The Taylors Visit Italy: Florence and Pisa

A few weeks ago, Michael's parents traveled across the pond for an Italian vacation.  They flew into Rome, spent a few days there, rented a car and drove to Florence.  I trained down from Vicenza and met them in Florence. 

After dropping of my luggage and grabbing a panino, we wandered the streets of Florence, the birth place of the Renaissance.  We found a wonderful ceramics shop with beautiful pieces, all handmade and hand-painted.  I purchased this olive dish after falling in love with the pattern.

We returned later and my mother-in-law purchased olive oil and balsamic vinegar holders to add to my new collection.  Thank you again! 

For dinner, we ate at a personal favorite and highly recommended place called Trattoria Za-Za.  It was delcious, as expected.

The next day, we visited the Boboli Gardens.  Boboli in Italian means wooded area. The name is perfect for this place.  Sprawling, green, peaceful, and lovely only begin to describe the space.  It's a nice escape from the loud, crowded streets of Florence.  I'm sure the gardens are even more impressive in the spring when every thing's blooming.  In addition to the landscape, the gardens provided a picturesque view of the city, including Brunelleschi's Dome and Giotto's Campanile. 

We found a cute enoteca (wine bar) for lunch, where we had mozzarella di bufala wrapped with prosciutto.  My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.  After lunch, we roamed the art-filled Pitti Palace, taking in the decadent royal apartments.  The palace and the gardens definitely reminded me of  the Chateau of Versailles in Paris.

When we were leaving the palace, I noticed a guy in a Phish t-shirt.  I struck up a conversation and found out that he's studying abroad this semester and will be missing Phish's show at his school, Syracuse, this fall.  I totally understand brah... we missed shows in our own town for the same reason- being abroad...

   

We capped off the Florence visit with a trip to the Galleria dell'Accademia to pay our respects to Michelangelo's David.  It was my second viewing, and I was in just as much awe as the first.  The scale, the life-like anatomical preciseness and detail down to the muscle origins and insertions always impress me.  There was a special exhibit as well- Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form.   It showcased his photography of the human form, sometimes only body parts, sometimes comparing the body to other forms in nature or a still-life.  He also displayed the androgyny of the male and female bodies.  The exhibit presented an excellent comparison of Michelangelo's study of the human body through sculpture and Mapplethorpe's through photography and film. I really enjoyed it.  This review describes how the modern photographs compliment the Renaissance sculptures.

We then ventured to Pisa.  We saw the leaning tower and took the obligatory holding, pushing, leaning pictures.  We grabbed a quick lunch, dining on the Bapistry steps across from the tower, among many tourists and pigeons.  Then it was on to Vicenza!