Day 11: Florence and Hotel Villa San Michele

A beautiful day for a train ride to Florence. Our train is arriving at the station in Castiglione del Lago, a short distance from Il Villino.

First Class on Trenitalia. Definitely NOT the Orient Express.

Brian and Gina snuggling on the train.

Florence is the capital city of Tuscany and became the center of business and finance after the fall of the Roman Empire. Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. All this history and all the beautiful monuments and architecture attract lots and lots of tourists.

The facade of the Duomo or great Cathedral.

Campanile of the Cathedral. This church is massive, and the line of tourists waiting to get in stretched out the front door, down the side, and all the way to the rear of the church.

Um....excuse me, did you know you have a pigeon on your head?

The Ghiberti Doors on the Baptistry of St. John. These doors took 21 years to complete. The 28 gilded bronze panels depict scenes from the life of Christ.

This is a David, but not "The David" by Michelangelo. The original is in the Uffizi Museum. This one is standing at the entrance to the Medici Palace, also a museum. The wait to get in the Uffizi was 2 hours, so we decided to skip it.

Entrance to the Medici Palace museum, formerly home of one of the most formidable and notorious Italian families.

Here we are at the Pontevecchio--the Old Bridge. It has been spanning the river since the 1300's. The windows along the top are a private covered walkway added by the Medicis so they could cross the bridge without having to mingle with the riff-raff.

The Pontevecchio from the other side. This is where you will find a lot of jewelry shops lining both sides of the bridge.

Other than visiting monuments, the other favorite activity is shopping. Here is a street near Piazza San Lorenzo lined with stalls selling leather goods, scarves, Venetian glass, clothes to name a few of the many items on sale here.

And then we are off the the Villa San Michele for a grand lunch. This hotel sits high above the city and was originally a Franciscan monastery.

View of Florence from Villa San Michele.

Part of the lovely gardens at San Michele. After passing through a number of private owners, including Napoleon, a full restoration was started in 1950 but proved so expensive that the owner converted it to a hotel to finance the work. You too can stay here for only 1,200E per night. We could only afford lunch!

Gina and Tim ready for lunch.

Bryan, Rob and Brian.

Appetizers are served. Let the feasting begin!

Tomato basil soup.

Steamed jumbo prawns.

Beef carpaccio.

Linguini with clams.
And those were only the starters, and no, I didn't eat all those dishes myself!

Turbot fillets stuffed with porcini mushrooms and topped with shaved purple potatoes. This one was mine.

Steamed octopus. This one was definitely NOT mine!

Veal with potatoes au gratin.

Green mushroom ravioli.

Fried calamari and prawns.

Sea bass on roasted potatoes.
This was definitely the prettiest food we have had in Italy!

And of course wine pairings selected by Mike, who really knows his stuff.

And finally, bitter chocolate souffle with bitter orange marmalade. Outstanding with red wine!

After eating like the Medicies, I suggested we forego the tacky Trenitalia and call for limo to take us back to Il Villino. Then we got the bill for lunch, so we rode home on the noisy tacky train!