This place was SO nice to me. They were in the middle of a vineyard tour with a family, and the owner Patrick told me to go check out the town of Tavernella for lunch and then come back. I made friends with the dog of course.
Patrick told me it was market day and that there'd be a bunch of little street shops. It was super cute and was surprised by how busy it was for a Thursday but realized it was during everyone else's Siesta time.
Was also told to check out this bar, that I'd know it was it because old Italian men would be sitting outside and that it was cheap but authentic.
Just simple penne with latte menta, mint milk, it was awesome, was too curious not to try it.
Aaaand back to the Vineyard.
Considering I went vineyard hopping for one of my oldest friend's bachelorette's, attended a wine workshop at the Franklin Institute, and was forced (jk, thoroughly enjoyed) to watch Sideways, I should probably know more about wine than I do...luckily the girl that gave me my tasting was super patient and very informative and let me try all six wines the vineyard currently bottles. 1 white, 3 Chianti's in varying degrees of quality, and two that were specific to the region. This place was bought in 2014 by three brothers with ancestral roots to Tuscany but grew up elsewhere. They wanted to start something that had a strong focus on all natural and sustainable, so they have all sorts of certificates and rules they must follow. It was all very impressive and the hard work has paid off, they've already received metals for their wines and apparently some super important wine man rated the ITRs a 93 & 94 which is VERY good. Through conversation I mentioned my birthday had been the day before so when I asked how much for the tasting, the owner decided it was my birthday present and that they were so sorry the other vineyards had been unwilling to serve me. Seriously they were too kind.
Many times across my trip people have offered to take photos of me in front of the "important" things to which I've always declined, just didn't feel important to me. However after I declined, she insisted, so here we are lol.
And now on to Florence. I checked into the hostel/hotel after finding parking and then just went walking since this was the more manageable weather day. My first goal was the Michelangelo Piazzo which provides a great view of the whole city.
These next few are just some private residences entranceway made public.
The Duomo! It's massive and impressive.
A pineapple popsicle. It was so satisfying.
This shop has this creepy music coming out of it and it totally brought me in. This guy seems to make all sorts of weird gizmos and art.
A pretty garden on my way up to the plaza. The path and steps are pretty steep.
So I finally got up to the plaza...And it was closed because of a fashion show.
So I decided I would just keep walking along this path to see if I could find my own view. I think I succeeded.
And it was also a very nice path to walk along.
Eventually I found a road that looked like it lead back down towards where all the restaurants were.
I loved this road and thoroughly enjoyed walking through this neighborhood.
They had these setup along where gardens were, so I'm guessing to keep birds away?
Eventually the road lead to this path, which was pretty steep and the slope switched directions. The next bunch are basically me doing a field inspection of their storm water structures and the undermining of walls... Lol Maintenance matters! I'm probably one of few that always looks down storm drains no matter what city I'm in... Just always curious.
Obviously clogged inlets led to the storm water just building up against this wall.
You can see the diversions guiding the water to inlets.
An old school inlet!
Aaaand a new one.
Lack of maintenance allowed vegetation to establish and now they had to close this off... My guess some endangered species started to grow lol
Was curious about this wall and an acquaintance let me know it's Porta San Miniato. They're walls like this all over Florence apparently.
So I tried to get a florentine steak but they told me that it was too much meat, and instead I got a veal sirloin. Some of the best meat I've ever tasted, and of course paired with the house Chianti.
So my hostel/hotel had a pool. I spent all day thinking it was how I would end my night and how nice that would be. As I'm walking back thinking about this pool some random man stopped dead in his tracks after passing me and then proceeded to walk backwards and started hitting on me in some weird mix of English and Italian and I'm saying no grazie please leave me alone and then this creep pinches my fucking cheek. I swat him away and quicken my pace and was very grateful a couple behind me started to yell at him. I quickly came upon this building with paintings all around the outside and decided to go in. Turns out it was a hospital that's been around since the 1200s. I'm really glad I decided to check it out for a while because when I finally left a little bit up the street was the man, and this was the opposite direction he'd been going in, but the direction he'd last seen me go in... I slowed my pace and watched him get on the bus and thankfully not see me... Who knows if he had gone looking for me but I was certainly eager to get back to hostel. However upon inspection, there was a bunch of young men around the pool and the idea of there being any potential of being hit on was so unappealing I just went back to my room. I tried to go to sleep but was having a hard time and then at like 2 am a bunch of men came into the room, looks like I accidentally got put in a mixed dorm instead of women only... Needless to say I didn't sleep much this night and I'm sure that fucknut never gave another thought to the indecency of invading my personal space and stealing my sense of safety...
Well after a restless night it was time to get up and head out to further explore Florence. I had a ticket for 11:45 for the Galleria d'Accademia to see the David, and then one at 3 for the da'vinci musuem. Unfortunately I dropped the ball on an advanced ticket for the Duomo, they were all sold out so I figured I'd just wait in the line after da'vinci, however shoulders and knees have to be covered so I was keeping my eye out for a floral flowy Florentine dress since all mine were too short...🤷
While I waited for my time for the Galleria I went and got some breakfast in the Piazza of the Duomo. What I came to learn however was that unions from ALL OVER Italy were protesting. Was interesting to watch and see the flags and such from all these places many of which I'd now been to.
I'm sure eggplant parmesan isn't typical for a first meal of the day, but I was feeling it and it was delicious. However at this restaurant I had one of the biggest pineapple moments I've had in a while. I'm waiting for my meal and they ask me if I wanted something, he says Panera, I don't hear that initially and then he says it again and then finally says bread. Y'all it took me going to Italy for it to register that Panera means bread in Italian 🤣 good lord I'm gonna be laughing at myself for this one for a very long time.
I decided again not to take any photos in the museum, I really do think this choice allows you to be more present. It's a really cool place, so much more to see than just the David, even though it's a very impressive and beautiful thing to see. Attached was an exhibit on musical instruments and stuff on the history of how some were originally made and perfected. Some really old harpsichords were on display as well as this one upright piano which was so bizarre to see. I really enjoyed this exhibit but had a strange realization that the moment I walked into it I thought of someone I've never met and that they would probably really enjoy this too. I guess when you've heard enough stories about someone who is important to someone you love, you start to feel like you know them too. That's probably my least favorite part when things fall apart... All those future things, like meeting the important people of their life, that never come to pass, it's hard to let go of all the things you thought would happen. But that's life, there's plenty of things you hope for that never happen, doesn't mean what does happen isn't what's always been best for you. Another part of this museum is a room mostly filled with portrait busts done by Bertolini. This man was prolific! And these were all super intense to see together like that. There were also several other plaster models of other sculptures that were on display in Vechhio Piazza. So once I wrapped up my tour, I went straight to this plaza. On my way there I passed by the hospital from the night before and snagged a quick photo and also ended up passing by the Duomo.
This is Palazzo Pitti which I passed on my way to check out the Boboli Gardens, they were closed by the time I got to town the day before. I was nervous with the heat, but had decided to not wear any makeup so I could easily splash water on my face every chance I got.
This is the only photo I took in here... I LOVED this place. It's interactive with a whole bunch of built to scale models on his inventions and they are the coolest. He was the coolest, so impressive. He was curious about everything and was good at everything he tried lol. They had high level images of a lot of his paintings that you zoom in on to really see the strokes and stuff. Finally got my up close look at the Mona Lisa 😊. But yea there were several stations throughout where they allowed you to attempt to build some of his structures, so this is his bridge. I was very proud I got mine to stand, no one else was able to without it falling apart.
When I got out of here, the lack of sleep hit me and I had a two hour drive ahead of me. I quickly checked out the Duomo line and decided between the heat and already feeling tired, I needed to do the drive while I was awake enough and that perhaps I'd check out the inside some other time in the future, we shall see. So I hopped in the car and headed for the city of walls.
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