. It is without question our favorite variety of wine. And though we vaguely, somewhere foggy in the backs of our brains, had an idea – maybe – that Sangiovese and Tuscany had some type of connection, oh, how little did we actually know.
Chianti, Brunello, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, all the lists I’d read of the must visit Tuscan vineyards and wineries . . . they’re all sangiovese. It’s literally everywhere. And it’s fantastic!! And it’s cheap. That half-liter of the house red at Trattoria Zà Zà was 10 euros ($11.70USD) That’s less than $4 for a 5-ounce glass. And even the casa di rosso – 100% sangiovese – is amazing.
The other culinary ingredient for which Tuscany garners high praise is their truffles and Giancomo promised us layers of the earthen fungi, beginning with our primi piatti of prawns and zucchini flowers with spaghettini topped by shaved fresh truffle. So damn good.
This was followed by tagliata (beef slices) served Zà Zà style, sautéed in a secret mixture of Italian fresh herbs and extra virgin olive oil, with a side of rosemary potatoes. Those taters could not have been any creamier and the meat was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Both exceptional. We finished with the trattoria’s panna cotta, caramel-topped and lusciously craveable. The menu claimed it the Best in the World, and we have no reason to argue otherwise.
As we finished up and exited, both the restaurant and the exterior tented outdoor venues were packed, lines of 30+ for each of them. I asked at the door and she said it would be that way for the next 3-4 hours. Good for them. They deserve it. We loved that place, and had it been closer to our other AirBnB when we returned in two weeks, that’s surely where we would have enjoyed our bistecca alla fiorentina.
The other culinary ingredient for which Tuscany garners high praise is their truffles and Giancomo promised us layers of the earthen fungi, beginning with our primi piatti of prawns and zucchini flowers with spaghettini topped by shaved fresh truffle. So damn good.
This was followed by tagliata (beef slices) served Zà Zà style, sautéed in a secret mixture of Italian fresh herbs and extra virgin olive oil, with a side of rosemary potatoes. Those taters could not have been any creamier and the meat was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Both exceptional. We finished with the trattoria’s panna cotta, caramel-topped and lusciously craveable. The menu claimed it the Best in the World, and we have no reason to argue otherwise.
As we finished up and exited, both the restaurant and the exterior tented outdoor venues were packed, lines of 30+ for each of them. I asked at the door and she said it would be that way for the next 3-4 hours. Good for them. They deserve it. We loved that place, and had it been closer to our other AirBnB when we returned in two weeks, that’s surely where we would have enjoyed our bistecca alla fiorentina. (More about that in the next post.)
The next morning meant leaving Florence on a late morning train and for our ten days in Siena, a fabulous stay with many rich memories made.
And now that I see the length of this post, I’ll stop it here, and follow up next with the revisit to Florence two weeks later.
We’ll be in touch (momentarily).
Drank a Punk IPA on the top of a hotel in Bangkok!
Indeed, they are everywhere!
I would still be walking from the Firenze train station to your first airbnb!!!!
I’m sooo sorry you had to suffer through the gelato tastings to find the One. Somebody had to do it!
I totally agree about the sangiovese grape. One of my favorite wines is a Super Tuscan. Mainly made with indigenous grapes blended with non-indigenous vines like Cab Sauv and merlot. One of the top wines in the world! And a bargain price.
In Nancy and your honor, I made a Tuscan chicken dish the other day. Except it didn’t look like the food you pictured….and didn’t taste like it, I’m sure!
Enjoying your trip with you!
Hey Jim, love that you’re following along, and appreciate your comments. The Tuscan wines are truly a joy, though we did enjoy a Puglian red this evening while in Vieste. Awesome town. You’d love it!! A festival tonight with music or comedy every night a stone’s throw away.
Ah, the Pantheon, one of my favorite buildings, especially considering its age.
Yes, we’ll be back in Florence in Wednesday and Thursday next week. We’ll tour the Pantheon then.
Okay! I will have the house tagliere board for two! For myself! And 2 glasses of wine??? You can’t fool me.
Just read an article about the area where Nancy’s family lived. An area known for its unique buildings with a purpose to evade taxes!
Trullo buildings in Alberobello! Also, now B and B’s. May your safe journeys continue!
Ahh, the Trulli of Alberobello. We won’t be lodging in one, but plan to spend a morning or afternoon visiting Alberobello. Thanks again for your comments, Jim. We head to Montecino and Montepulciano today. Puglia in a week.
We loved Dublin (actually ALL of Ireland!) but didn’t have enough time there.
The library was amazing as well as the Book of Kells but I see the books are all gone! Must be renovating.
Big fan of Jamie…..sooo jealous!
Totally agree on Guinness tour.
They’re restoring (un-dusting) the books in the library at Trinity College; only about 10% on display. It’ll be a several-year project.
Glenn, not surprisingly your lilting eloquence embellishes the accompanying pictorial fare and invites one to pour a wee dram with which to enjoy both!
My hope has been to capture the spirit and flavor of the places and people we encounter on our journey. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Wow, that all sounds so lovely, except for the driving part! That would make me so nervous.
I’m really not trying to dominate the comment section but………
Where you are brings back sooo many memories of Derry (wife, not place!). She, also, was my navigator and her job was to pick the ivy off the passenger side mirror because I was so close to those damned rock walls avoiding a lorry coming at me @ 100Km/hr on a 1 & 1/2 lane road!
We went to Connemara National Park, climbed up most of the way, and went to visit the great love story that Kylemore Abbey represents.
The walled garden was amazing, too.
I have watched the very perplexing movie “The Banshees of Inisherin”
I agree, Galway is awesome!! We did indeed have a brew or two @ Monroe’s!
Keep your comments coming, my friend. We love having you along for the ride.
I love vicariously eating and sight-seeing with you two! And I’m glad I’m not splitting the bill!
Asheville and the Blue ridge Parkway were the some of the highlights on my trips around there. We, also, skipped the Biltmore tour. $50-head to see someone else’s ostentatiousness!
And I now have to put Curate on my list…..love me some Spanish tapas!
No doubt, our joy of good food has us reevaluating the dining budget! 😉
Have been hearing a lot lately about Charleston’s foodie scene!!!
I want a raclette burger and order me the trout with crawfish at Vern’s!
And be careful driving out there. Might get a little wet!
Stepping out of Vern’s last night it was dumping!! Thankfully they loaned us an umbrella for the short walk home, but with sandals . . . pretty sloppy. And yes, both of those food items were incredible.
Excellent post! I love how the architecture helps avoid the taxman… brilliant!
What a fun day!!! And then, to a Spanish restaurant serving some of my favorite tapas and vino!!
A new post after just 24 hours? You spoil us, and set a high bar for the detailed story-telling of your adventures! If the rest of your trip is half as enjoyable as your first day out to be, you’re in for a treat. Love you both and enjoy the humidity (and everything else, of course).
Hola to you two!!
A word of caution, kinda. Watch out for Travis Decker in Leavenworth!
Not that I have vast knowledge for packing for long trips, I would think taking along some “tradeable” clothing you can bargain with! Like a nice BBB shirt in exchange for a nice Italian sweater! And save room for souvenirs and fun stuff! No one will care if you wear the same shirt three days in a row, except Nancy!!
Also, I can partner with you about losing family. It certainly speeds up as we get older.
Yeah, definitely one of the downsides of aging!
What a great surprise it was to have you and Nancy swing by Green Lake, looking forward to hosting you both in Tucson next year! I had forgotten to mention during our conversation that there are two new Matador restaurants in S. Carolina if you are feeling nostalgic. Thanks again and safe travels, already excited to follow along!
Thanks for the heads up re. the Matadors. I see it’s actually a restaurant with a separate “Mezcaleria by Matador” next door. It’s 1.5 miles from our AirBnB. We’ll definitely go there. Glad to know you’ll be following along on our travels. Take care.
Wow! I bet you’re both getting excited for your continuing adventures. Love reading about them. We miss you guys!
So excited! Already loving our “vacationing” in our hometown, and chomping at the bit to truly hit the road. Miss you two, as well. Glad you’re following along. Hope your summer’s starting off great.
Whooohoo! You’re on your way! 👏🏼🌟
Looks like you two are loving and living life well. Love the narratives and the photos
Thanks, Sandy. Yes, life’s awesome.
(And Kirkland is just so cool, as I’m sure you remember.)
We love Kirkland, especially Isarn Thai 🤤🤤🤤 One of my favorite Thai restaurants! It looks like your adventures are off to a great start. Enjoy your time with family and friends!
Thanks, Kelsey. Isarn Thai is one of our daughter Kylene’s favorites, as well.
Hope you and Scott are enjoying your early summer.
Godspeed my friends. See you soon, hopefully it will involve libations and excellent conversation. Miss you guys!
So very excited for you two and looking forward to being on your adventure with you! I must be on your roster twice as I received 2 email notifications. Enjoy every minute and I hope to see you at one of your visits to BB!
Jealous…can’t wait to see and hear all about it
Bon voyage, and we’ll see you in Asheville!
I could not be more excited for you both! Have an amazing time in WA (wish I was joining for graduation) and on your stateside portion of this adventure. Can’t wait to see you in the Burgh in a few months. Cheers to new adventures!
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience, Best of luck Glenn and Nancy. Safe travels🙏🌺
Thanks, Al. Glad you’ll be following our adventure.
OMG this sounds absolutely amazing!!!!!!
Thanks, Lisa. See you soon!
Hello Nancy and Glenn!
What an exercise in travel planning and what a tremendously exciting and interesting journey it will be.
From reading your update, I’m not clear on the exact date you will be departing the US and/or Mexico and when you are scheduled to return. Could you confirm, please.
Are you going to be measured for your dress Gordon kilt while in Edinburgh?
Looking forward to ‘sharing ‘ your adventure.
Love, Angela
Safe travel and dr8nk a few for me!
Thanks, Michele. See you at the shop in a couple of weeks.
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I think I already signed up but…maybe not? Anyway, should be signed up now
You’re golden.
Add me to mailing list pls!
You’re good to go.