The Rambling Writer’s Italy, part 15: Out and About in Florence

Your Virtual Italy Vacation continues with local color as Thor and I ramble around Florence.

NOTE: Since European travel is still tenuous with the pandemic continuing, I’m continuing my blog series offering a virtual vacation and time-travel to my first big trip with Thor in 2008. Italy! After starting with highlight photos posted here on Saturday, Jan. 30, I’ll now resume every week (after the blogging detour in real time to Hawaii). Join us in Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, and Milan. Buon viaggio!

The Arno River is the artery of Florence, which has been Italy’s heart of art and culture since the Renaissance. So we’ll start our quirky meander with the river and its bridges. The Ponte Vecchio with its arcade of shops is the oldest surviving bridge here, built in 1345. Bridges over the Arno date from ancient Roman times, of course rebuilt over the centuries. The Ponte Vecchio is the only old bridge to survive bombing by the Germans in 1944, during WWII, when they also destroyed many other historic landmarks of the city. The German invaders were desperately trying to hold the city, but American bombers arrived later in the year to execute a daring plan. They had targeted the train station crucial to the Germans, but carefully mapped the city to show the pilots all the priceless historical monuments and buildings they were determined to save.

The American commander told his young pilots, “We’ve been hitting targets around Florence for a long time, but we haven’t actually hit the city itself because approximately ten percent of the world’s art treasures are located right here in Florence. We’ve got to be very careful.” The precision bombing runs, some very near such precious sites as the Duomo, were an amazing success, with every bomb hitting on target and sparing surrounding sites.

A fairly recent tradition of “Love Locks,” has encouraged lovers to scratch their initials on a lock and secure it to the Ponte Vecchio. Officials constantly cut off the clusters of locks, and the ardent lovers can face a hefty fine, but the practice continues:

Thor and I discovered that no shop within several blocks of the bridge will sell locks, so we were content with photos to remember our visit. Here, one of Italy’s lifesaving vapa drinking fountains dispenses water atop the bridge walkway.

Everywhere in Florence you encounter the works of artists old and new…

…and churches adorned with statuary:

The September heat wave was intense, but it didn’t seem to deter the crowds of tourists, here checking out pricey shops as the Duomo towers nearby.

This smart pooch found a solution to the heat. He looked a lot like our (now departed) beloved Worf who was waiting for us back home.

Lots of ornate door knockers!

Like the Ponte Vecchio locks, improperly parked bikes are impounded.

Bikes are a popular and smart method of navigating the many narrow lanes.

While this vehicle could fit through the narrow spaces, Thor doubted he could fit into the vehicle.

Wandering, we found ourselves in Limbo!

A more elegant mode of transport, spotted from the window of our pensione:

Ah! Another whimsical old vapa dispensing fresh water from the many underground springs seemingly everywhere in Italy:

We had booked the delightful Pensione Evelyn, with a chianti shop conveniently next door. To contradict Cousin Charlotte in “A Room with a View” — “This pensione is NOT a failure.”

Friendly owner Evelyn had decorated her repurposed old townhome with fanciful art and reproductions.

We set out in the evening in search of dinner, stopping on the way to pet Il Porcellino. This bronze is a reproduction of the original fountain figure by Pietro Tacca, cast around 1634. It was a copy of Hellenistic marble sculpture, apparently referring to the story of the Calydonian Boar. We slid a coin into his mouth to fall through the grating below it, and rubbed his snout to ensure good luck and a return to Florence some day.

More porcine residents: Some festive, stuffed piglets we spotted in a restaurant display window.

Returning from a hearty steak dinner, we were ambling along one of the narrow side streets like this one near our pensione, when we heard organ music resonating behind wooden doors. Walking closer, we realized it was a small church built seamlessly into the block of buildings.

We cautiously entered a lovely, small chapel where Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” filled the high-ceilinged space and seemed to vibrate in our bones. We sat in one of the few pews with others enjoying the concert. Then we were astonished when the burly, bald man who had been turning pages for the organist stepped forward after the completion of the Bach piece. He took a deep breath and poured forth a glorious song in contra tenor. It was as if an angel had visited to fill the beautiful little chapel with pure, Heavenly song and lift us beyond our mortal lives. Such is the spell of Florence!

Next week: More glorious sculptures in the city of art!

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection.  It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?”  The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com