Tuscan Traveler

Auguri di Buon Anno!!

Tuscan Traveler is looking forward to another year in Florence and Tuscany, writing about the less traveled paths, the hidden courtyards, as well as the objects or places seen every day, but for which the stories have been lost.

Florence Duomo seen from Via dello Studio

In 2011, Florentine food will be a focus and so will Tuscany for tots (or just for those very young at heart). Italian politics is too difficult for Tuscan Traveler to translate, but 2011 promises to be a year of great change (hopefully), therefore the best alternative web sites for current events will be brought to focus (of course, most likely under the theme Burnt To a Crisp).

2011 is the Year to Visit Tuscany with Friend In Florence

Tuscan Traveler and Friend In Florence expect to welcome friends back to Florence and Tuscany, as well as meet visitors new to the history, art, food and wine of this fascinating city and a diverse region of beaches and mountains, vineyards and olive groves, hill towns, markets, and so, so much more.

Tuscany in the summer in a Sunflower Year

Friend in Florence offers you a virtual friend, who has both the experience of a native Florentine and the imagination and curiosity of a visitor, who after 12 years still looks at Florence and Tuscany with the eyes of a foreigner. Offering custom walking tours of Florence and chauffeured expeditions throughout Tuscany, Friend In Florence provides minute by minute information and experiences to create memories that will last for years.

For those who want to explore on their own, Friend in Florence offers self-guided itineraries of Florence and/or Tuscany with information about special events, introductions to friends of Tuscan Traveler and Friend in Florence, directions to workshops of craftsmen and small select wineries, and reservations at the best Florentine restaurants or countryside trattorias.

Montefioralle - one of the small hill towns of Tuscany

In the New Year, experience the Joy of a Florentine Kitchen!

Tuscan Traveler will post descriptions of the best places to eat in Florence and Tuscany, but if you have a desire to experience the joy and simplicity of cooking the Florentine way, ask Friend in Florence to arrange a class in your apartment kitchen in Florence or at your villa in Tuscany. If you don’t want to cook, but also want the comfort and privacy of eating at your home away from home, request a catered lunch or dinner from Friend in Florence.

Tuscan vegetables with zucchini flowers cooked up by a Florentine chef

TuscanTraveler.com (email: tuscantrav@gmail.com)

FriendInFlorence.com (email: friendinflorence@gmail.com)

Emily Dickinson’s 180th birthday was celebrated in Florence by a fine series of lectures, musical events, and, of course, poetry readings – Emily Dickinson: “Ho sentito la vita con entrambe le mani” (Emily Dickinson: “I felt my life with both of my hands”).

Emily Dickinson - "I felt my life with both of my hands"

The program – the brainchild of Domenico De Martino of Accademia della Crusca and poet Elisa Biagini– used, among other venues, the Casa Guidi, home of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her husband Robert Browning, and their son Pen.

The connection between Barrett Browning, a homebound consumptive, and Dickinson, a sickly agoraphobic, proves that even in the mid-1800s, the world of ideas and poetry was a small place.

Corner of the study in Barrett Browning's apartment - Casa Guidi

Dickinson did not publish much before her death in 1886, so it is unclear if Barrett Browning ever knew of her existence. Dickinson, however, had three portraits (postcard drawing, photograph or daguerreotype) of Barrett Browning – one of which was framed and hung on the wall of her bedroom-sanctuary.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her son Pen

Dickinson also reportedly wore her hair looped over her ears and knotted in back “because it was the way Elizabeth Barrett Browning did” (quote attributed to Dickinson’s sister Lavinia). There are few pictures of Dickenson. In the one or two widely known, she was certainly less flamboyant in her coiffure than Barrett Browning.

Dining Room in Casa Guidi

Dickinson also borrowed from Barrett Browning in the poems Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord and The Soul selects her own Society. In the year following Barrett Browning’s death (1861), Dickinson wrote a poem about her:

I think I was enchanted

When first a sombre Girl –

I read that Foreign Lady –

The Dark — felt beautiful –

And whether it was noon at night –

Or only Heaven — at Noon –

For very Lunacy of Light

I had not power to tell –

…

Poem 593 (1862)

Etching of Barrett Browning's tomb from 1861 Harper's Magazine

A picture of Barrett Browning’s tomb in the English Cemetery of Florence – perhaps a postcard or cut from Harper’s Magazine -was among Dickinson’s possessions.

I try to imagine afternoon tea shared these Victorian women of prodigious talent– Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning – a true meeting of the minds.

Are they still the Doors of Paradise when they are fakes, facsimiles, copies? Is a masterpiece unique when there are exact replicas other cities, states, or countries?

There are the original, plus two, Davids in Florence and at least four others in the United States. Many tourists are heard to say, “I saw the copy in Piazza Signoria. Why should I stand three hours in line to see the original?”

Replica of Doors of Paradise is just as popular now as the original in 1452

The Doors of Paradise – tradition tells us a young Michelangelo was so impressed by them that he described the doors as worthy to be the Gates of Paradise – seen by millions of awe-struck visitors each year are replicas. Only a small percentage of the tourists, or even the residents of Florence, have seen all ten of the original panels.

This year in June, the city celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fake doors by giving the keys to the city to the donor, Japanese businessman Choichiro Motoyama. A perceptive sharp-eyed visitor to the inside of the Baptistry can find notation of Mr. Motoyama’s gift on the back of the replica doors.

The inside of the Doors to Paradise note Mr. Motoyama's 1990 gift.

Mr. Motoyama, 89, first saw the original doors in 1959.  After the devastating 1966 flood tore off five of the panels and in 1980, the original doors were removed after close examination found irreversible corrosion from acid rain and smog, Mr. Motoyama conceived the idea of commissioning two copies of the doors – one for the city of Florence and one for himself. He put up about 1 billion, 300 million lire (672,000 euro or $934,000) per set to make the plan a reality.

At first the city fathers said that Mr. Motoyama’s copy had to be smaller, but he refused. Then they conceded and in 1990 the new doors were installed on the east side of the Baptistry.

In 2010 Mr. Motoyama tours the inside of the Baptistry

In 1425 Lorenzo Ghiberti received the commission (he had already spent 20 years working on the North Doors) to create the East Doors of the Baptistry – the Doors of Paradise. Over 25 years later, Ghiberti and his studio of apprentices finished the ten panels, 22 heads of Old Testament prophets (the two heads in the center of the doors are of Ghiberti and his son Vittorio), and various other small sculptures of sibyls, prophets and angels that decorate the outer edges of the doors.

The ten square panels were created using the lost wax process. Each panel was carefully modeled in wax and covered with liquid plaster and a clay jacket. The panels were then baked until the wax flowed away, leaving a mold into which molten bronze was poured. The bronze panels were allowed to cool slowly for several days, to prevent cracking, and then the clay and plaster were removed. After cleaning, each panel was chased, or worked in fine detail with metal tools, a process that took years. Then followed the dangerous fire-gilding process – a gold-mercury amalgam was applied to each panel and the toxic mercury fumes driven off by heating, leaving gold surfaces on the panels.

Lorenzo and Vittorio Ghiberti stare out from their Doors of Paradise

The completed doors were installed in 1452. For five centuries the doors stood, until World War II. In 1943. the Nazi command in Italy ordered the evacuation of portable art works from Florence, despite its status as a “safe city”. Reichsminister Goering apparently coveted the doors and other treasures for his personal collection. But the doors were hidden in a railway tunnel south of Florence until the liberation of Florence in 1944.

Soon after the war ended, Bruno Bearzi, official consultant and caretaker of Florence’s art works, cleaned the doors and made latex casts from which he cast panel replicas. When the doors were rehung, Bearzi offered the replica panels for sale.

Grace Cathedral in San Francesco was nearing completion and the completion architects were searching for doors to place in the main entrance. Through the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Field of San Francisco, the replicas were purchased. The Italian government was at first reluctant to let the replicas out of the country, but Bearzi argued successfully that the panels, having shrunk during casting, were smaller than the originals, The doors were framed and installed at Grace Cathedral in late 1964.

Mr. Motoyama and Grace Cathedral don’t have the only copies. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London got a copy in 1867 made by a British foundry, Franchi & Sons. Also, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York appears to have a copy.

The doors are open for Motoyama and the Director of the Opera del Duomo

As owner of Sun Motoyama, Ltd., a company that imports luxury Italian-designed goods by the likes of Gucci, Ferragamo, Etro, and Loro Piana, Mr. Motoyama is glad to be able to give back to his favorite city. But he is also pleased with a pair of almost unique doors he gets to view every day in Japan.

Within the historic center of Florence, the Arno River, the islands supporting its bridges and the intermittent riverbanks abound with wildlife. The observant and patient visitor can see carp, catfish and mullet under the Ponte Vecchio and from the balconies of the Lungarno Hotel. Midway on the Carraia Bridge and on the Rowing Club lawn, a family of nutria (kind of a cross between a mouse and a beaver) searches for scraps. Rats and mice pop up everywhere. Herons, ducks, gulls egrets and pigeons are not hard to find.

Nutria along the Arno

But there aren’t many cats.

Feral cats hang out in the Boboli Garden (they’ve got their own 2011 calendar), along the steps down from Piazzale Michelangelo (look for the ‘kitty kabanas’), and are starting to take up residence in the Bardini Gardens.

Cats on a ledge as the Arno flows past

So it was intriguing to see an article entitled Fan Mail in the January 11, 2007 issue of The Florentine, Florence’s English language newspaper. Kate McBride, an expat photographer and poet, wrote this ode to a cat named Arnie, who apparently was living in a hole at the bottom of a pillar of the Ponte alle Grazie (the bridge upstream from the Ponte Vecchio, which once supported tiny houses where the nuns of the Grazie lived). Note to Kate: there are no muskrats in the Arno – those are nutria.

Arnie and Soot near home under Ponte alle Grazie

I went to look for the cat. And couldn’t find it. Granted Ms. McBride’s description of the exact location of Arnie’s home wasn’t precise and it is a big bridge. Each time I crossed that way I looked for the cat and in 2009 I found Arnie. Or maybe it wasn’t Arnie. The cat I saw was a large black and white cat sitting on a very narrow ledge inches above the waterline. I didn’t see the hole-home. But, like Ms. McBride, I couldn’t tell how the cat got to that spot or could leave it – the ledge cut off about four yards downstream and crumbled away to just an inch upstream.

Soot and Mother Duck in a standoff

The reason I now think that my 2009 sighting wasn’t Arnie is because this year there were two cats in the same spot – the same one from the year before and another of the same size, but with light brown and white fur. They were eyeing a mother duck and her sole duckling. (I only hoped that this was a modern mother duck, who stopped at one offspring, as is the Italian habit these days, rather than the possible alternative.) I now have reason to believe that I was seeing Arnie and his friend Soot.

Mother Duck with only one duckling

This month, Kate McBride introduces her enchanting book about Arnie and Soot (Soot of the black and white patches) – Tales of Two Worlds: Arnie & Soot Navigate Florence. Told from the cats’ point of view the story follows first Arnie down from the hills near San Miniato to his new home in the Ponte alle Grazie. He encounters Soot along the way as well as other friends, both feline and human.

Arnie and Soot grace the cover of Kate McBide's book

Ms. McBride uses these unusual protagonists to introduce young and old, alike, to her favorite parts of Florence – churches, theaters, shops, restaurants, etc.  Favorite Tuscan foods figure big in the story (this is Italy after all) and recipes are included. Canadian Ashley O’Mara illustrates the narrative. James O’Mara’s photography and Ms. McBride’s Polaroid shots provide the local Florentine atmosphere.

The last time I saw Arnie and Soot it was evening and a man was standing at the railing of the bridge, tearing off pieces of raw meat out of a grocery store styrofoam and plastic-wrapped package, aiming each bit at an angle toward the thin ledge where the cats sat looking up. I wondered if he was the same man Kate McBride saw almost four years ago.

Too much trouble for fat Soot - might as well wait for the evening meal

Tales of Two Worlds may be purchased at the Paperback Exchange in Florence, from the publisher, Mandragora, and from Amazon U.K. or probably by contacting Kate McBride directly at info@arnieandsoot.com .

Every year in September (this year it was on the 5th) the Synagogue in Florence holds an Open House for the general public. This year it was a chance for everyone, Florentine and tourist, alike, to enjoy the exquisite restoration of one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, while munching on great food, listening to interesting speakers and music, as well as poking into parts of the grand edifice that are not usually open.

Florence Synagogue with its impressive copper dome

The Open House is part of a Europe-wide Day of Hebraic Culture, which included 62 locations across Italy: Giornata Europea della Cultura Ebraica.

In Florence, a bus was provided to take visitors to four other locations, including the Uffizi, the Palazzo Vecchio, and the Pitti Palace, where works by Jewish artists, modern and not, were displayed.

The walls are painted from floor to ceiling in intricate designs

In the garden of the synagogue, there were stands with food and books, a children’s lab and music. Free guided tours of the synagogue, its new expanded museum and of the Jewish cemetery in the Oltrarno were offered.

The Florence Synagogue, one of the most beautiful in Europe, was built between 1874 and 1882. The architects were Mariano Falcini, Professor Vincenzo Micheli, both Catholic, and Marco Treves, who was Jewish. Their design integrated the architectural traditions of the Islamic and Italian worlds.

Detail of the ceiling below one of the small domes

Layers of travertine and granite alternate in the masonry, creating a striped effect. Old photographs show bold red and beige stripes, but the colors of the stone have faded over time. The overall form of the synagogue is the cruciform plan, similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The corner towers are topped with horseshoe-arched towers themselves topped with copper onion domes in the Moorish Revival style. Three arches form the main entrance, above it rise tiers of windows, with their paired arches sharing a single column.

The moorish designs incorporate Jewish symbols

Inside the building every square inch is covered with colored designs incorporating Moorish patterns, but with Jewish symbols and texts.

During World War II, Fascist soldiers used the Synagogue as a vehicle garage. In August 1944 retreating German troops worked with Italian Fascists to blow up the synagogue, but the Italian resistance managed to defuse most of the explosives. Only a limited amount of damage was done. The synagogue was restored after the war. It was restored again after it was damaged by the Flood of 1966.

This past year, the dome was strengthened and resurfaced in copper and a new wing of the museum was added on the top floor. These improvements, coupled with the new lighting, makes a visit a must for those who haven’t been inside in the last few years.

The 2010 Open House drew more than 60,000 in Florence. This is the first year the synagogues of Italy went all out to involve their cities in the exhibition of masterpieces created by Jewish artists.

A couple of days every week a phenomenon overwhelms even the most hardened Florentine.  It is know to some as the “boat people” scrooge. It happens on the days when gigantic cruise ships dock at Livorno. Thousands of pastel-clad tourists shod in flip-flops are unloaded and stuffed into dozens of buses, which transport them to Florence for eight hours of hot, humid sightseeing. They are herded from the Academia to the Uffizi to the Duomo, then through Piazza Signoria and across the Ponte Vecchio.

To escape the armies of sweating, sore-footed deck-crawlers, the wise visitor to Florence will decide on a Bardini Day – a morning in the cool blue-walled confines of the Palazzo Bardini (Museo Stefano Bardini), a lunch in the Bardini Garden(Il Giardino Bardini), and a late afternoon in the hill-topping Villa Bardini.

Grand Hall of the Palazzo Bardini

Palazzo Bardini

The faithful reader of Tuscan Traveler already knows a bit about the Stefano Bardini Museum near the Arno so there is no need to repeat it all again, except to say that on September 6 and September 13, at 11am, free English language tours are being offered of the Bardini Museum by  Con gli Occhi di … And to repeat that the museum is almost always empty so it is soothing to wander through Stefano Bardini’s stuff before emerging into the noonday sun turning left to Borgo San Niccolo’ and then right to the entrance of the Bardini Gardens. (One caveat: To complete a full Bardini Day, it must be done on Saturday, Sunday or Monday because these are the only days the Museo Bardini is open.)

Bardini Garden

The Bardini Garden, unlike its popular well-worn cousin, the Boboli (a ticket to one gets the visitor into the other), is practically empty at all times. It is spread over almost ten acres, set on a 70 meter slope – the view from the top is panoramic. (The garden is open seven days a week from 8:30am to 6:30pm, so a Bardini Day can start here.)

View of the Duomo from the Bardini Garden

Although it is named for the last owner, Stefano Bardini, throughout the centuries the garden has had several owners, predominantely the Mozzi family, who owned the property and the palazzo at its base off and on from the 13th century to the 1880s. The garden is now state-owned property, as a result of a testamentary donation by Ugo Bardini, Stefano’s son, in the 1960s. It was then abandoned for over 40 years.  Restoration started in 1998 and it opened to the public in 2005.

Baroque staircase climbs the Bardini Garden

The garden is divided into three sections: 1) English wood in the west; 2) the baroque staircase in the center; and 3) the agricultural part in the east. Each part has its own history and a richness of components, among which water and sculpture play an essential role. Secluded pathways, grand vistas, flowering arbors, shaded benches and a high loggia, allow the visitor to create their own personal experience in the garden.

Looking out of the Villa Bardini to the edge of the English woods in the Bardini Garden

The loggia, with its spectacular view of the historic center of Florence, the cathedral dome, and the Arno River, is the perfect place for an hour or two respite. Lunch, aperitivi, as well as coffee and sweets are offered. On the perfect Bardini Day, one should plan to arrive at the loggia around 1pm to be refreshed and restored before going on to the Villa Bardini, only a couple of minutes away from the café.

Villa Bardini

Villa Bardini stands at the top of the garden and opens on to Costa San Giorgio, just up the street from where Galileo lived. The original 14th century villa was restructured and enlarged in the 17th century by the architect Gherardo Silvani for his friend Francesco Manadori (it was previously known as Villa Manadora or as Villa Belvedere, because of its magnificent view). It was later acquired by Stefano Bardini, who further enlarged it and the surrounding gardens. Bardini also added the loggia and a limonaia (greenhouse for citrus trees).

Designed by Roberto Capucci

Abandoned for years, the villa, which once contained even more of the antique collections of Bardini, has been restored and transformed into a cultural center to host exhibitions, concerts, conventions and conferences,. It incorporates two new museums: the Roberto Capucci Museum containing many of the famous designer’s sculptural ball gowns and elegant party dresses); and the Pietro Annigoni Museum, dedicated to this contemporary painter, whose work was inspired by the great artists of the Renaissance.

Detail of afternoon dress by Capucci

Until October 17, 2010, the Villa Bardini is also hosting a temporary exhibit that is associated with the Caravaggio exhibits at the Pitt and the Uffizi – Caravaggio and Modernity.

Palazzo Web Site

Garden Web Site

Villa Web Site

“A Sunflower Year?” asked Francesca as we drove through the rolling Tuscan hills southwest of Siena. I pointed out to this Florentine that some years there were no sunflowers to be found in Tuscany, but in others the golden flowers created the Tuscan landscape of movies and postcards and tourists’ fantasies. 2010 is a Sunflower Year.

Southern Tuscany during a Sunflower Year

Twelve years ago, the first Italian film I saw was Il Ciclone. I’ve seen it about three times because as a failing beginning Italian language student, I’ve taken a lot of classes. It seems to be the film-of-choice for first-level Italian language teachers. Not because it’s easy to understand – most of the actors have Florentine accents – but because it is funny. The parts I remember the best are the scenes when the cute guy on a scooter speeds to the family farmhouse through fields of sunflowers. It was the perfect depiction of my dream of the Tuscan countryside – not vineyards or olive groves, but with fields of yellow flowers surrounding a golden rustic house with a terra cotta roof.

Tuscan Traveler's Fantasy Tuscany Made Reality

So why are some years filled with sunflowers and in others nary a bloom to be found. I had a client – a photographer and painter – who wanted to take photos of Tuscan sunflowers. We traveled the back roads from Florence to Siena to Montepulciano for five days before we found one field near Montalcino.

Of course, the answer that comes to mind is that Italian farmers are rigorous in their husbandry of the fertile soil and therefore, rotate their crops to preserve the nutrients and decrease the pathogens to allow for healthy crops every year. But it is incredible to think that Italian farmers are so cohesive to agree en masse that they should all grow sunflowers in a given year. Especially on the years that the sunflower crops have failed dismally when lack of rain wilted them on the stalk just as the flowers came into bloom.

Fields of Sunflowers on the Chianti Back Roads

No, of course, it is all about subsidies. It appears that the Italian government and the European Union have for years subsidized certain crops and that determines a Sunflower Year. Now in the age of biofuels, new subsidies have been created to Save the Planet. (Of course, the cost and amount of CO2 emitted from farming sunflowers and burning sunflower biofuel far outweigh the value of the relatively small amount of fuel that can be obtained from the plant.)

Turning its Face to the Tuscan Sun

But after the momentary distraction brought by the realities of farming in Italy and EU subsidies, I am back in my golden haze, loving Tuscany during the summers when millions of the giant flowers turn their faces to the sun. I wish every year was a Sunflower Year.

Graffiti is known worldwide, but word itself has nothing to do with scrawls on walls. In Italy, the words sgraffito and sgraffiti come from the Italian word sgraffiare (”to scratch”), ultimately from the Greek γράφειν (gráphein), meaning “to write”.

Graffiti, the bane of all modern cities in the form of spray paint, in its original sense refers to marks scratched onto a surface with a tapered point. The graffito technique has been used since prehistoric times. Decades ago, my father showed me graffito animals, birds and people carved on the tufa cave walls in northern New Mexico. But in Florence, starting in the 1400s, it was a technique of wall design, where the top layer of pigment or colored plaster is scratched through to reveal an underlying layer.

Elaborate 16th century graffiti on Bianca Cappello's house

“The historian and artist Giorgio Vasari recorded the graffito technique step by step. First, one paints the wall of a palazzo with a layer of lime plaster, coloured with burnt herbs or other dark pigments. Once the first layer is dry, another is painted on, this time of white plaster, distributed uniformly. On top of this second layer are laid punched-out designs, or stencils, which are reproduced on the wall with powdered charcoal (referred to as tecnica dello spolvero in Italian). A tapered awl is then used to trace the resulting pattern on the wall, cutting through the layer of white plaster to reveal the darker, underlying layer. Thus, by using the same colours as a palazzo’s frescos, the graffito designs could be used to add shadow and depth to the overall decoration.” (FirenzeTurismo.it)

Allegorical graffiti on the façade of Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo

My favorite examples of historic graffiti in Florence were created during the second half of the 16th century, when the graffito technique was used to design Mannerist allegories incorporating grotesque (meaning in the style of the “grotto”) designs and figures. These are still partially visible on the façade of the Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo in Borgo degli Albizi and fully realized on the House of Bianca Cappello (grotesque sgraffito decoration by Bernardino Poccetti, 1566) on Via Maggio.

When using the term graffiti to mean defacing buildings, Michelangelo has the dubious pleasure of allegedly being one of the first famous graffiti artists – not with paint, but in the caveman version of scratching a design with a sharp point. On the corner of the Palazzo Vecchio, the one nearest to the Uffizi Gallery, any visitor to Florence can find a carving of a man’s face.

Did Micheangelo deface the front of the Palazzo Vecchio?

There is more than one version of the story, but the artistry is attributed only to Michelangelo. One version states that ever willing to take a dare, and supremely confident, Michelangelo turned his back, carving free-hand without looking, into the pietra serena of the city hall’s wall, he etched his own profile into the stone. Another variation has it that he carved blindly the likeness of a personal foe, so that Florentines would never forget the man’s face.

Sanctioned graffiti for OPEN YOUR EYES TO Comics DAY

Last week, a one-day comics festival, OPEN YOUR EYES TO Comics DAY, came to Florence. Via del Corso was decorated with four modern graffiti wall decorations – sanctioned by the mayor. These were not scratched into walls, but painted on to wallboard. They won’t last 400 years, but they are better than the scourge that defiles most of Florence’s walls.

To be continued …

Ben & Jerry's cozying up to the Duomo

I’m not a big “no-global” proponent; so if someone in, say, Vermont, is making great ice cream, I think it should be shared with the rest of the world. Therefore, when Ben & Jerry’s (full disclosure: I have eaten hundreds of pints of B&J’s in my lifetime) was scheduled to open a store in Florence that wasn’t a major issue for me.

But when that storefront is just a few feet from the façade of the Duomo and my favorite flavors (Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch and Triple Caramel Chunk,) of the Vermont ice cream have turned in to a frozen substance made by Unilever in Holland, renamed Caramel Chew Chew and Vanilla Toffee Crunch (because evidently there are no Heath Bars in Europe), then I’m just a little bit burnt to a crisp under this Tuscan sun.

Ice cream is an important part of the American culture, but here in Italy, it is a religion. On a weekly basis more Italians enter a gelateria than a church. They argue about gelato more than religion, too. Florentines, especially, can debate long and hard about their favorite gelateria:  describing the benefits of local gelato-masters vs. the new “foreigners” (from Turin or Bologna or Sicily); asserting that creamy cioccolato fondente is better than cioccolato extra noir that lacks both eggs and cream; and despairing that not only do foreigners commit the sins of eating semifreddo in the summer, granita in the winter, but the tourists also request a 5 euro cone (way too big) from any so-called gelato stand that stacks the factory-made blocks of ice cream, sculpts them into a hill, and drapes fruit all over the mountainous mass.

Italian gelato is a necessity, not a luxury

‘Gelato’ means ‘partially frozen’ or “icy” in Italian and the various kinds of ice cream served throughout the country are all known by that name.  You can order gelato in any little town, in any region and basically know what you will get. But it is important to keep in mind that Italy has only been a unified country for 150 years, so each of the former city states is justifiably proud of its own recipe: in the mountainous North, where it’s cooler, the gelato is thicker and creamier, often made with cream and egg yolks – chocolate, zabaione, and hazelnuts prevail. In the South, the gelato tends to be lighter, using milk as well as and fruits, such as Sorrento lemons, and nuts, like Sicilian pistacchios from Bronte.

To some the cone is as important as the gelato - RivaReno agrees

Florentines have had a 500-year love affair with gelato. Bernardo Buontalenti – architect, engineer and theatrical set designer – supposedly invented churned-over-ice, milk-based gelato for the court of Francesco de’ Medici to impress a visiting Spanish delegation in 1565. Today, there is a rich creamy gelato that bears Buontalenti’s name.

Cone or cup is a personal choice

But getting back to Ben & Jerry’s … it’s one of America’s premium ice creams. If gelato is Italian ice cream, what is the difference? First of all, there is the percentage of butterfat. B&J’s clocks in at around 17%, whereas most Italian gelato averages 5% to 9%. Also, handcrafted gelato is served same-day fresh so binders and preservatives aren’t necessary.

But there’s more … David Lebovitz, chocolate maven and world-reknown ice cream aficionado, author of The Perfect Scoop, explains it best. “… for the most part, the machines used to make gelato move very slowly as they churn, introducing little air into the mixture so the finished gelato is dense and thick. Unlike standard ice cream-making machines, usually the ‘dasher’ (paddle) moves up and down while the canister turns, so little air is whipped into the mixture while it churns. Also the storage freezers used for holding gelato tend to be kept a few degrees warmer (up to 10 degrees F) than a normal ice cream dipping cabinet, so the gelato keeps its silky, creamier texture. Sometimes there are no egg yolks or cream in the base, so the gelato will highlight the highly-concentrated taste of what’s been added, like chocolate, coffee, or whatever flavoring is used, with less taste and texture of fat to intrude.”

Okay, so now you know what gelato is, but what happens when you walk into a Florentine gelateria?  Yes, there is a lot of gelato, but you also see semifreddo, sorbetto, and granita.  Generally these are all classified as gelato … remember? … frozen/icy. Here is a handy guide:

Carapina's Fruit Calendar - no flavor before its time

gelato – most everything offered, but there is also …

semifreddo – means “half cold” and is made from the same base as gelato, but has whipped cream folded in to create a frozen mousse.

sorbetto – is a sorbet, usually made with any kind of fruit, but chocolate and caffé flavors are making a strong showing, as well as herb-infused (basil, rosemary, etc.) offerings. Great as a palate cleanser between courses in an extended multi-course meal.

granita – shaved ice, made with water, sugar and fruit flavors – strawberry and lemon are favorites – or coffee (great with a dab of whipped cream), mint or almonds.  Served in a plastic cup or glass, but also on brioche in Sicily in the summertime.

Tuscan Traveler and Friend in Florence join the debate by claiming that not only does Florence have the best gelato in Italy, but that these are the best gelaterias in Florence:

Grom changes its gelato menu every month

Grom - Via del Campanile – corner with Via delle Oche – Piedmonte-based, consistently great, only the best ingredients, innovative, monthly flavor list online, best cone. Try: Zabaione, Crema di Grom, and Caffè

Gelateria La Carraia –  Piazza Nazario Sauro, 25r – Ponte alla Carraia – owned by the Florentine Innocenti family, creamiest gelato, best tangy yogurt, one euro cone heaped high (best value). Try: Yogurt, Pistacchio, and Nutella

RivaReno –Borgo degli Albizi 46r – newcomer (owners rumored from Milan and Great Britain?), most innovative mix-ins, great fresh fruit flavors, good cone. Try:  Lampone (raspberry), Otello ( chocolate with zabaione, brownie, and coffee), and Sweet Alabama (chocolate with peanuts)

Perché No? – Via dei Tavolini 19r – best name, traditional favorite (started in 1938, surviving war and flood), fresh fruit and nut flavors, best semifreddo. Try: Stracciatella (chocolate chip), Cioccolato Semifreddo, and Nocciola (hazelnut)

Why not? Open until midnight in the summer

Gelateria dei Neri – Via dei Neri 22r – long-time Florentine owner, fantastic fruit flavors, creamy yogurt, best variety of chocolate flavors. Try: Chocolate with candied orange, Chocolate with hot red pepper, and Mandarino (tangerine)

Carabé – Via Ricasoli 60r – Sicilian owners, delicious fruit and nut flavors (ingredients brought from Sicily), best granita. Try: Cassata Gelato, Lemon and Raspberry Granita together, and Coffee Granita with whipped cream.

Carapina – Via Lambertesca 118r – young Florentine owner, trendiest, posts a calendar of ripe fruit and only makes those flavors when they are at their peak. Try: Menta (mint), Ciliegia (cherry), and Chocolate with ginger.

Vestri – Borgo degli Albizi 11r – superb chocolate shop with the best chocolate gelato and incredible thick hot chocolate (served cold in the summer) – mix the two for affogato (gelato drowned in chocolate). Try: Affogato with Chocolate, Pistacchio or Vanilla gelato.

May 28-31, 2010

Those visiting Florence at the end of May are in for a treat. The First Annual Firenze Gelato Festival will turn Piazza S. Annuziata into a giant gelateria where artisans of the handcrafted gelato will compete for the hearts and taste buds of Florentines and foreigners from May 28 to 31, 2010.

After three days, the reservation line reports all of the spots on the Percorso del Principe tours have been filled.  Tuscan Traveler suggests that such popularity calls for more tours on more days…

The Vasari Corridor, also known as the Percorso del Principe (Path of the Prince), is open to the general public until July 2010 on a limited schedule. A special part of the city’s historical heritage that has been under the control of few select guides and museum officials (often costing the visitor more than 100 euro for a short tour) has been declared open to all by the new mayor of Florence.

A Unique Opportunity

Visitors to Florence know that to miss the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio with its famous gold merchants, and the gaudy splendors of the Pitti Palace is to miss Florence’s best-known sites.

What many tourists do not know is that along this same sightseeing path they also have a unique opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Renaissance nobility. Here they can view a vast collection of paintings usually reserved for the pleasure of a select few. It is called the Vasari Corridor.

Vasari Corridor seen from the Uffizi Gallery

The Vasari Corridor is an aerial passageway that connects the Palazzo Vecchio on one side of the River Arno to the Palazzo Pitti on the other. It passes over roofs and bridge of the Ponte Vecchio, and through galleries, mansions and churches. At over 500 meters (.33 miles), it is the longest single passageway of paintings and portraits in the world.

In 2010, the Italian Cultural Ministry and the City of Florence, urged on by Mayor Renzi, created a special “Prince’s Itinerary”, Il Percorso del Principe, as a guided tour to introduce the public to the Vasari Corridor. Still relatively unknown, it is one of the most exceptional and, until recently, hidden treasures of Renaissance architecture and art.

Tour participants not only see a fabulous art collection, but also are shown a hidden route with unique views and unexpected secret glimpses of the classic Florentine cityscape while walking above the heads of tourists swarming the streets below.

History of the Corridor

In the 1540’s, Cosimo I, an enlightened despot who ruled Florence and all of Tuscany, lived with his Spanish wife Eleonora di Toledo and their children above the “shop” in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florence City Hall. Eleonora was in charge of the family finances and disliked living in the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1549, she found a house she did want, and so purchased the Palazzo Pitti from the debt-encumbered Pitti family, rivals of the Medici clan. She had the palace remodeled and enlarged. The façade grew to over 670 feet in length, becoming the grandest of the Renaissance palaces and the seat of the Medici dynasty for the next 200 years.

View of the Corridor crossing atop the Ponte Vecchio

Eleonora moved her family out of the city hall, thus forcing Cosimo to commute almost half a mile through the city streets to the government offices. A man with many enemies and one who did not mix well with the general public, Cosimo had to travel with a contingent of bodyguards. Each day they had to traverse a narrow chaotic bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, which in the 1500’s was lined with malodorous tanneries and butcher shops.

Using the occasion of his son Francesco’s 1565 wedding to Joanna of Austria as an excuse, Cosimo commissioned his architect Giorgio Vasari to design an above-ground walkway from his home to the offices. Vasari, a true man of the Renaissance – architect, painter, author and art historian – took only six months to design and direct the building of the Corridor. Cosimo did not own all of the property between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti. Vasari thus had to get permission to build the Corridor through other people’s towers, mansions and businesses. When the Mannelli family refused permission for the corridor to pass through their tower, situated at the south end of the Ponte Vecchio, Vasari designed the passageway to be built around, but attached to, il torre dei Mannelli.

Spy windows allow the dukes to see out without being seen

Cosimo claimed that the architectural wonder was for the amazement of the wedding guests and to remind the citizens of Florence of his power and authority, but he also gained an escape route from either home or office and a way to spy on the Florentines from above many of the busiest thoroughfares. The Corridor was also eventually used as a nursery for many generations of Medici children; and the elderly, infirm and lazy could be wheeled through the corridor in basket chairs. Apparently, however, the stench of the Ponte Vecchio remained a problem because in 1594, Cosimo’s son Fernando decreed that the butchers and tanners would be ousted and replaced by gold- and silversmiths.

The Tour

The Percorso del Principe Tour begins in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio. It always numbers less than 20 participants and lasts about two hours. The tour group meets in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, proceeds to the Hall of the Five Hundred, Il Salone dei Cinquecento, where an Italian-speaking guide presents a short history lesson regarding the Medici, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Vasari Corridor.

The itinerary includes parts of the Palazzo Vecchio Museum. Each group is escorted through a number of governmental chambers to Eleonora’s Green Room, La Camera Verde, in the former Medici family apartments on the second floor. From there the group crosses a short sky bridge, part of the original Corridor, over Via della Ninna, and enters the east wing of the Uffizi Gallery. Tour participants have a chance to examine only the east hallway of the Uffizi – the ticket does not allow for free re-entry into the Gallery that holds the largest collection of Italian medieval and Renaissance art in the world.

The main branch of the Vasari Corridor is entered via a doorway located at the beginning of the west corridor of the Uffizi. The passage drops down a long stairway flanked by paintings from the Medici collection and then traverses the top of the arcade on the north bank of the Arno, turns right over the shops on the Ponte Vecchio, and continues on through to the Boboli Gardens of the Palazzo Pitti. Visitors exit into the garden and can remain there for the rest of the day.

Arno River seen from Mussolini's windows

Small windows all along the Corridor provide excellent views of the river and the city. The best view is in the center of the Ponte Vecchio through two large sets of windows that look west down the Arno. These windows were not part on the original design, but were installed at the direction of Mussolini during World War II because Hitler and Mussolini wanted to look at the view while they held private meetings in the Corridor.

German dynamite damaged the Vasari Corridor

By some reports, Hitler’s fondness for the Corridor and the Ponte Vecchio spared both when the retreating Germans blew up all of the other bridges crossing the Arno as the Allies advanced on Florence in August 1944. The Corridor, however, was damaged by the dynamite set at the ends of the Ponte Vecchio to block passage over the Old Bridge.

Near the south bank of the river, the Corridor passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita. A Corridor window looks over the gray and white pietra serena interior of the chapel, and a door enters a high rear balcony, similar to an exclusive box at the opera, where the Medici family attended services in comfort and privacy.

The Medici's balcony inside Santa Felicita

Past the church, the tour ends in the Boboli Gardens, next to the elaborate grotto designed by Bountalenti in the 1580s. At the end of the tour, participants may remain in the massive Giordino di Boboli to explore its many acres of walkways and gardens. Laid out for Eleonora di Toledo by Niccolo Tribolo in 1550, it is one of the finest examples of an Italianate landscape design.

The Collection of Paintings and Portraits

The paintings in the Corridor are arranged in three major groups.

The first collection, which starts at the doorway from the Uffizi Gallery and ends as the Corridor turns on to the Ponte Vecchio, is a group of 17th and 18th century paintings by Italian and other European artists. Acquired by the Medici clan, Cardinal Leopoldo de’Medici at his death left a collection of 730 paintings, 318 sculptures, 1,245 drawings, 589 small portraits, and thousands of medals and other objet d’arte. A small portion of his collection is displayed in the Corridor, including a number of paintings from the school of Caravaggio. Notable among the first collection are pieces by Guido Reni, Gerrit van Honthorst, Empoli, and Guercino.

The Medici collection in the Vasari Coridor

Next, as the Corridor starts across the Ponte Vecchio, there is the world’s largest collection of self-portraits, arranged chronologically, of Italian and other European artists. Cardinal Leopoldo, inspired to start the series, collected over 80 portraits in the 17th century.  The set was then augmented by earlier pieces obtained by other members of the Medici family.  Still more were added throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries by artist donation and acquisition by the Uffizi.

Only a portion of the total collection of self-portraits is hung on the Corridor walls at any one time. Those now on display include Giorgio Vasari, Titian, Correggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velasquez, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Antonio Canova, Delacroix, John Singer Sargent, and Carlo Levi. The last displayed, but not the last to reach the Gallery, is a self-portrait donated by Marc Chagall in 1976. A fake Leonardo da Vinci is also displayed – it was part of the Medici collection, but was found by x-ray to be painted over a 17th century Magdalene.

A special gallery - rarely seen

The last group of paintings, displayed in the Corridor where it turns toward the Boboli Gardens, is a collection of Medici and Hapsburg/Lorraine family portraits, many of them of the children. These give valuable insight into the attire and mannerisms of wealthy seventeenth and eighteenth century nobility.

Uncertain Future

Few tourists get to see the inside of the Vasari Corridor. The facility is frequently closed for months at a time, and the unique construction and length of the Corridor requires that tours must be undertaken in small groups guided by Uffizi personnel. There are ongoing discussions about whether the collection in the Corridor should be taken down and tours discontinued due to security and preservation concerns. Now there are rumors of a possible years-long restoration project planned for the corridor.

Details for the 2010 Tours

In 2010 until July 7, tours are available four times on Wednesdays (9:30, 11:30, 2, & 4), two times in the morning on Thurday (9:30 & 11:30) and two times in the afternoon on Fridays (2 & 4).

Tickets to the Percorso del Principe cost 19 euro and allow you to stay in the Boboli Garden at the end of the tour.

Tours are given only in Italian, but the viewing of the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi hallways and the Vasari Corridor is so interesting it’s worth the wait as explanations are made to Italian-speaking visitors.

Reservations should be made well in advance by calling +39 055.294.883 or through the Florence museum web site www.polomuseale.firenze.it.  (The title of the tour is Percorso del Principe and the person taking your reservation will likely not understand if you say “Vasari Corridor”.)

If you are in Florence, tickets can be bought without reservation (if available) at the ticket office on the back of Orasanmichele on Via Calzaiouli or the ticket office at the Pitti Palace.  If you make a reservation in advance, you redeem it and purchase your tickets at Door # 2 at the Uffizi Gallery.

The tour group is requested to meet 15 minutes before the tour time at the “Percorso del Principe” sign in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio