A Weekend in Pisa, Lucca, Florence & Bologna, Italy
Day 0: Thursday, October 29, 2009
At this point in the semester, autumn had begun to turn the trees of the Kasteel grounds vibrant shades of gold, orange, and red. While many of my friends opted to travel to bigger cities like London or Berlin this weekend (after all, it was Halloween), Erin and I decided to have a quiet weekend (we dubbed it our “honeymoon weekend”) exploring the middle of Italy: the Umbrian and Tuscan regions. We took a late-afternoon cab from Kasteel Well to Airport Weeze, and caught our RyanAir flight to Pisa, Italy, which landed just as I was snapping some beautiful sunset shots over the wing. Unlike most RyanAir flights, we landed at the main airport for central Italy, although we still had to take a shuttle bus from the airport to the city centre. The bus left us at Pisa Centrale, the main train station for the little city (which, to be honest, wasn’t the kindest looking place even in the early evening). Lucky for us, we knew that our hotel (the Antonella Bed & Breakfast) was just around the corner from the train station—we just didn’t know which corner. No luck from looking behind corner one, two, three, or four…but finally on our last try we found it, and we were surprised to see how well-appointed it was for the price we paid. Even though it was about 9 pm, Erin and I—being the intrepid travelers that we are—grabbed a city map from the reception desk and went out exploring. Pisa was fairly shut down for the night, but we managed to find a late-night Panineria, a riverside chapel, a dramatic stone archway that serves as the entrance to a cinema (of all things!), a pizzeria that served Duff Beer, and even managed to get our hands on some gelato. By 11 pm, we were walking along the banks of the Arno River, which winds its way through the center of the city. Basking in the yellow glow of the street lamps, we decided to head back to the hotel for a good nights’ sleep—and, of course, to play with the bidet and watch “Scrubs” in Italian.
Day 1: Friday, October 30, 2009
We woke up early and feasted on the free breakfast that the hotel provided; in that half hour, newly discovered Italian breakfast foods became morsels that now my stomach can only yearn for. After breakfast, we set out along the same streets that we had scoured the previous night while searching for our hotel—in the morning sunlight they appeared much less menacing. We let our feet guide us with no particular route in mind, and they led us to the Cittadella Nuova, a large fortification on the banks of the Arno River. From the outside, it still looks like a citadel—foreboding and impenetrable—but on the inside, the city of Pisa has transformed it into a city park with manicured gardens and a piazza that seems to be used for summer concerts. The citadel has a breezeway along the top of its fortifications with hundreds of open-air arches that provided a stunning backdrop for a photo op, of which Erin and I took full advantage. After finding our way out of the citadel, we took a left along the Arno back towards the center of the city. We crossed over the Arno via the Ponte di Mezzo, and came upon the central artery of the city—a long shopping street hosting a mid-morning market of the freshest, most colorful vegetables I’ve ever seen. Continuing on our way, we came to the Piazza dei Cavalieri (Knights’ Square), the second main square of the city and the political center of medieval Pisa. Nowadays it is a center of education, housing the Scuola Normale di Pisa, an institution of higher learning established in 1810. A short walk further on Via Santa Maria brought us to the place that everyone wants to see when in Pisa: the Piazza Duomo and Il Torre di Pisa—the Leaning Tower. We spent quite a while exploring the Duomo, the Battistero di San Giovanni, and of course taking the quintessential holding-up-the-Leaning-Tower-with-one-hand pictures. Although there were probably many more hidden squares and gardens to be seen in Pisa, the musician in me was drawing me to Lucca, Italy, the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, only a half-hour train ride from Pisa. Erin and I headed back to Pisa Centrale and boarded the next train to Lucca (which was late, of course—it is Italy, after all). Upon arrival, we found that Lucca was a pristinely preserved medieval walled city, a place that is unfortunately overlooked by most travelers to Italy. After entering the city through its eight-foot thick walls, we found our way to the central square, the crown jewel of which was a small, but elaborately beautiful Duomo. We continued on to our final destination, pausing along the way at Piazza Napoleone, which had been transformed into the hub of a comic book convention in the tiny city. Making our way through the hordes of crazily costumed comic kids, we came to the San Michele in Foro, a Roman Catholic Basilica built over the former Roman forum in the center of the city. This beautiful basilica was the final landmark on our trek to Puccini’s birthplace, since its front doors pointed straight down the side street to his home. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that the Museo Puccini was closed, but I was content merely to be in the presence of his birthplace. There is a small square next to his home, with a statue of him seated in the center—of course, Erin made me sit on his lap and take pictures, but I’m glad she did. Afterwards, we ate at the Osteria Tosca, a restaurant named after his fifth opera Tosca, one of the most widely-performed operas in the world today. There, Erin and I ate a simple afternoon meal of bread, mineral water, and possibly the most incredible gnocchi I’ve ever tasted. Across the way, the Cinema Centrale was playing Julie & Julia and Up. On the way back to the Lucca train station, we found a street market with local crafts, cheeses, and wines. We had to wait a while for a train, but we finally caught an early evening train direct to Florence. The ride was just over an hour and a half, straight through the stunning mountains of Umbria and Tuscany. Our train pulled into Florence about an hour after sunset, but the sky was still a light, creamy periwinkle color. After getting our bearings, we set off towards our lodging, the Academy Hostel, one of the best of the semester. The center of Florence is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and our hostel was hardly a hop skip and jump from its steps. Aside from a quick trip into town for some gelato, we spent the rest of our night settling in to our hostel, eating the free food, drinking the free wine, and socializing with fellow travelers, two of which went to UVA and had mutual friends with Erin—small world, huh?
Day 2: Saturday, October 31, 2009
We woke up early for our Florentine Halloween—it was a full day. Erin and I spent the majority of our morning at the Galleria degli Uffizi, or the Uffizi Gallery as it is known in English. The gallery was built in 1581, adjacent to the Medici Palace and overlooking the Arno River and the well-known Ponte Vecchio. It boasts an immaculate collection, specializing in the 1200s-1800s, including pieces by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Titian, Verrocchio, and famous works such as Caravaggio’s “Medusa” and Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.” After exhausting the Uffizi’s offerings, we made our way to the nearby Ponte Vecchio and explored the shops that seemingly teeter on the edge of this historic bridge. By this point in the day, it was time for lunch, and Erin was hot on the trail of a Florentine delicacy: tripe. Essentially, tripe is salted cow stomach on foccacia doused in olive oil and basil. It was a leap of faith—a bit chewy, but very tasty. We meandered through the beautiful streets and found our way to the Piazza della Repubblica and finished our tripe at the base of the tall column in the center of the square, which marks the intersection of two main roads that date from the Roman period. As the cow stomach was digesting in our stomachs, we decided to visit the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the geographical, cultural, and religious epicenter of Florence. I must admit that, juxtaposed against the intricate beauty of the exterior facade, the interior of the Basilica is a bit of a letdown. It’s still beautiful of course, but very stark and simplistic compared to the exterior; the exception is the inner walls of the dome, adorned by Vasari’s and Zuccari’s stunning frescoes that depict The Last Judgement. Something else that piqued my interest in the Duomo is the crypt that lies below the main floor—unfortunately, the gift shop is also down there, which dilutes the atmosphere. So what does one do to take a break from sightseeing in Florence? Get gelato, of course. Hazelnut and pear from Grom should do the trick. After an unsuccessful attempt to meet up with some friends at the Accademia di Bella Arti (where The David is housed) the majority of our afternoon had been spent. We rushed to the opposite side of the Arno River—managing to pick up three bottles of wine for 10 Euro—and made the long, uphill trek to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which has to be one of the most picturesque vistas in all of Europe, if not the entire world. Any guidebook will tell you that watching a sunset here is a must-do when in Florence, and I can’t agree more. Spending the remaining hours of our evening with good conversation, good (and cheap) wine, and the most spectacular sunset I’ve ever seen—well, let’s just say I’ll never forget it.
Day 3: Sunday, November 01, 2009
Waking up this morning was bitter sweet—not only did today mark the beginning of November, meaning that we were almost halfway through our semester abroad, but we also knew that this would be our last morning in the fairytale city of Florence. Not deterred, however, we decided to peruse a local street market with fine leather goods and other Florentine fashions. We also managed to find one of my favorite stores in Europe—a family run butchery, complete with a boar’s head hanging adjacent to the doorframe, a plethora of cheeses laid out for sampling, and cuts of meat hanging from every inch of the ceiling. Down the street was another establishment that was aptly named “Very Good!”…there’s something to be said for succinct marketing tactics, I suppose. There was only an hour left before catching our bullet train to Bologna, Italy, and we spent it basking in the afternoon sun, taking in the beautiful architecture of Florence’s streets. The train ride was smooth, and as we cut north through the rolling, green-amber hills of Umbria, the rocking of the traincar and the warmth of the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows lulled us both to sleep. We awoke from our nap and arrived in Bologna right on time, ready to take full advantage of the few hours that we had to explore the city. Bologna is often credited as the culinary capital of Italy, but there is more to Bologna than its’ famous bologna—in fact it was named European Capital of Culture for the year 2000. As we made our way from the train station to the center of town, we walked in the shelter of the city’s famed porticos—in the city centre alone, there are over 38 kilometers worth of these covered walkways. The city is also home to the oldest university in the Western world—the University of Bologna, founded in 1088. Dominating the city’s Piazza Maggiore is the Basilica of San Petronio, the fifth largest church in the world. When the Basilica was under construction, architects planned for it to be even larger and more majestic than Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but when the Pope Pius IV heard tell of this rumor, he halted the project. To this day, the facade of the Basilica has not been completed. Although many may feel that the uncompleted portion of the facade is an eyesore, I see it as a fascinating historical and architectural peculiarity that augments the quirkiness of the city. Another similar peculiarity is Bologna’s iconic Two Towers, two surviving examples of the 80-100 towers that once crowded Bologna’s medieval skyline. Very little documentation exists about why exactly so many towers were built, but they sure are a sight to see. Before heading to the airport, we stumbled upon a outdoor exhibit of modern art. There were hundreds of flowers hanging from the sky (literally), sculptural elements made of steel rods, and stone couch sculptures to sit on and ponder the meaning of the exhibit. To tell the truth, I couldn’t tell you what the artist was trying to convey. And with that, as the moon rose slowly over Bologna’s Two Towers, Erin and I flew home to the Netherlands.
