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Rome-Assisi-Florence- Venice
Left Rome driving north to Assisi - a small medieval "city" really a town in the Apennine hills. Famous for St Francis and the Franciscan order of Monks, this town really lives up to the tourist brochure hype. A walled town with original cobbled roads and old houses. The Basilica of St Francis is actually outside the walls as his philosophy was based on being amongst the common people and not amongst the aristocracy (which his family was part of). The local guide we had was extremely knowledgeable both from a history and a theological point of view and gave us a guided tour of the Basilica, the crypt and the church which was all impressive. Apparantely amongst some pilgrims and some Franciscan Monks this still remains controversial as was all built after St Francis' death and is thought by some to go against his teachings of equality, poverty etc.
Onwards to Florence passing through "Under the Tuscan Sun" type countryside. Our bus squeezed through some tiny cobbled streets reaching our centre city hotel, formerly a Palazzo from the 16th century. Old and stylishly shabby the rooms were huge with a fresco on the wall above the bed and the ceiling of the dining room was like a mini version of the Sistine chapel. A brief orientation walking tour of some parts of the city and then a walk across the River Arno on the Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge with jewellery shops lining both sides of the bridge. We found a small restaurant (cafeteria really) overlooking the river for a basic meal and a ½ bottle of local good Chianti.
Our second day of Florence began with a walking tour of the city visiting the Cathedral, Baptistry and the Academy of Fine Arts where Michelangelo's David was the highlight. Amazing to think he created this when just 21 years old. Everywhere you go in this city there are statues by renowned sculptors. After lunch we walked to the Palazzo Pitti which was originally built and owned by the Pitti family - great rivals of the Medeci family who ruled Florence. After a couple of hours of going through this massive Palace - (covering around 100 acres including spectacular gardens) we were well and truly overloaded with looking at famous art, Reubens,Botticellis, Van Dycks, Sustermans etc etc so we bailed out and back to the Hotel to prepare for our meal in the Tuscan Hills at a Vineyard farm with local wine and entertainment - very magical.
The next day we visited San Gimignano (the starting point for David & Marion's cycling tour) - a medieval town with two surrounding walls an exterior and an interior "citadel" in case the outside wall was breached. There was also a castle which would have been the last bastion of refuge in the case of a successful attack. The bell tower was worth climbing (250 steps) for a view of the town looking like it would have done a few centuries ago - couldn't see the tourist/souvenir shops from up here just the roofs,streets and buildings as they would have always looked. After a brief drive we reached Pisa of the leaning tower fame, visiting the Bapistry and admiring the architecture. The tower is spectacular in its own right in spite of the fact it has a precarious lean due to poor construction methods used due to an economic slump in the 13th century.
After this we bussed into the countryside for a Vineyard/farm dinner drinks at a remote location with fantastic red wines and italian waiters the women in our group seemed excited about! This is a place that would be great to revisit and stay (it has 5 apartments in the vineyard and a swimming pool). Back to our hotel for last night in Florence drinks on the 6th floor terrace of our hotel overlooking the city.
Thursday 29th:
Leaving Florence we drove mainly by superstrada to Bologna for a short city walk with an interesting knowledgeable guide. We visited the University which is the oldest in the world dating to the12th Century. Hearing the guides views on the system they had for payment from students back then. It was not a free university and attracted students from everywhere including internationally who had to pay but had complete control of the faculty and teaching staff. If there were students who were unable to pay they could apply to receive a grant from the wealthy students who contributed to a fund for this purpose. However they had the ultimate incentive - if they didn't succeed in their studies and were adjudged to have not tried hard enough they would be liable for execution if they were unable to repay the advances. As our guide says this contrasts starkly with today's system where the university is completely free to anyone, there is no penalty for not succeeding and she says many students have chosen study as a lifestyle with no onus on them to ever pass anything. I wonder why Italy's credit rating has just been downgraded???????
After leaving Bologna we bussed to the outskirts of Venice then walked the last ½ km to our hotel. After checking in we did a short but memorable gondola trip with a musician and singer and then a walking tour through some of the narrow lanes to St Marks square. This place is amazing (in spite of the occassional odiferous nature of our walk) and will be great fun to explore over the next couple of days.
Friday 30th to Sunday 2nd
Venice is like nowhere else we have ever been to. The City has a down at heel elegance about it which is a consequence of the city which in many ways is in decline. The permanent population is down to just under 50,000 from 10 times that in it's heyday. This, according to our guide is as a result of the expense of living here - everything needs to be shipped in and then boat and trolley delivered as there are no motorised vehicles anywhere on the main islands. The upkeep on the buildings is horrendous being built so close to the water and there are leaning towers and buildings everywhere due to subsidence. We visited Murano Island famed for its glass manufacture and had a tour of a glass factory, saw glass blowing and sculpting in progress and then had the opportunity to buy items starting at 10 Euros all the way up to 30,000 Euros. A couple of big purchases made by wealthy Americans in our tour group (Chandaliers mainly). We then left Murano and visited Burano - a quaint island with a much less crowded village - famed for its coloured houses and lace manufacturing. On the boat returning we got a good view of the Moses project which is a huge construction project designed to control water levels in and around Venice. We actually saw the water one day in St Mark's square bubbling up through vents in the pavement at high tide!
We had a couple of walking tours over the next couple of days including seeing the Marco Polo's house where our local guide insisted he had been born (in spite of a couple of weeks ago having been to Korcula who also claim the same) Wikipaedia seem to give equal prominence to both theories! We also had free time to visit St Marks square along with thousands of tourists from 4 large cruise ships that were in port. However we managed to get to see the Doge's Palace (original ruling Duke) This was fascinating with his private apartments alongside all the rooms of government, council chambers and law courts. Down below we went through the prison cells - many below waterlevel so damp and dark, walked across the "Bridge of Sighs" where condemned prisoners got their last glimpse of daylight and their families after being sentenced.
We also had time to visit the only park on the main Island which was beautiful overlooking the lagoon where an international art festival was being held. The next day we walked through the art gallery area for a few hours and found an Asian art exhibition "Future Pass" which was well worth seeing. Our ultimate goal on this walk was to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This is in her original "house" a 16th Century Palazzo which had a patio fronting onto the Grand Canal. The art collection here was breathtaking, Picassos, Dalis, Max Ernst, Braque etc etc etc. To read about her life and her daughters life (she was an artist) was also very interesting. This whole art area was a different world from the tourist madness in St Marks Square and we saw local people coming back from shopping in their own gondolas winding through quiet canals - a unique way of life.
The last night (Saturday) we had a farewell dinner for the whole tour group which good fun and after the more sedate members of the tour departed was a full on party!
Sunday morning our organised tour has finished & we are just packing to travel to Bologna by train.
Tomorrow the Ducati Museum.
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