Today we head south towards the city that Mark Twain once described as the “city of dreams”, Florence. Our route south will take us past the town of Modena, home of operatic legend Luciano Pavarotti and famous for its balsamic vinegar. It is not these things that are drawing me in today however, because the town of Modena is also famous for something else – supercars. It is the hometown for some of Italy’s most well known car manufacturers including Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. Today we are taking the opportunity to visit the birthplace of perhaps the most iconic of these, the most evocative of Italian flair and motoring passion, Ferrari.
Enzo Ferrari was born and died in this town, and the site of his original office and factory has now been repurposed as the Enzo Ferrari Museum with a fabulous undulating yellow steel and glass building attached to the original. The Ferrari factory and formula one team base are now a few kilometres out of the city in Maranello, and there is another museum at that site, but it is dedicated more to motorsport and formula one. I am more interested in Enzo’s story and the history of his beautiful cars, hence the visit to this museum instead.
As you enter the modern building to start your visit, you are confronted with a stark white, gallery-style space which houses many of Ferrari’s iconic models from the 50s through to the present day. Millions of pounds worth of beautiful cars lead you through the hall towards the engine room where you can discover the evolution of Ferrari’s engines right up to the current V12 offering, it’s a real treat for petrol heads. The tour continues across the courtyard and inside the original building, and the highlight for me has to be the pristine F40 super car from the 80s, the same car which adorned most boys walls in poster form at some point. Hunter finds it just as impressive as I do, so much so in fact that he has requested his picture with the F40 as his new screensaver for his iPad!
This has been a great pit stop on the way to Florence, it’s just a shame we don’t have enough time to stop in and see the Lamborghinis too.
Our first day in Florence is a Sunday which means one thing, NO SCHOOL. Today is about sightseeing, and we have booked a tour to the Galleria dell’Accademia to see the statue of David by Michelangelo.
Michelangelo is only one of the famous Florentines from the history books, the list is an impressive who’s who of great minds – Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, Florence Nightingale and the Medicis all started life here, as well as all four Ninja turtles – Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo (Da Vinci) and Raphael! As we begin to wander the charming streets of this town it’s not long before we come across a statue of one of these residents, namely the poet Dante Alighieri, standing guard at the entrance of the Basilica Di Santa Croce. This impressive church is also the final resting place of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli amongst numerous others.
We continue on through the centre of the city. Our tour of the Galleria doesn’t start until 1pm, so we are heading to the Mercato Centrale for an early lunch. The thing about a city like Florence is that it’s not just one or two attractive buildings in a sprawling metropolis, everywhere you look there is something amazing that catches your eye. The best way to experience a city like this, in my opinion at least, is to pick a destination and then just head in that vague direction and take in the sights. So far that strategy has led us past the Santa Croce, and now it has led us straight to the most recognisable building in the heart of Florence, the Duomo di Firenze. This complex of buildings includes the main cathedral, the octagonal baptistery and the imposing campanile. This enormous church was started at the end of the 13th century, but took 140 years to complete.
And then no more than 5 minutes further on we are confronted with another behemoth, the Basilica di San Lorenzo. This was the parish church of the Medici family, and is the burial place of many of their key members.
You will have already gathered, assuming of course that you’re a regular reader (no judgement), that I am an avid fan of a food hall, and the offering in Florence is amazing, it is full of local artisans selling specialities and produce of the region. Kate’s tongue in green sauce Trapizzino is a real highlight!
After having our fill of local delicacies at the fantastic Mercato Centrale, we make our way to the predetermined meeting point outside the Galleria dell’Accademia to find our guide for the tour. Having donned our earpieces and signed in with the tour operators we are smugly whisked past the line of poor souls waiting in the two hour queue having unfortunately not had the foresight to prebook, and within minutes we are confronted with the big man himself, the statue of David. Of course there are countless other treasures to behold under this roof, including several beautiful paintings by Botticelli, but in all fairness we are here for one thing, and that is to marvel at this 17 foot hunk of a man. And he does not disappoint, this is an impressive triumph of a sculpture in anyones book. Michelangelo spent two years of his life creating this piece out of one solid piece of marble when he was only 26 years of age. We did notice that his hands and his head looked slightly out of proportion, and too large for his form. On questioning our guide about the reasons for this, we are informed that this was actually done on purpose as he was originally supposed to be displayed on the roof of Florence Cathedral, and from that viewpoint he would have looked perfectly proportional. But due to the finished project weighing around six tons, he never quite made it to his intended lofty destination, and was instead displayed at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio.
On leaving the museum we decide to walk back through the city and across the beautiful Ponte Vecchio to marvel at the countless medieval fronted jewellery shops which line it on both sides. Just one last stop before we get there, the bronze statue of a boar entitled Il Porcellino. For some reason the tradition has emerged that visitors to the statue place a coin in its mouth and allow it to fall through the grate underneath, followed by rubbing his snout for good luck. Several centuries of this tradition have ensured old Porcellinos snout has stayed shiny and polished while the rest of him has patinated beautifully!
Day two in Florence is a more laid back affair as we have to start the day with several hours of school time. We have planned to saunter into the city again in the afternoon after a swim and lunch by the pool, in order to watch the sunset over the city from the viewpoint at Piazzale Michelangelo. After trudging up the seemingly neverending steps from street level, we finally reached our destination. This fantastic square provides a perfect panorama overlooking the entire skyline of the city, and is very popular with tourists who take their picnics of wine and cheese to enjoy the end of the day with a florentine sunset. It is incredible to see all the marvellous buildings we had encountered on the previous day from this angle, and we can easily retrace our route through the city using the obvious landmarks. As the sun sets over the town we hop on a bus for one more meal at the Mercato before heading back home again. It seems that the cuisine on offer in Florence has made its mark on Hunter as he has developed quite a taste for black truffle, so after dinner we are persuaded to buy some truffle infused pasta to take with us in the camper van, along with some truffled candies for the bus ride home.
