Mothers' Day in Firenze

Day 8 (11 May 2025)

It's Mothers' Day and Andre kindly arranged for a leisurely day today. First we walked over to the duomo. Duomo means cathedral. It's more than a church as it's usually referring to where the bishop resides. To add to the confusion, there's basilica which also means church but a special one of special significance as designated by the Pope. 

There are more than 300 duomos in Italy but when people talk about The Duomo, it generally refers this one in Florence - the Cathedral of Santa Maria. We already knew it was going to be impressive but still, we were unprepared for just how magnificent it was. We turned the corner and there it was - this massive architectural wonder, with its exquisite arches and statues. The bells rang and honestly, it felt like we were in a different time period altogether. Photos don't do it justice. You have to see it in person.

We didn't buy tickets in advance to see the inside of the duomo, something I regret because it's supposed to be a treasure trove of art. It's quite a madhouse trying to get tickets to these major attractions on the day itself because of the long queues, so we didn't try.

Most duomos have an adjacent baptistry and a bell tower.

Around the square were artists painting on site and displaying their art, something I didn't see in Rome.

Right at the Piazza della Signoria is where the replica of Michelangelo's David stands (we saw the original at the Accademia yesterday).

We passed by Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence, originally built more than 2,000 years ago. Interesting fact: this was the only bridge in Florence that wasn't bombed in World War II, on the orders of Hitler. The bridge is even mentioned in one of my favourite arias - "O mio babbino caro" by Puccini!

Initially I'd intended to paint the Duomo on site but once we reached the Piazza del Duomo, I instantly recognised my foolishness. First, there's no way I could do it justice. Second, the square was so crowded it was impossible to find a spot with a good view. 

 

So I decided to paint Ponte Vecchio instead (back at the hotel, not on site). I took some liberties with the sky colour (love my turquoise and pink skies!) 

 

We also saw Pitti Palace, a Renaissance Palace that belonged to the powerful Medici family. Quite different from all the ornate palaces we've seen in Europe, this one looked more like a fortress. 

In our search for a toilet, we stumbled upon a nondescript gelato shop that turned out to be a great find. We're learning fast that pistachio flavours are Italy's speciality. The waitress was pretty surly though and really didn't look like she enjoyed her job. Ah well, our experience so far has been that the more unfriendly the staff, the better the food😆

On this trip, we have a lot of unplanned walking which is great because we come across unexpected finds. One of them was this local market that we accidentally wandered into. Lots of interesting stuff - we saw artichokes! It's very foreign to us and we tried some on our first day but it's one of the specialities of Italy (particularly in Rome).

There was a guy slicing prosciutto that looked delicious.

Then Andre's eyes lit up when he saw someone selling lampredotto, one of the speciality foods in Florence. It's a sandwich made from cow's stomach. Of course he had to get some. It's tasty but what got me was the fries - crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Possibly the best I've ever had, I couldn't stop eating them! 

In the evening, Andre treated me to Mothers' Day dinner at a trattoria recommended by our hotel. In Florence, you have to try the namesake Florentine steak. The catch is that this is a massive 1.3kg t-bone steak cooked rare on a smoky grille (the Italians have big appetites!) We had ours with a side of potatoes. It was so tender and juicy 😋

Not sure if it's because it's Mothers' Day but they served us free prosecco to start and limoncello (lemon-flavoured liquer) as an after-dinner drink. Both were so strong Andre had to finish mine for me 😆 (plus he ordered a glass of white wine!) 

 

I was so stuffed after the meal and thought we did quite well to polish off so much meat, then I saw a little old Italian lady (one in yellow) at another table eating the meat off the t-bone with her hands, then finishing off with a bowl of salad before asking for more bread 😱 Never underestimate the Nonna! 

 

Happy Mothers' Day 🌹🌹

Tuscany landscape - Siena, San Gimignana, Pisa

Day 7 (10 May 2025)

Today, we took a day trip to explore other parts of Tuscany (the central region of Italy of which Florence is the capital). Tuscany scenes often come up in dtiys painting challenges, so stoked to see them in person! We started with the medieval city of Siena. It's a UNESCO heritage site - the old walls and alleyways are simply beautiful. 

I was astonished to learn that the world's oldest surviving bank, Monte dei Paschi, is in Siena. It was set up in 1472 and is still operating today! We also walked up some steep steps to the cathedral, which is pretty amazing. I'm always amazed that even the small European cities would usually have some magnificent cathedral or church. I was quite taken with the colour - first time I ever saw pink on a cathedral! It's because of the red marble used. It also had a very unusual alternate black and white stripes on the tower. These are Siena's official colours. 

On the guide's recommendation, we had coffee at a standing bar and tried ricciarelli - a flaky almond pastry that's produced here. It's very light and flaky and sweet, so lovely that I bought two boxes to bring home.

One of the things that we can't quite get used to is that the Italians love sweet pastries for breakfast with their cappuccino. Tarts and cornettos and cannolis, even their croissants usually have a chocolate or custard variety. And of course, there's always a Nutella version somewhere! I guess the Italians save their stomachs for lunch and dinner which can be pretty heavy 😅

Next, we visited San Gimignana which is part of Chianti. Sounds familiar? It's the name of the wine! It's a small city with only 5,000 residents but it's sooo pretty 😍 Cobblestone paths, picturesque alleys, and birdsong everywhere. It's hilly though and quite a workout (I clocked 20k steps today!) Panoramic view at the top 💙

We chanced upon  a trattoria on a quiet street for lunch and had some very good pasta served by elderly gentlemen. Andre had the chianti classico which the guide said is only produced here (it's strong!) It was peaceful and pretty - one of my favourite eating spots so far.

 

San Gimignana is so small there's only one main square in the middle of the city centre. 

There's a gelato shop with a long queue that claims to have won the World's Best Gelato award so we decided to try it. Meh, this was the most disappointing gelato ever, even though we tried their signature saffron and pink grapefruit. The flavours were underwhelming and rather tasteless. We later saw that they won the award only one year and it was way back in 2007! Bah 😣 Always read the fine print.

Throughout Italy, we tried numerous gelatos and consistently, we found those that came in covered pots tasted better. Don't be fooled by the pretty heaps and bright colours. Avoid those and always check the Google ratings. This was hands down, the WORST gelato we had on the whole trip.

Finally, we visited Pisa - city of the famous Leaning Tower. The tower is actually just a bell tower accompanying the cathedral and the baptistry. Back story: Like most important buildings in Tuscany, they were built using precious Carrara marble from the Carrara mountains. (The white marble peaks on the mountain range in the photo is not snow but marble, we saw those mountains on the way to Pisa). 

 

The Leaning Tower got its fame because the soil is too soft to hold up the heavy marble and started to sink, hence the lean. 

Pisa is PACKED with tourists and so far, the only place in Italy we've visited which felt like a tourist trap. There are touts everywhere trying to hawk everything from wefie sticks to bags and food to lure pigeons so you can get a shot surrounded by these flying rats 🙄. Andre and I agreed that the ambience wasn't too pleasant, like the the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We had to watch our bags more carefully. 

Honestly, the tower is interesting but a little gimmicky - exactly like what you see in photos. It's one of those places where you feel like you need to see to check it off your bucket list but it wasn't really that exciting. And tourists are still posing like they're holding up the tower. Surely that got old 20 years ago 😆

Interesting fact: The toilet at Pisa accepts only cards, not cash! (And it's a whopping E1.50 😱). Since the last time I travelled in 2019, the world has moved swiftly towards e-payments. Now, just like in Singapore, you can pay using your card for almost anything, even small items at the supermarket. At the metro stations, you don't even need to buy a ticket, you can just tap your credit card at the gate (again, same as in Singapore) and there are no extra fees. Super convenient! The only time we paid cash was for cabs (and if you use FreeNow, the taxi app similar to Grab back home, that's prepaid using card as well). This means that there's no real need to carry a lot of cash to travel any more, making it much safer and easier.

Back in Florence, we had steak for dinner. (I've completely forgotten the name of the restaurant 😅). It's very good steak though I think my stomach is unused to eating so much red meat!