Picturesque Pisa, Fab Florence

Driving through Italy is wonderous. Olive groves and vineyards dot the picturesque landscape as you make your way from Switzerland’s spotless beauty, past Bellinzona towards Pisa.

The magnificent Marble Mountains keep you company as you fall over, trip and stumble in the bus trying to take photographs of the most amazing sights and then you stop for a coffee at a truck stop you know it’s Italy.

Because the conversations are animated, the aromas prominent, the selection, more easy on the pocket, and the history… phew.

It’s uncanny how the hills and vales of Switzerland with cow-bells ringing, disappear to bring you stark blue skies, hills and wineries under the golden Italian sun.

We reached Pisa in the afternoon heat (yes, it’s quite hot even in October, the chill only sets in by November end). The quaint town greets you with its large pine trees and small markets.

After a sumptuous Italian meal away from the tourist belt (read pizzas, mozarella salad and calzones), we walked through the main city centre to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, hidden inside a walled city… looking beautiful in white stone.

The Cathedral Square contains principal religious monuments, and is called “Miracle’s Square”. There are tourists holding up the leaning tower with their might all over (for photographs), so we decided to differ — we posed trying to push it down! Only theoretically, of course.

Also called Torre pendente di Pisa, this freestanding bell tower is known for its unintended tilt to one side.

Situated behind the Cathedral, it is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Piazza del Duomo after the Cathedral and Baptistry. The tilt began at construction due to inadequate foundation.

Restoration work has now made the leaning lesser, from 5.5 degrees to 3.99 degrees. Amble up the 294 steps the view from on top overlooks the tiled muted reds of Pisa, and it’s a sight to behold.

Visit the cathedral, but buy tickets as you enter, and revel in this wonder of the ancient world. Standing testimony to a revered history, do take a walk on the River Arno’s promenade, to be a true Pisa-ite.  

For shoppers, every second weekend, there is a wonderful local street market in Via dei Mille in Via Santa Maria and Piazza dei Cavalieri where you pick up quaint momentoes from the past.

Next destination, Florence, awaited us in all its splendour.  This beautiful architecturally embellished city also consists of River Arno, flowing almost silently, as if paying obeisance to the city’s grandeur.

You must walk on the cobbled streets, take time at each corner, gazing at the large statues and their magnificence.

There are hawkers selling prints, paintings, replicas and the like. Once a centre of medieval European trade and finance, it is considered the birthplace of Renaissance, and has been called “the Athens of the Middle Ages”.

Throughout early history, the powerful Medici family ruled this seat of art and trade. Its grandeur is apparent in its beautiful towering Cathedral, golden gilted gates, statues and so much more.

The Cathedral is almost beatific as it glows under the Florence sun with a Renaissance dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.

Named in honour of Santa Maria del Fiore, this vast Gothic structure beckons you to enter into the corridors of history. Do visit the crypt to see the ruins. History has it that it was begun at the end of the 13th century by Arnolfo di Cambio.

The biggest artwork within the cathedral is Giorgio Vasari’s frescoes of the Last Judgement, designed by Vasari but painted by his student Frederico Zuccari. It’s spectacular.

Walk out and enter the Piazza della Signoria  a beautiful square where tourists can behold a treasure trove of notable sculptures in an open museum the famed Michelangelo’s Statue of David, the Fountain of Neptune, Hercules and Cacus as well as Perseus holding the Head of Medusa.

Michaelangelo’s David stands tall in front of the open museum

The David is where you’ll stop in your tracks and gaze, spellbound. It’s a replica (the original is safely kept in the hall of the Accademia).

A Michelangelo masterpiece, cut from alabaster marble of Carrara, it stands tall and towering, deep in thought. So you are apt to do so too. An opera singer croons in a corner, a three-piece band plays classic melodies, as an artist composes it to memory, and you can spend hours. Get a local guide to truly revel in Florence.

Try to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce which boasts of ethereal frescoes by Giotto and Gaddi. It also contains tombs and cenotaphs dedicated to Galileo Galilei; Niccolo Machiavelli and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

If you’re looking for leather, then Florence might be the place. Try the San Lorenzo street market for the more easy-on-the --pocket items.

For good luck you can also rub the snout of Il Porcellino legend has it that it promises you will return to Florence (which is what we want most definitely). It is a stark metal statue of a wild boar under the loggia of Mercato Nuovo.

And if you have a coin, place it in his mouth and allow it to fall into the grating also for good luck. We all need a lot of that!

After you’ve had your share of history, walk alongside the Arno  and take photographs at the Ponte Vecchio one of Florence’s oldest and most photographed bridges.

It’s a painting of sunny hues and we could have sat there for hours. There are high-end jewellery shops and other small knick-knacks around.

In the evening, as the sun’s rays are replaced by the moonlit resplendent night sky, it presents a vista that heartens the soul. The almost enchanting aura of Firenzi will touch your soul.

If you have the time, visit the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti. Palazzo Uguccioni and Loggia de Lanzi. But for those romantics and history aficionados, a visit to Florence is about stepping back in time and experiencing a legacy that leaves one breathless.

We’ll do Venice and Rome next, taking the local trail of the tapas and wine bars across the grande canal, stopping by the Rialto Bridge… till then arriverderci.