Tiff & Jared's adventures

We spent the last two days of our trip in the Tuscany region of Italy, and boy was it beautiful. If I could’ve chosen, I would have liked to spend the whole time up there. The warm yellow-colored buildings, the view from the Arno River, the gelato, the ART, it’s all 10 out of 10. But before we get to the city, we have to talk about the Airbnb we stayed in. I found a place in the small town of Impruneta, about twenty minutes outside of the city. These small towns are beautiful in their own way – the small streets, the trattorias, the hillside vineyards and olive trees. But let’s go back to the small streets. I’m not kidding you when I say these streets are probably the original for hundreds of years ago, made for horses and Fiats. The last leg to our Airbnb was up these small roads and we got to a point at the top where there were country homes on both sides of our car and we literally had inches to spare on both sides. We all thought we wouldn’t make it but thanks to sensors and slow driving, we wound our way up to our beautiful Airbnb. As you can see, the drive was worth the while.

Unfortunately, since we only had two days to explore, it was a bit of a rush to see the highlights. We arrived in Florence mid-afternoon on Monday and parked our rental car about two kilometers from Ponte Vecchio, giving us plenty of time to walk and admire the city. No closer than 200 meters from our car was a Sorbeteria, selling the best frozen treat I’d ever tasted, and I’ve tasted a lot of gelato and sorbet. I got two scoops, one of lemon sage and the other wild strawberries. It was so good I almost couldn’t share with Jared.

Once we started walking into the city, we could see the difference from Rome – the streets were less crowded, the drivers were actually polite (at least a little bit more) and the colors of the buildings were all fit for Tuscany – an inviting array of yellows, browns, macaroni and cheese-ish yellows. It didn’t take long for us to intersect the river, and from there we could see our first target spot – Ponte Vecchio. The bridge is over 700 years old, and it’s unique because on the bridge are many stores selling rather expensive jewelry, mostly gold. If there are two things I know about Florence, it’s that it’s famous for selling leather and gold.

[Insert history about Medici family.]

Once we did enough window shopping and picture taking, we started walking into the city. Not two minutes after we entered the streets, we started walking into a Salumeria – basically a fancy deli shop but 100x better than anything in the States. I’m not even joking when I say one of my favorite parts about Italy is the food, especially salami. The region is well known for cheese, hams and salamis and man did they have some good stuff to sample.

Walking from there, we kind of just wandered around the city because what’s better than getting lost in a beautiful city, right? Looking at the buildings and pastry shops and trattorias was exciting enough. After a bit of walking around, we made it to the Piazza della Signoria with fake David. I tried to convince Jared the statue in the square was the real David, but he didn’t buy it. For those that don’t know, David is the statue carved from marble by the great Michelangelo, claimed to be the perfect formed body of man. Unfortunately, the real statue is held at La Accademia, and we didn’t have enough time to see it this time. I’ve seen it on past visits though and I can attest that he is massive. Crazy that someone could carve something so perfect from a chunk of marble. If you look at the second picture down, you can see “fake” David.

From there, we kept walking and eventually stumbled upon IL DUOMO. Now, the Vatican is something in itself, but from the exterior, I find this building to be superior. The colors, an off white, salmon and sea-foam green are absolutely spectacular.

Now at this point, we’re pretty hungry. It’s getting dark, and we have accepted the fact we’ll be getting back to the Airbnb late anyways, so why not stay out one last night in Florence for a meal? After scouring the streets for menus and smells, we settled on a homey trattoria for our Last Supper – ha ha get it? Eh. For those not accustomed to the Italian eating schedule, I’ll preface it with this – it’s long and slow. There’s no rush to have the food come out as soon as you order; the point of meals is to enjoy the company of the meal. We started out with a bottle of wine, some bread, grilled mixed vegetables and oil-soaked vegetables (my absolute favorite is the artichokes, or carccofi). Jared and I then split some bolognese pasta and flank steak with potatoes – yum! The people next to us even asked what we ordered. It’s such a small world – they were an American couple, their daughter lives in U Street in DC and her roommate works at KPMG! After the massive amount of food, we finished with cookies on the house and tiramisu. I will not lie when I say I walked around with unbuttoned pants pretty frequently. After dinner, we left the city to go back to our Airbnb, but not before I got another two scoops of gelato (mango and strawberry). The drive home actually wasn’t terrible and we were asleep before we knew.

The next and last morning, we woke up, packed up the car again, made the winding drive through the city and ended up in Florence for breakfast. After eating some pastries and walking around Ponte Vecchio again, and buying an expensive (but priceless) leather jacket, we found ourselves at the Bardini Gardens. Recently restored and opened to the public, the gardens provided an amazing aerial view of the city. You had to work for it though. We wound up the path, passing rose gardens, statues and a tunnel covered with grape vines. Albeit a cloudy day, we had a perfect view of the city below. After marveling in awe at the view, we began to wind our way down as we wanted to stop in Siena before going to the hotel airport.

Siena is one of those Tuscan, medieval towns that is hundreds of years older than anything in the United States. My dad remembers going there as a kid, and they’re famous for two things: these cookies called Cavalucci and this dense fruitcake called Panforte. They are made with an ancient recipe that hasn’t left the city, at least not intentionally. The blend of spices and fruit leave every bite with a different flavor. I stocked up on both 😉 Unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating and we were walking around the city in the rain. I’ve seen it in the sun and obviously it would have been much more enjoyable but we still got to see the city square and a bunch of cool shops (we were in this one shop selling beautiful hand-painted plates, vases, souvenirs, etc.). After walking around a bit more and getting our last Italian meal (salumi and pecorino/prosciutto and fontina cheese sandwiches with artichokes), we got in the car and drove to the hotel airport where we caught our 8AM flight back to the States. Until next time, Italy! 🇮🇹 Ciao!