Perhaps I would have been sad to see the snow in Milano begin to melt away, but rather I felt overly excited for the four-day weekend I and the other residents of Lombardia had ahead of us! The holiday was held in celebration of "Carnevale". I am told that this festival originated a long time ago when, once a year, the wealthy people and the poor people of the town could "trade places" by dressing up in a costume and wearing a mask. Nowadays, some Italians work very hard all-year-round building huge floats from papier mache and costumes to wear to the parade of the floats where confetti is thrown everywhere!
One of the main places in Italy where Carnevale is celebrated (with a parade of floats, rides, food, etc.) is a seaside town in Tuscany named Viareggio. And Chiara's mother Lydia, my host-nonna, just so happens to own a house in Viareggio. So the Massettis planned for us to go and stay there for four days.
Unfortunately though Filippo was ill on Tuesday and Wednesday and the Doctor ordered that he stay in bed at least for Thursday. So Chiara decided that Alice and I would go by train to spend the day in Florence, and then take a train to Viareggio to be met by Lydia. So to Florence for Valentine's Day it was!
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| The view from the train as we left Milan and Lombardia...the snow slowly fading away as we travelled further south |
We arrived in Florence around 11am and found the most beautiful, sunny (although fairly cold) day before us.
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| My first view of Florence, exiting the train station |
The streets of Florence we took finding our way to one of the main squares reminded me of the streets in Rome, although less complicated and even more romantic.
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One of the streets week took to begin our day |
Our first stop was, of course, the Cathedral. The size of the square in comparison to the size of the Cathedral made it particularly difficult to fit the whole thing into a photo, but you can get the gist of how grand and pretty it is in any event.
To the surprise of no one, I found the interior even more stunning, and I had my first experience of a painted dome-roofed church. And it was absolutely incredible. I think I must've stared at it for at least 5 minutes without blinking as I tried to take in all of the detail that I believe was designed to make you feel as if you were looking up and into heaven - if so, it worked.
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| Absolutely stunning |
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| The inside of the Cathedral |
Then, it was time to do something I had been really looking forward to doing as I promised my wonderful Dr. Bernie in Australia that I would; climb the dome of the Cathedral in Florence. Getting to the top cost me just €8 and sore legs for the next week. I advise anyone planning to do such a climb in the future to do it, but be weary not to underestimate just how far 463 steps is!
Halfway up there was a landing where I found myself in the church, but directly underneath the start of the painting of the Dome. From here we could both look more closely at the painting on the ceiling of the Dome and back down at the floor of the church where we had stood minutes before.
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| The view back down at the church from the landing, about halfway up to the top of the Dome |
After the landing, the stairs grew more narrow and steep, which was particularly interesting when passing someone coming from the other direction.
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| Some statues that we passed by on our way up to the top |
The steps grew steeper and steeper towards the end of the climb and when we finally climbed up a ladder and out onto the roof of the Dome Alice and I immediately collapsed on the ground at the top, trying very hard to catch our breath both from exhaustion and the incredible view before us!
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| The view from a window towards the end of the climb! |
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| The small hole you climb in and out of to get to the roof! |
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| Florence! |
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| A nice Italian couple enjoying their super romantic Valentine's day at the top of the Dome |
We probably spent somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour up there, walking in circles around the dome and gazing down at the tiny little people on the streets in Florence - an absolutely incredible sight. But, eventually, our stomachs got the better of us and it was time to leave and find some lunch.
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| Coming back down the narrow little stairs |
Chiara called Alice and gave her directions to a place where she had had lunch before and said was wonderful. Although, perhaps the directions were not so clear because Alice and I spent about 45 minutes walking in circles through different streets and the occasional open square, trying to find the place!
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| One of the old squares we found, Piazza della Signoria |
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| A very famous statue, the name of which escapes me |
Finally though, we arrived, and found a very long line out of the door and onto the street of people waiting to have...a sandwich! The name of the store is "All'antico Vinaio" and they make sandwiches with Focaccia bread, prosciutto, many various kinds of cheeses and other ingredients which are still a mystery to me. The store was absolutely tiny, with I think less than a metre of space between the front of the counter and the opposite wall, so fitting about twenty people in there at once was certainly cosy. Ordering was also an experience as the men behind the counter seemed accustomed to serving people who had no idea what they wanted. Simply, they asked me what foods I didn't like and made something up out of the rest! In any event, I am "as sure as sure can be" that it was the most amazing sandwich I have ever had in my life. Even Alice said she had never tasted something so good!
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| The wonderful little sandwich place! |
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| My sandwich being made |
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| Heaven in a sandwich |
To enjoy our well-earned meal Alice and I wanted to go and sit in the sun, so we found ourselves a nice spot by the river and, once finished eating, we spent a couple of hours walking around the sides of the river, over the bridge and looking into the jewellery stores that line the sides of the bridge.
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| Similarly to Rome, lovers in Florence put these locks onto the fence surrounding a statue on the bridge of the river, and throw the key into the river, to signify everlasting love |
Next we found another square outside of a large castle-looking building where many people, us included, stopped to sit and enjoye the sunlight.
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| On the outskirts of this square I found a Vespa store! |
Then, after enjoying ourselves a Gelato and wondering through a small market Alice and I stumbled upon a flash mob! It was a campaign apparently taking place all over Europe on Valentines day, where hundreds of women came wearing red and black and did a dance to a song to fight violence against women. We pushed our way through the crowd of people to get close enough to see the dancing and every statue or high point was occupied by somebody trying to get a good view of the commotion. Then, just as the music stopped, I spotted a place on a nearby statue that I could fit on. As I climbed onto the statue though, a nice man who was standing on a very tall, electricity box? or something, said he was getting down and let me take his place!
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| Gelato, my love |
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| People dancing in the square! |
After the excitement of the flashmob, the rest of the day was spent wondering about the town, looking into different stores, statues and tiny little cobblestoned streets. I even found a small jewellery store where a very kind man sold me my first additional charm for the travel charm bracelet I was given by my wonderful neighbours Kelly and Rob before leaving Australia.
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| Wonderful small streets! |
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| Very similar to those found in Rome, these souvenir stores lined the streets of Florence |
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| A handmade charm of the symbol of Florence |
Our train to Viareggio departed at 5.10 so there was just enough light to see more of the stunning Tuscan countryside as we went. But certainly this Valentine's day, Florence, it's beautiful architecture, cathedral and sandwiches alike, stole my heart.
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