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| view from San Francesco church area |
So, what do you do when you inadvertently start humming the theme from Lion King every time you walk out the front door and see the relentless mob of tourists descending like wildebeests onto Santa Croce Piazza? In the jungle, the might jungle, the lion sings tonight… I have never seen so many tourists ever, anywhere. They say this year is a banner year and tourism is up 20% in Florence. TripAdvisor says Florence is the number 1 family destination in the world right now. That’s a lot of people to pack into a not-so-big city. And I’ve just read that Florence’s mayor approved MTV’s reality show Jersey Shore to shoot its fourth season in Florence in May and June. Frescoes and spray tans in the Renaissance city…perhaps there will be a new Panini to commemorate all this!
Even though some of the guide books say not to bother with Fiesole unless you’re really only going to be in Florence and want to see a touch of Etruscan, I love Fiesole! From our apt., you walk about 15 minutes to the San Marco bus stop and take the #7 bus up to Piazza Mino di Fiesole, which was empty today…a few of us were on the bus including our niece Kelcie, who just arrived yesterday for her first visit to Italy. She said, “I’ll see anything, it all looks new to me,” so I have my next victim lined up for sightseeing! Once you’re in the main piazza, it’s a short walk from the bus stop up to the Franciscan church San Francesco and amazing views of Florence to the south. Then there’s the Roman and Etruscan Ruins area with its intact theater, the Roman baths, and an Etruscan temple from the 1st century BC as well as paving stones from the first Roman road. The archeological museum inside has Etruscan bronzes, figurines, etc. Fiesole predates Florence by many centuries, founded by the Etruscans in the 5th century BC. I’ve gotten to the point I care more about the views than the quality of food…so we had lunch at the Blue Bar since it had such a nice terrace facing south overlooking Florence. We walked up via Giuseppe Verdi to the woods of Montecerci where the old stone quarries (the grey “pietra serena” that was used all over Florence to decorate the interiors…Fiesole was celebrated up until the 20th century for the skill of its stonemasons) were…it’s all covered in a beautiful pine and cypress woods now! And at the top is the place where Leonardo da Vinci tried his “flying” experiments. There was no one on the footpaths in the woods except for a sprightly older man who bounded past us walking his dog! And the views at the top were stunning…plus you get to see some beautiful villas on the way up and down. Yesterday, a shop owner told me a number of celebs have villas nestled in the hillsides
between Fiesole and Florence.
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| walk up to San Francesco from piazza Mino in Fiesole |
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| looking down at Fiesole and the Roman ruins |
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| Kelcie in Fiesole |
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| Roman theater, cavem and archeological museum |
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| Florence through the flora |
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| not too shabby |
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| modern sculpture exhibit inside the ruins |
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| olive tree grove |
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| and, finally back in Florence, a woman walking her baby dog! |
One of the gifts has been to be able to go visit these places in and around here several times…what you don’t see or experience the first time, you see the next go-around. I’m really beginning to think that spring, before the mosquitoes come out in full force and the heat becomes oppressive, is really the time to be here.
Tomorrow, we’re heading out to Chianti for wine tasting (I’m more interested in seeing the countryside and Kelcie is interested in tasting the wine since she’s still underage in the US!)
