Food and culture in Florence | My Ottawa Life

Last full day in Florence! We decided to get up early and go check out Florence?s more famous resident, the statue of David, at the Accademia Gallery. Mu guide book warns of 4 hour long lineups to get in and we were standing still for a good half an hour when I thought of calling it quits, but then it surged forward and we were inside in just under an hour. It was a clear, breezy mild morning and the wait was worth it.

Once we got inside, we checked out a few interesting objects in the music section of the gallery (old harpsichords, a basin that made loud vibrations when you rubbed the handles) and then turned the corner, looked down the hall and saw him in pearly white, gleaming glory ? David. He is 17 feet tall, and the longer we gazed at the amazing marble work, carved by Michaelanglo around 1504, I noticed small details, like a slight vein in his hand, the way one leg is completely relaxed in its pose. The work has been restored a few times, and it?s easy to imagine that this is how it looked all those years ago when it was first unveiled.

No photos allowed in the gallery, so here is a shot from the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence?s town hall for many years) where the statue stood from 1504 to 1873 and there is now a replica.

Nothing else in the gallery measures up to David, but we ambled around for another hour, taking in the works of art, many of which used to be displayed in varied churches around Tuscany, and plaster busts, as well as a few random modern pieces. After our dose of Italian culture, we decided to hit the large market (Mercato Centrale) which is an incredibly large market of food and drink, to make ourselves a little picnic. We entered the huge, steel structure and everywhere you looked, you could see stalls and counters heaped with produce, walls lined with vinegars, oils, wine, icy counters packed with raw meat and entire fish, and baskets piled high with pastries and cookies. We took our time inspecting each stall and ended up buying olives, salami, some cheese, strawberries, biscotti for dessert, and a bottle of Chianti. Then, we trekked through Florence, across the Arno river back into the town, up ramps and steps, to reach the Piazzale Michelangelo. We were pretty ready for lunch and found a stone bench to sit on and unwrap and eat our fresh food.

There?s a David replica in the square as well ? very happy I got to see the real thing!

We sat and talked, ate and drank, and watched the world go by for a couple of hours, and then went back to the stone edges of the lookout to take in a gorgeous panorama of the city of Florence. I love all of the orangey-red tiled rooftops, white and yellow buildings, and the full view of the beautiful Duomo.

What to do after lunch but hit another of Florence?s markets ? Mercato Nuovo, which has stall after stall of trinkets, jewellery, lots of leather jackets and handbags, shoes, clothes, hats, scarves?you could wander all day looking and buying. We also stopped at Il Porcellino, a bronze statue of a boar sitting at the south end of the market. Rubbing his snout is said to ensure a return visit to Florence, so we did! You can see that part of the statue is shining now and the rest of him has dulled with time.

We felt like relaxing and just enjoying being in the city, and so we went to a bar near our hotel for happy hour: beer for Tyler and prosecco (a popular drink here ? it?s a sparkling champagne-like drink) for me, and took it easy. Later we wandered back for one last up close look at the Duomo, and then grabbed some food along Via Nazionale. I had this simple pasta dish that is one of the best things so far. It was just spagettini, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper, but the flavour was sweet, salty, hot, and just really, really good (I had to share it).
We grabbed some gelato for dessert, naturally, and I tried the stracciatella flavour ? creamy vanilla with chocolate shavings and it was excellent.

Perfect last day in this city ? we throughly enjoyed the art and the food that it has to offer!

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