TO get away properly I need to change climate, language, culture and, most vitally, I need to change centuries. Florence is the perfect place do that, as the city centre and the banks of the River Arno are mercifully free from any modern architecture. It is not a living museum – the city still breathes, but her history is respected.
Anyone trying to understand the greatness of European culture over the last 500 years has to grasp the Tuscan journey of human confidence. From the fertile plains of Pisa and Siena to Florence, the monastic medieval origins fashioned a revival in pride for Rome’s former glory. Popes and powerful regional families, fortified by the fortunes of their banks, created an unparalleled patronage for artistic talent.
All the books and brochures take you to the majority of the well-known sites and they have their rightful prominence. Both Botticelli's Birth of Venus and his Spring in the Uffizi Gallery froze me in their hold. The Bargello, a former prison, houses the iconic sculpture of Donatello’s David, such an androgynous contrast to the resolute version by Michelangelo housed in the Accademia.
But it’s my own discoveries from numerous visits that I cherish most. These include the harmonious proportions of the Pazzi Chapel, the silent innocence felt in the many church cloisters (my favourite being the one beside the Basilica di San Lorenzo) and the elegant promise of the countryside seen from different heights within the enclosed Boboli Gardens. Up in the hills I recommend Bellosguardo for its orchards and cypresses and San Michele in Fiesole for its landscaped gardens.
I always find myself in Florence with an inevitable visual overload, my eyes ever sharpened. To counteract this I go to listen to a rendition of romantic duets at Saint Mark’s English church (Via Maggio, 16) full of brio and cries of "bravo". Likewise, the morning Mass in the Duomo echoes with Gregorian chants to sublime effect and, gloriously, the silhouette of the cathedral has a complete backdrop of unimpeded skyline.
I discover two wonderful restaurants. Guelfi and Ghibellini (Via Ghibellina 87) is an extremely grand and luxuriant series of rooms, converted from a property belonging to a noble family, which in the late 17th century housed the treasurer to the resident Pope. The menu boasts among its traditional options the refined Laudemio olive oil only available from select local farms. This is clearly very high-end and perhaps best reserved for a very special occasion.
Meanwhile Caffe dell’Oro (Lungarno degli Acciaioli 2), with its euro-pop music, is keen to attract a younger crowd. The setting is excellent: right on the riverbank and overlooking at a distance of a few yards the Ponte Vecchio, the romantic arch bridge over the Arno. The decor is clean and tastefully contemporary. Here I fall in love with the fish egg bottarga, one of the signature dishes.
Which other hotel can you name with its own museum and the remains of a Roman bath? The hotel Brunelleschi is tucked away from the heat and noise of the high-end neighbouring couture shops. It has a modern neutral decor enveloping the oldest structure in the city, a brick tower that was once a women’s prison. My room had three window views of the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall. Of their two restaurants I try the informal one for a delicious lunch. The perfect break from arduous museum visiting.
Classic Collection Holidays (0800 294 9318; classic-collection.co.uk) offers three nights at Hotel Brunelleschi, Florence, from £890 per person in May. Price based on two adults sharing a classic executive double room on a B&B basis, and includes return flights from London City (other UK departure airports available) to Florence and private transfers.
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