2015 ITALY Florence 27 - Our Room

The trip between Tenuta Folsano and our hotel in Florence was like a ride at Disneyland--fun, but a little scary. Thank goodness for Giuseppe's expert driving. Back roads were narrow, and highways were crowded and bumper-to-bumper (literally). Lots of curves on both.

In the U.S. you often see signs for "deer crossing" and occasionally, in some states like Michigan, "bear crossing." Along the way here we saw wild boar, fox, wolf, and deer crossing signs. Didn't see any of those animals though.

We passed a lot of interesting scenery though--carvings in the mountain, unusual structures to keep the mountain from crumbling, rivers covered by old bridges. And we went through 42 tunnels through the Apennine mountains. Much road work going on, but didn't seem to hold things up too much. Also we saw lots of hand gestures, but no litter on the highway!

 We drove past the town of Maranello, home of Ferrari since the 1940s and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team. They also have the Museo Ferrari, displaying their race cars, trophies, and other racing memorabilia. Wish we could have stopped there.

Everything is an "eria" around here--yogurteria, hamburgeria, buffeteria, gelatoria, pasticceria (pastries), cafferia (coffee), orologeria (watches), and more. Had to to laugh at a few of these. I guess you can put "eria" on the end of anything meaning shop. We also saw an IKEA store.

When we got to the Arno river we saw rowers in long boats (like in the Olympics) and the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge).

Roads within central Florence were sooooo narrow. Filled with people, bicycles, carts, and delivery trucks. I just don't know how Giuseppe could maneuver without a mishap. But he brilliantly did, sometimes with only inches to spare between the van and a building or person or all manner of vehicles.

The Hotel Pitti Palace was our "home" in Florence. It was seven meters (or 22 feet) from the entrance to the Ponte Vecchio. Part of the hotel structure is the reconstructed medieval Torre dei Rossi-Cecchi (tower). It was originally built in the early 1200s and mostly destroyed by German troops in WW2.

Each room had photos on the door telling about the window views from that room. Our room faced onto a narrow alley, but it still had interesting sights. The street name was Borgo San Jacopo and it lays between the Ponte Vecchio and the smaller, less elaborate Ponte a Santa Trinita. From this second bridge you got a great view of the Ponte Vecchio.

We had just a peek of the Arno River from our room window. There was the Borgo San Jacopo (Michelin star) restaurant overlooking the Arno down the way and the Romanesque-style San Jacopo sopr'Arno Church (founded in the 10th century) across the way.

Apartments and a few shops also lined the alley. We could actually open the window and stick our heads out. We could smell the smells and hear conversations. It was fun watching the people and vehicles as they did their business. The street was vigorously cleaned each morning and there were lovely rooftop gardens. Pretty picturesque for an "alley."

This was our smallest room of the trip. No matter; we were not there much except for sleeping. There was a queen-size bed, a bathroom with tub/shower and bidet, a desk, and a small closet area. Certainly enough to be quite comfortable.

While we were there we had to have some clothes cleaned. It was near the end of our formal tour, but we still had plans for Lake Como and Venice before going home. It cost 120 US!!! to get all cleaned, but it came back with each piece neatly wrapped in individual clear plastic bags. Very elegant for mostly dirty underwear and socks.

We had breakfast in the top floor cafe. There was also a happy hour there, but we did not have time to take advantage of that. We took a quick peek though and here is the set up.

Breakfast was similar to what we had enjoyed all along--thin slices of cured meats, cheese, fruit, hard boiled eggs. and the ever wonderful cappuccino.



You either ate indoors or out on the roofed terrace. From either place the views were wonderful. Here you can see the apartments lining the other side of the Arno and the duomo tower in the background.