Blue Heron Hill: A Walk Through Historic Florence

We had our usual breakfast this morning and headed over to Piazza Della Repubblica to meet our group from ArtViva for The Original Florence Walk at 9:30. Our guide was Alessandro, and there were just 4 of us in his group. We spent 3 hours with him, walking through the oldest part of town as he explained the history of Florence.

It's hard to believe that Italy wasn't unified as a country until 1861. Prior to that there were several kingdoms, principalities and independent states. Some were under the influence of other countries, Austria for one, or the Catholic church.

We saw the opulence afforded those in high religious and political positions, and the wealthy merchant class - most notably the producers and exporters of woolen fabric. And then there were the money-lenders, the Medici family, who oddly enough became religious and political leaders. The wealthy residents of Florence supported artists and craftsmen, and did an amazing job of it, as history shows.

The palazzos the wealthy lived in are still in evidence here. There are inner courtyards with beautiful sculptures and frescoes that are now public buildings, and surely many more that are still private.

Alessando explaining a fresco

Lots of artistic detail in a courtyard

The iron rings on the outside of buildings, where the horses would be tied up hundreds of years ago, can be seen all around town.

And there were still 5-hundred-year-old iron torch and lamp holders on buildings we passed on our walk.

Wine windows can often be seen on buildings, and there's one very close to the gate to our convent. That one must harken back to a time when the convent was a grand palazzo!

This one has been bricked up but has received an official plaque showing its authenticity.

Alesssandro also pointed out some false panels in the stone facades of a few homes that allowed the residents to escape in case of attack. It sounded like there was often someone attacking someone else during the pre-Renaissance years.

We walked up onto the Ponte Vecchio during the tour so we could see that most of the shops sell jewelry now. In the early years there were butcher shops lining the bridge, and using the river below as their disposal system. When the Medici family built a corridor over the bridge so they could commute comfortably between their Pitti Palace and their Palazzo Vecchio offices, the stinky meat market was replaced by gold and silver shops.

Here's what the shops look like all locked up after hours

And here when they're open for business

There are dozens of shops lining the bridge.

Ancient-looking fountains here and there throughout the town provide clean drinking water for residents and visitors alike, so bring your water bottle! We even saw a more modern set of spigots on a building that had one spigot for still water and one for sparkling.

The water runs constantly to prevent the growth of germs and algae

Alessandro pointed out a good place to buy bread and paninis, the place where his wife shops. And we're not sure if he said the gelato place we passed was great, or terrible. I have a problem hearing people when their back is turned to me, they're walking briskly along the cobblestones, and they have a delightful Italian accent. I should defer to B.J. in this case, who believed Alessandro said the gelato was terrible.

We also mentioned the fourth stomach of cow that we saw on a menu yesterday, and he said his wife loves it. I guess we should have given it a try.

Oh, and I should mention too that we saw beef steaks, salt cured, in display cases all over town. Florence is famous for its steaks. They're huge and served very rare. We would have liked to try one, but the normal 2 kilo size is over 4 pounds, and that’s a lot of meat!

I'm not really sure it looks that great, but legend has it that it's the best!

Our tour with Alessandro gave us a good overview of Florence: the plague, the floods, the earthquake tremors, the popes, the warring factions and the wealthy families. We really enjoyed our morning with him.

This evening would be B.J.'s last night in Florence. He'd leave for the airport, and his early flight home, long before I was awake in the morning. He suggested a nice restaurant, Cantina Barbagianni, not far from our place as his treat for our last dinner together.