took the leonardo express from the airport to roma termini station (€9,50 and 30 min) and then the local train to firenze (14,31 and about 3.5 hours). 2nd class was new, clean and comfortable, a far cry from the chinese trains i’d been assiduously avoiding. after the 2 breakfasts, lunch was mineral water and a lion chocolate bar.
met at firenze SMN by A and E. late lunch at il grillo, which faced the santa maria novella church. shared prosciutto & funghi and diavola pizzas, antipasti of tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, ham and a seafood soup (more like seafood in tomato sauce) and bottle of chianti rufino. 56 total. then gelato (fragola and caffe), the first of many delicious cups to come.
followed an LP walking tour which took us to santo spirito with its minimalist exterior magnified to epic scale, conveying both simplicity and grandeur. described by bernini as ‘the most beautiful church in the world.’ the piazza in front of the church was pleasantly tranquil. the walk took us past santa felicita (unable to locate the ‘weirdly erotic’ deposition by pontormo) and palazzo pitti.
and the ponte vecchio, one of the few things i remember from my trip 12 years ago. what little else remains is the memory of the summer heat, the pickpocketing attempts, a strike, and my general irritation with the place. also caught a glimpse of the gorgeously pink and green tiled duomo, as impressive as before.
made it back to the car before the rain fell. the parking fee at stazione SMN came to almost 20. as it was a stick-shift ford ka, A would be doing all the driving. an auto car with more drivers would have been ideal but the cost of rental was an absurd €1,000 higher.
found italian road signs rather mystifying, and not just because it was in a different language. little did i know.
had wanted to stop by the supermarket but we just missed the 7.30pm closing time.
after a winding uphill drive and then turning onto a gravel path, we arrived at our villa. it was nestled between two other villas, the whole lot tucked away just outside of rufina. it was ochre, that pleasant shade of yellow dotting the tuscan landscape, if slightly brighter in tone. the kitchen and living room were on the first floor. and cable tv, alas featuring thousands of useless channels in german, italian, spanish, french, from the middle east (iran, iraq, palestine), sex channels (with arabic? script!). the 2 bedrooms were on the second floor. oddly enough, the room with the twin beds had the attached bathroom. turned the heater on for the night as there was a chill in the air after the rain.