New Year's Eve

Today we had our last breakfast in Florence after I’d taken a final walk around Florence – this time around the Pitti Palace and along the Arno. Lovely morning – got it cracking w/ an espresso first thing!

We packed up before heading to the Bargello, which happened to be a two-minute walk from our hotel, to look at three floors of art, mainly sculpture.

About the Bargello:

It was built to house first the Capitano del Popolo and later, in 1261, the 'podestà', the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council. The Palazzo del Podestà, as it was originally called, is the oldest public building in Florence, serving as a model for the construction of the Palazzo Vecchio.

In 1574, the Medici dispensed with the function of the Podestà and housed the bargello, the police chief of Florence, in this building, hence its name. It was employed as a prison; executions took place in the Bargello's yard until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1780, but it remained the headquarters of the Florentine police until 1859.

When Holy Roman Emperor Peter Leopold was exiled, the makeshift Governor of Tuscany decided the Bargello should no longer be a jail so it became a national museum.
It opened as such (Museo Nazionale del Bargello) in 1865, displaying the largest Italian collection of gothic and Renaissance sculptures (14–17th century).

The museum houses masterpieces by Michelangelo, including his Bacchus, Pitti Tondo (or Madonna and Child), Brutus and David-Apollo.

Other pieces on display: Donatello's David and St. George Tabernacle , Vincenzo Gemito's Pescatore ("fisherboy") Jacopo Sansovino's Bacco, Giambologna's L’Architettura and his Mercurio and many works from the Della Robbia family. Benvenuto Cellini is represented with his bronze bust of Cosimo I.

The museum has a collection of ceramics (maiolica), textile, tapestries, ivory, silver, armours and old coins. It also features the competing designs on Isaac's Sacrifice (Sacrificio di Isacco) that were performed by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi to win the contest for the second set of doors of the Florentine Baptistry (1401).

Thoroughly arted out after this experience, we took the kids for another carousel ride and enjoyed lovely weather, window shopped and had a bite at a popular bar in the center of things. I had a stuffed spinach and cheese pizza, kids had paninis and whatever Joe had must not have been memorable for me.

The bars (small cafes) are great lunch spots, generally w/ standing room, lovely marble counters, sometimes small tables/counters w/ stools. It’s fun to watch the Italians chat at the bar over espresso.

After collecting our baggage we cabbed it to the train station and headed to Bologna. Forty-five minutes later we exited and went to our hotel, then were re-directed to a sister hotel due to “technical” problems w/ our room (seem to be plagued by technical hotel problems in Italy – wonder what that means? Shower that doesn’t work? Overbooking? Just didn’t want to clean the room?)

The owner informed us we’d be happier at Hotel Regina anyway – better breakfast, has a bar, nicer property. Nothing like throwing your property under a bus to get rid of us...

Relocated, we relaxed, then headed off to explore – lots of people out and about for new years eve. We found a street market (heated tents make for a good winter outdoor shopping experience), which we perused. Nothing home-worthy but fun to peruse funky jewelry, snacks, trendy clothes, candles, etc.

After wandering the city a bit we stopped for snacks and a drink at a funky little courtyard in the center of bars and shops – water bar, wine bar, beer bar (beer bar? Doesn’t have the right ring to it).

There we played cards, ate some funky puffy crackers, bologna Bolognese style (MUCH better than what I remember of bologna in that red roll, which I think I tried once as a kid and am still tramatized at the memory), ricotta w/ sauce served on a spoon and some kind of crunchy vegetable w/ a lovely mustard sauce on top. Plus prosecco for me, wine for Joe, scotch for the kids (just checking to see if anyone’s reading this). The latter would be sprite.

Eventually we wandered a bit more down Bologna’s wide boulevards, lit gorgeously w/ Christmas décor. For dinner we landed at a local trattoria – Joe tried Bologna’s famed taliatelle w/ ragu (it is NOT served on spaghetti, mind you…)

I had the special fish menu for the new year, which was good – particularly the fruity sauced shrimp starter, potato gratin and tagliatelli w/ fish sauce. The bread at the place was excellent as was the torte, a lovely moist yellow cake w/ rich chocolate frosting.

Our evening ended just after midnight (we all made it to the new year!) We fell asleep to fireworks.