Florence Journal

Grotta del Vento, The Wind Cave

North of Lucca, in the area known as the Garfagnana, is the Grotta del Vento - one of the most accessible (and highly commercialized!) caves in Tuscany. As a day trip from Florence with kids, it is pushing the limit - we followed the directions on the official website, which had us getting off the main highway much earlier than Lucca, and it was slow and tedious going trying to stay on the correct roads. I would suggest you stay on the A11 until Lucca and then get on the SS12 heading north up the Serchio River Valley.

The trip is nearly two hours, but once you are past Lucca and start heading up the valley, it is really quite picturesque. You also pass the Devil's Bridge at Borgo a Mozzano which is an amazing example of medieval engineering. Either before or after a visit to the cave, you can also stop in Barga (barganews.com is a good website), a beautiful and ancient hill town with the ruins of a Roman aqueduct among it's sights.

The picture is of our daughter Alice in the cave.

Sant'Alessandro a Giogoli

Sant'Alessandro a Giogoli is a very interesting looking Romanesque church (12C) on the way from Florence to Montespertoli. It is just off of the SP4 (Strada Provinciale) or Via Volterrana and is surrounded by olive groves. The sign on the front says there is a Ghirlandaio inside, but the church was closed both in the morning and in the afternoon on my way back and forth from Montespertoli to visit a friend. Hopefully I will return soon and try a little harder to get inside.

Fiesole update

Fiesole is just outside and above Florence. It is an ancient little town and great for a day trip (the ATAF #7 runs to Fiesole): nice walks, lunch in the Piazza Mino da Fiesole (try Perseus), roman ruins, churches - it has it all - plus amazing views on the Arno River valley and Florence. Unfortunately a giant public works project has had the piazza ripped up for years. The last time we were there, things were still looking pretty rough. Today we took a drive up for a walk and lunch with the kids since they were off from school, and the piazza now seems to be at least half way done - the construction walls are down for the most part, and you can see the statue of Garibaldi and Vittorio Emmanuel II (the link is to an old photo) having their famous handshake again. And the piazza will now be public space and not a car park as it used to be.

Ara Pacis Museum, Rome

This was Thanksgiving week for all U.S. transplants, and we took advantage of that by doing too much traveling and too much eating. Sandwiched around two turkey dinners, one in Montespertoli on Thursday and one here in Florence on Saturday, we took a day trip Friday to Rome to visit with some family who was there and to see the new Ara Pacis Museum. Firstly - Rome as a day trip from Florence with kids can be a little too much - it is only 1.5 to 2 hours on the train (if there are no delays!), but there is the getting to the station and back, the walking around while there, and the cost of the tickets. We seem to have gone for much less in the past, but this trip set us back 44 € a head - which at today's exchange is pretty steep for a one day excursion (we flew to Paris last spring for less). Next time, we will spend at least a couple of days there and squeeze some more in. There are so many things to see in Rome, and the Ara Pacis Museum is one of the newest. I was interested in both the altar itself and to see the new building by Richard Meier that has caused such a fuss in the Eternal City. I found the Ara Pacis amazingly inspiring. It is such an enormous and beautiful piece of antiquity - a truly stunning piece of history and art. So, I came back from Rome and started up a new website for it - please check it out when you get a chance: Ara Pacis Museum

Siena's Palio

Another of the big summer events in Tuscany is the Palio in Siena. We were there for it in 1998. This is an ancient horse race in the piazza and is quite a site - there is a great new article about the Palio here.

Osteria Le Panzanelle

I took a day trip the other day with my friend Aki through Chianti. Our main destination was the Macelleria Tozzetti in Mercatale Val di Pesa (more on that later). It was a really beautiful day and after a couple of quick stops we ended up at the Osteria Le Panzanelle for lunch. This is a little road side place on the way to Radda (if you are coming from the north). Lunch was outside, with the breeze blowing and the sound of the small river running close by. We had an excellent bottle of local Chianti, and I had the Scottaditi for my secondo, which was very good. If you are in the area, give this place a try.

How to Spend One Day in Florence

My brother emailed and said he has a friend who's taking the train from Rome to Florence for the day. She was looking for suggestions about the best way to spend one day in Florence, where to go, where to eat, etc. Here's what I said:

It's hard to give advice to someone I don't know because I don't know what type of traveller they are, but if it was me I would:

1) take the 5 minute walk from the train station to the Duomo. Here you could: a) go into the cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), b) climb to the top of the Dome, c) climb to the top of the Campanile or d) go into the Baptistry --- my choice would be to go into the Baptistry which is just beautiful with bronze doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti.