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~ …… (oon∙poh∙dee∙PEH∙peh) Cristina writes about interesting stuff /Cristina scrive di cose interessanti

Un po' di pepe

Tag Archives: Monteriggioni

Viaggio con Isabella

20 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Amici e Famiglia, Firenze, Italia, Photography, Travel

≈ 32 Comments

Tags

Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, Italy travel tips, Lucca, Milano, Monteriggioni, Oltrarno, Torre di Giotto, Vernazza, Viaggi in pultrona

Duomo Selfie FirenzeOne year ago I was just returning from Italia with my nipotina Isabella. Since we are not able to travel in real life, viaggiamo in pultrona, let’s armchair travel and revisit our trip.

A bit of backstory…when Isabella was about 8 years old, she saw a photo of me on the Ponte Vecchio and asked ‘Zia, where is this?’.  I replied ‘Firenze’ and she asked if we could go there together one day.  I was thrilled at the opportunity to share my love of Firenze with her, so of course I said ‘Si! We can go when you graduate’.  We were delayed a few years due to scheduling issues, but last year in between Isabella finishing her university classes and starting a summer job, we managed to squeeze in a 2 week trip!Ponte Vecchio Firenze

We flew to Firenze, where we rented a studio apartment in the Oltrarno for a week.  It was in a renovated stone tower a short walk from the Ponte Vecchio and down a narrow alley from Piazza della Passera.Peppe Zullo, Mercato Centrale

Chef Peppe Zullo, our amico from Orsara, was in town our first day.  We met him at the Mercato Centrale where he and his son Michele had recently taken over a restaurant upstairs called Tosca.

Galleria degli UffiziWe had prebooked only 1 museum-the Uffizi of course, for the Saturday so that Gaetano, our cugino in med school could join us.  New Caravaggio rooms have opened since my last visit!  Galleria degli UffiziI noticed many portraits of Anna Maria Luisa de Medici on display.  We have her to thank for all of this! Isabella loved the Uffizi, not just for the artwork, also the building itself, so Gaetano suggested she visit Palazzo Pitti another day.Palazzo Pitti Firenze interior

I am ‘vertically challenged’, which may be why I like to climb to the top of things, especially if there is a view involved. We climbed almost everything in Firenze, starting with a walk to Piazzale Michelangelo via Porta San Niccolò for views of the city, then continuing up to San Miniato al Monte. We climbed the dizzying narrow stairs to the top of Brunelleschi’s Duomo to see the views and the Torre Giotto.  Duomo FirenzeAnother day we climbed the Torre Giotto and saw the Duomo!  These climbs were vital to working off gelato! For more photos taken from above see Viste di Firenze.

We also enjoyed the view, modern art and caffè from la terrazza degli Uffizi.  This is the title of one of my monotypes, so I had to throw that in there!  The Aperol Spritz from the roof bar of La Rinascente in Piazza della Repubblica was the best I have had.  With her new headband and puffy sleeves, Isabella looked like a Renaissance principessa enjoying a spritz!Isabella Aperol Spritz Duomo Firenze

We were on constant lookout for street art by Blub-even Gaetano when he was with us.  The results of our Blub hunt are in the post L’arte sa Nuotare.Blub street art Firenze

Isabella loves caffè.  She started ordering caffè lungo because both times she ordered un americano, they repeated ‘American coffee’ and tried to serve her drip coffee!   Mannaggia!   What has the world come to!Caffe a Firenze We had caffè at a different place every morning, including Caffè degli Artigiani in Piazza della Passera, Bar d’ Angolo in Porta Romana, one of my old favourites I Dolci di Patrizio Cosi, and one place way too close to Ponte Vecchio. They were all wonderful!  Isabella kept track of the cost of a cornetto and 2 caffè lunghi…..as expected, she found the price decreased and the quality increased the farther out we went!  Valuable life lessons!

San GimignanoWe joined 5 others on a lovely daytrip from San Gimignano to Siena with Piero of Bike Florence and Tuscany.  The weather was ominous, either sprinkling or threatening to rain all day.  Bicicletta ToscanaMonteriggioni was a stop for wine tasting and we cycled parts of the Via Francigena. In Siena we had a few hours to explore the city and have Panforte.Monteriggioni Siena

The weather was not very warm for May.  I think this is the first time I have ever packed a small umbrella, but glad I did!  We had to dress in layers, or ‘a la cipolla’ as they say in italiano.  Some evenings in Firenze, it seemed like we were wearing ALL of the clothes in our valigia! Despite this, we walked everywhere.

Here is our map –YES- a map-of where we walked.  Maps of the city centre are great for getting oriented.  It is much easier than trying to look at a GPS on a tiny phone screen.  We did not have time to take the bus to Fiesole or get to L’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David or attend Mass at Santa Croce.  Isabella will definitely need to get back to Firenze.  While shopping, she did receive many compliments every day on her Italiano, even bartering down the price of a cute leather jacket!Biciclette, LuccaLucca was our next stop, 1.5 hours away by train.  Lucca is one of my favourite places in Italia!  We stayed at a small B&B near Torre Guinigi.  The owners found out we lived in Vancouver and told us about their nipote in Vancouver who is Isabella’s age.  I started to say that Vancouver was a big city…… when Isabella said ‘Uh….Zia….I actually do know him….  Che mondo piccolo!  After that, every time they saw Isabella, with no subtlety at all, they went on about what a nice boy he was!Riding the medieval walls Lucca

Lucca is known for its intact medieval walls.  We rented biciclette to ride the path on top of the walls.  The forecast was for good weather.  We had done 4 laps of the tree lined 4 km route, when unexpectedly a torrential downpour started.  It rained so hard we could barely see.Lucca medieval walls

We tried to get off the path, but visibility was so bad we could not tell which gate and ‘onramp’ we had taken to get up to the wall.  This was important because we had to return the bikes where we rented them.  Isabella wore her new jacket, and rather than get it ruined in the rain, she had folded it up inside out in a plastic bag in the cestino -the basket- leaving her in short sleeves.  Brrrr!

Piazza Anfiteatro LuccaBy the time we got to Piazza Anfiteatro to warm up and wait for the rain to stop, we looked like wet rats.  The restaurants are outdoor, so they had large heaters, and even blankets.  Piazza Anfiteatro Lucca A friend was coming from Viareggio for aperitivo later, but she had to cancel due to the weather.  Even in the rain, Lucca is spectacular. It is also a great place to shop!  I never spend enough time in Lucca.Monterosso a mare, Sentiero Azzurro

Our next stop was La Spezia via Pisa and on to Vernazza, our home base in the Cinque Terre.  I wrote about our time there in 2 posts- Le Cinque Terre and Exploring le Cinque Terre. The second post is specifically about our adventures.  The weather was beautiful, which is good, as there are no indoor activities there!  Hiking all day with a 19 year old is hard work, so luckily there was wine tasting in the evening!Milano Naviglio GrandeThe morning we left Vernazza was raining almost as much as on the walls of Lucca!  Isabella had been to Roma several times, but not to Milano, so we booked to fly home from there.  We met our cugina Federica, who we stayed with, and went to the Navigli area to have dinner with more cugini. Our visit was too short.  We spent the next day walking and window shopping around the Cento Storico and had a few ‘streetside reunions’ and phone calls with more cugini and a friend.  I have been to Milano many times but have yet to see L’Ultima Cenacola, Da Vinci’s Last Supper.  Even 2 weeks in advance, I was not able to book admission.  Another reason to return!Milano Duomo nella pioggiaWe hope you have enjoyed this piccolo viaggio virtuale with us!  Hopefully we can travel again soon.  Ciao, Cristina & IsabellaPiazza della Repubblica selfie

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Val d’Orcia Daytrip

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Firenze, Italia, Travel tips

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Abbazia Sant'Antimo, Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta, Castelnuovo dell'Abate, Daytrips from Firenze, Daytrips from Siena, Firenze, Fondazione Il Bisonte, Italy travel tips, Monteriggioni, Pienza, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Val d'Orcia

CappellaMadonnadiVitaleta

I wrote an email a while ago about my daytrip from Firenze to the Val d’Orcia with my amica Shannon.  I have sent that same email so many times to friends planning a visit to Toscana that I thought it would make a great blog post.

Shannon was studying printmaking at Il Bisonte in Firenze for a year and I went to visit her for a week . We decided to rent a car for a day and go exploring. Our start time was delayed and by the time we drove off it was almost mezzogiorno (noon). No plans were made regarding where to go, we just drove away from Firenze then headed south, towards Siena. We passed a sign for Monteriggioni, which neither of us had been to, so that was our first stop. Monteriggioni is a small 13th Century medieval walled village. Besides the intact 10m high walls and 14 square towers, Monteriggioni’s claim to fame is a mention from Dante in his Divina Commedia: Inferno, canto xxxi lines 41-42:

‘Come in su la cerchia tonda, Monteriggioni di torri si corona’

‘Like a circling round, Monteriggioni crowns itself with towers.’

Monteriggionicollage

Hunger set in, but we did not want to take time from our adventure to sit in a restaurant. At the Generi Alimentari (grocery/deli) we picked up some local goodies…prosciutto, finocchione (Tuscan fennel salame), pecorino di Pienza, fresh bread, and 2 glasses of Chianti—all for 11 €! They put it all in a cestino (basket) for us and we ate outside in the piazza. It was the best lunch ever.  See for yourself…..

Monteriggionilunch2

We got back in the car and headed towards the Val d’Orcia. When you see photos or postcards of the classic Toscana landscape with gentle rolling hills, vineyards and cipressi (cypress trees)…this is it!

ToscanaThe entire Val d’Orcia is a UNESCO World Cultural Landscape.  When we stopped in Montalcino, there was a sign for the Abbazia Sant’Antimo. I had recently read about this beautiful Romanesque Abbey, so we drove to Castelnuovo dell’Abate, parked the car and walked down.

Sant'Antimo1Sant’Antimo is a heavenly place, in a valley surrounded by vineyards, olive trees and cypresses. Parallel to the bell tower stands a striking single cypress tree. A powerful monastery in the middle ages, Sant’Antimo was abandoned for a short period of about 500 years! Local contadini (farmers) apparently used the crypt as a wine cellar!

Sant'Antimo2Restoration work was done in the 1980’s and now it is home to a small Canonical order. 7 times a day there are vespers and Mass with Canto Gregoriano (Gregorian chanting). Sant’Antimo is worth going out of the way for. Next time I am there, I want  to walk the 10.5 km from Montalcino and take the bus back from Castelnuovo.

Castelnuovo dell' Abate

Castelnuovo dell’ Abate

Between San Quirico d’Orcia and Pienza the scenery was breathtaking, including one of the most photographed places in Italia, La Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta. It is on private property so we weren’t able to visit, but we did lots of admiring from afar.

Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta-unfinished mixed media painting

Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta-unfinished mixed media painting

There were cipressi (chee•PRES•see) everywhere! I have a fascination with cipressi  and love to paint their ‘flame’ shapes and shadows. My nipotine have always called them ‘Zia’s trees’ and they love to paint them too. We came across some random sculpture among the cipressi with signs ‘Si prega di non appogiarsi alle sculture’ (Please don’t lean on the sculptures).

sculture

Pienza-formerly called Cortignano was the birth town of Pope Pio (Pius) II. In 1489, he rebuilt it to be an ‘ideal town’ according to Renaissance Humanist design concepts and renamed it after himself. He was a humble man! Because of this early vision of urban planning, the Centro Storico (historic center) of Pienza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I could have spent weeks sketching in Pienza!

Pienza Collage copy

After a brief visit to Montepulciano we had to start heading back towards Firenze. Our final stop was Castellina in Chianti to have pappardelle al lepere (thick ribbon pasta with wild rabbit sauce) which was so yummy! The ride to Castellina was spectacular.  We somehow ended up on a back road, the sun was setting and everything was sparkly and lavender! Just before mezzanotte (midnight) we arrived back in Firenze and dropped off the car. Our Val d’Orcia adventure lasted exactly 12 wonderfully unplanned hours.

Pienza

Pienza

Val d'Orcia daytrip

Val d’Orcia daytrip

Buon Viaggio! Cristina

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