The Ham Nomads

28 Mar 2015. <IT> Firenze, Toscana —

Florence, touring day 3. Today we climb to the cupola of the Duomo, walk down and over the Ponte Vecchio and up to Palazzo Pitti for more communing with old masters!

We got into the city early (for us), as our Duomo tickets would expire at about 11.30. By 10am we were in the queue, which moved fairly quickly (by Italian standards), and we were entering the building by about 10.30.

A couple who had been queueing just behind us found that their tickets had expired, and left disappointed. It really does pay to plan ahead a little!

Climbing to the dome is mostly one-way traffic — at ledast until you get to the walkway just below its frescoed inner surface. From then on, there's only one staircase up and down, narrow, and nestled between the inner dome and the outer one. But there are people up there to control traffic a little, so it was not unmanageable — and the pauses this enforces further down mean that the climb is fairly leisurely, with pauses to get your wind back.

A view from the dome

The Pitti Palace

When you get up to the top, you realise how huge the whole construction is. Just the lantern on top of the dome would be a significant monument in any city square! It was a lovely sunny day, and the views from the top are magnificent.

Back down at ground level, we decided that a coffee break was in order, so we went into a cafe on Piazza Duomo — not the cheapest place to choose for coffee, but it was most welcome.

Next, Ponte Vecchio — but on the way down Via Calzaiuoli we succumbed to the magnetic attraction of a gelateria (there are a lot of them here!), and continued our wandering, Warren with a chocolate gelato, and Suzie with a pistachio. Yummy!

Then we walked down to Piazza della Signoria, intending to walk through there, past the Uffizi and turn right down to Ponte Vecchio. No dice! Much of the square was barricaded off, and the place was swarming with the Carabinieri (the police 'Flying Squad') — Sergio Mattarella, il Presidente, was dropping in for his visit today! So we detoured through some back streets and soon found ourselves on the Ponte Vecchio. This used to be the site of a meat market, but when the Vasari Corridor, running from the Pitti Palace, across the top of the Ponte Vecchio and into the Uffizi, was constructed in 1564 to allow Cosimo I de' Medici to walk this route without interacting with hoi polloi, the meat market (and its smell) was moved away and replaced with goldsmiths' stores, which are still there!

We then walked up to Palazzo Pitti, a huge palace that now contains 5 museums and galleries (the Palatine Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Silver Museum, the Porcelain Museum, the Costume Gallery, and outside are two major gardens, Giardino Bardini and the Giardini di Boboli. We were able to explore the buildings pretty well, but when it came time to go out into the gardens, unfortunately the spirit may have been willing, but the flesh...

From the Palatine Gallery...

Raphael                                                       Botticelli

Raphael

Titian

van Dyck

Titian

From the Gallery of Modern Art...

From the Costume Gallery...

From the Silver Museum...

From the Porcelain Museum...

So we made our way back towards Piazza della Signoria, which was still the province of the Carabinieri. As our pharmacy was just off this square, we had to work our way around through more back streets, but we finally got there to pick up our next six months' medications! Then back home to the van to recuperate!

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 16,625 miles ( 26,756 km )