Italy by Vespa suggests clients take in a few days of sightseeing and get over the effects of jet lag before embarking on one of their excellent Vespa tours of Chianti. If you love art, cuisine, and culture, you will find plenty to do in Florence, the heart of the Renaissance!
Among the highlights of our Florentine prelude we recommend to those who travel in our footsteps:
Galleria dell'Accademia: The star of the show here is without a doubt Michaelangelo's David, but there is much more to enjoy. This museum has a large collection of Michaelangelo's sculptures, paintings from many period artists, and a large collection of musical instruments from the Baroque period (I don't think I've ever seen so many instruments made by Stradivarius in one place!
Uffizi Gallery: Originally built as an administrative facility for the Medici government of Florence ('uffizi' is Italian for 'office'), This large u-shaped building houses arguably one of the world's greatest collections of art from classical Greco-Roman through the Renaissance to the Baroque period. In order to truly enjoy all the works here, plan on spending a day if you can, a half-day at the very least. The Uffizi has a very fine cafe to take a lunch break in, but here's a tip: if it's not Italian cuisine, don't order it. My ravioli was outstanding, but the Mrs. ordered roast turkey and potatoes that looked and tasted a lot like a Swanson's frozen dinner -- and not completely thawed at that!
Another stop well worth your time is the Basilica di Santa Croce. A 20 minute walk east of the Uffizi, this church is the last resting place of seemingly everyone who was anyone in the Renaissance! As you tour this elegant house of worship, you will find among the ornate chapels built by wealthy benefactors the tombs of such luminaries as Michelangelo, Rossini, Machiavelli, and Galileo. There is also a large museum featuring beautiful religious icons and other pieces.
If can take some time from taking in all the art and history of Florence, you may consider doing a little bit of shopping. Italians make some of the best made and most fashionable footwear in the world, and you can purchase them here at a much better price than back in the USA. The Mrs. picked up a sharp pair of tall boots, and I found a cute little souvenir close to my heart (see below).
When walking in Florence, stay aware of the time of day, as rush hour can be a lot of fun to watch! Because the streets are narrow and parking is at a premium, many Florentines prefer scooters to get around. Traffic rules are pretty much a 'free-for-all', so at stoplights, the scooters filter around the car traffic like chipmunks through a woodpile and work their way to the front. Then when the light turns green, the resulting huge knot of scoots is the first off the mark. It is quite easy to be walking down a seemingly quiet cobblestone street, and suddenly find yourself confronted by what looks like a scooter version of the 'Running of the Bulls' in Pamplona! The sidewalks tend to be narrow, so you find yourself frantically looking for a recessed doorway to take cover in!
By and large, Italians prefer the 'big wheel' type of scooter, with examples by Piaggio, Honda, Kymco, Sym, and Peugeot very much in evidence. To a lesser degree you'll see modern twist and go scoots like the Vespa ET/LX/GT/GTS series, and you'll see very few vintage Vespas. In two weeks in Florence, the Tuscan countryside and Rome, we saw NO Lambrettas! None. Zippo. Nada. Zilch. So all of you who are fortunate enough to own examples of that noble marque, take care of them; you are the conservators of history, so treat them accordingly (are you reading this, Brandon?)!
As far as we could see, the 'rules of the road' in Florence were simply 'do what you need to do, just don't kill anybody'. Keeping things from going completely out of control were the various branches of the Italian police force. Unlike the USA, where there are clearly defined jurisdictions between municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, I couldn't make head or tail of the Italian way of policing. There were plenty of officers to keep order in Florence, but on any street, you could easily run into City Police, State Police, or the paramilitary Carabinieri doing the same duties, often in conjunction with each other! Of these three, the Carabinieri seemed to be the coolest by far. Officially a branch of the Italian armed forces, they sport sharp, tailored uniforms and cruise the city in snazzy Alfa Romeo sedans (perhaps so they can fight crime faster?).
Carabinieri are among Italy's best equipped and trained crimefighters, and are supplied with the latest in technology and weaponry. By comparison, while our own Seattle PD are no less skilled, courteous and courageous, their 'off-the-rack' mall-cop uniforms and dowdy Ford patrol cars make them look positively downmarket by comparison!
With this, our Florentine prelude comes to a close. Tomorrow, we will check out of our hotel and meet our Vespa Tour guide at the train station. The adventure is about to really begin!
Coming up next: Paradise Found: A Journey to Scootering's Garden of Eden, Part 5: Off and Scooting!
