From the Central Market to the Pitti Palace

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #12c - September 24, 2009 - 8:42 am

Dad next wanted us to see the Central Market, which is only a few blocks north of the Duomo. The building that comprises the Central Market houses butcher shops, cheese shops, vegetable stands, spice shops, florist shops, and much, much more (like the dried fruit stand pictured here). Outside, on the east side of the building, there is a farmers' market where the produce looks almost too good to eat. Around the other sides of the building are street vendors selling leather goods, T-shirts, scarves, and trinkets. We bought a few things, but the street vendors are all very similar one to the other. So while it looks like a lot, there's really not that much to choose from.

After the Central Market, we went to the Chiesa San Lorenzo -- our appointed location to meet up with Dad's friends, Mario and Dottie Camparetto. They are on a 3-week cruise, and their ship had docked about 70 miles southwest of Florence, and they had hired a car and tour guide to drive them to Florence. It was nice to get a break from walking so much, and we all piled

into their van and took a drive across the river to the Piazza di Michaelangelo. This is a well known park and look-out spot. The view of the city from here is spectacular and so, of course, we took a lot of photos. The view looks up the Arno, with the city on the right (north) and the Ponte Vecchio straight ahead (to the west).

After this stop, we separated from Dad and his friends. He had lunch with them while we got dropped off a few blocks from the Pitti Palace.

The Palace was a bit of a disappointment. The ticketing was confusing. I did not realize that the tickets I purchased got into the Palace and the living quarters of the Medici family, but did not allow us to get into the Boboli Gardens. I had really wanted to see the Gardens. Oh well, that just gives us a reason to make another trip to Florence some day!

Inside the Palace, we toured the royal apartments where a series of monied families lived. One of the most significant of those was the Medici's. The apartments where they lived are no longer furnished, but the wall coverings and ceiling frescoes are still intact. Additionally, the rooms are now used to house a massive art collection. We saw many works by Lippi and Raphael and many other Renaissance masters. We were only in one part of the Palace, which is absolutely huge. It's hard to imagine a family living here. It was all so formal. Each bedroom area had a series of attending rooms where visitors (of different social rank) waited for an audience with the family members. There was even a throne room!

We left the Palace and headed north, back towards the city. To get there, we had to cross

the river and we did so by walking over the Ponte

Vecchio. The bridge was packed full of people! The bridge is home to scores of jewelry stores. They fully line each side. There is much gold and silver to be found here. We only looked. We did not buy.