With all the warnings I had read about the Uffizi...long lines, surly staff, odd hours...we had an extremely good experience. Walked up to the window, paid for our tickets, went and ate lunch and when we returned we stood in line for about 15 minutes before we were let into the gallery. FIVE HOURS LATER we exited. It was exhilarating and exhausting! It was a good idea I think to go on a Tuesday as it was not crowded at all and we could linger in front of the paintings that captured us (most all of them). There were no photos allowed or this page would be full of them. There was a painting that I can't get out of my head. It was a portrait of a young man, a teenager really, by the painter Perugino. It was from the 16th century, I believe, but the picture could have been a photograph of a teenage boy today. He just had the same careless look, half bored, half arrogant, that I sometimes see on adolescent boys. Like perhaps his father had forced him to sit for this painting and he was not very happy about it. I liked that the painting was ancient and contemporary at the same time.
The morning of our Uffizi trip, we went to the market. Scott had told the wonderful folks that run our "hotel"; Marco, his gal Natasha and his sister Anna (marcosplaces.com) that I would make dinner for them. Marco is a vegetarian so I decided on a big salad of arugula, shaved fennel and the wonderful blood oranges that are everywhere here now. When I got to the market, the raspberries were beautiful also, so I decided to add those to the salad. I made a light vinaigrette out of the juice of an orange and a lemon, some of the great olive oil here and a bit of salt. I bought some roma tomatoes, small zucchinis (with the flowers still attached) and pine nuts to make a sauce for some pasta. Anna added a jar of broccoli raab that her mother had sent up from Southern Italy. It is spicy, similar to the taste of mustard greens and wildly delicious. I served some over the pasta but also ate it piled on some bread we got at the bakery. A bottle of Chianti rounded out the meal. It was a simple meal, but the company at the table made it great. Marco and Scott talked a lot of politics and Anna made us espresso afterwards and served some wonderful sweets she and Natasha had picked up at the pasticceria (pastry shop) at the corner. These folks are so much fun. Marco is a card, 28 years old and itching to make his mark. Natasha is from Russia and incredibly beautiful. Anna is so sweet, I feel like she is one of my own children. I just want to hug her all the time. They have made our stay here in Florence extra special and I would recommend this place to anyone.
On Wednesday, we visited the Accademia which houses Michelangelo's David. It is a small museum with David as its' centerpiece. And what a centerpiece. It takes your breath away. They have a fine collection of paintings and it was nice that each painting was accompanied by an explanation of the artist, what the symbolism in the painting represented and details about the restoration. Some descriptions even showed sections of the paintings before the restoration work began. Fascinating!
We walked and walked that afternoon and got lost in the maze of back roads that lead up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. This is the point at which you are overlooking the entire city of Florence and some of the surrounding mountains also.
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