Tuscan Days

Having said goodbye to Sandro and his family, we continue our journey northward, driving through Umbria, and eventually reaching Tuscany. This is a very familiar region to us. Since my father’s side of the family hails from Florence, I have a brother and a sister here and several cousins and nephews, whom of course we come to visit every time we are back in Italy.

Hazy Tuscany

Before arriving in Florence, Diane and I opted to visit the town of Montepulciano, which neither of us had ever been to. It was a very nice stop, in spite of the weather not having improved over the past few days (cooler and quite hazy). Montepulciano is, of course, famous for its wineries, but it is also a town with much appeal. The Piazza Grande, with its old Duomo, is very attractive, as is really the entire town.

View of Montepulciano

Piazza Grande, partial view

Piazza Grande. The palace, a smaller copy of the Medici palace in Florence

The ancient Duomo

View from town

View from an elegant cafe'

We are now guests of my sister Sonia; obviously we are spending most time chatting and visiting (and eating), but this afternoon, Diane and I went to downtown with the intention to visit a new museum in the Duomo. Lamentably, there were no tickets available until Monday, so we just strolled the streets and the piazzas, although we were quite familiar with them. Florence is so beautiful though, that one could visit it a million times and still find it fascinating. I am including a few photos taken today, with intermittent light rain. Some I might have posted on previous trips. I hope you will not mind.

The Medici Palace. Often imitated, never duplicated.

A copy of Michelangelo's David in Piazza della Signoria. The original is in the Accademia Museum

Nettuno fountain

The Ponte Vecchio

We usually don't do selfies. This one is from the Ponte Vecchio

The unique Duomo

A peace demonstration against sending arms...

...while a short distance away Ukrainian refugees are demonstrating in support of their country.

We’ll be here another couple of days, during which I will not post, but I’ll resume once we pick up our travels again. Buona Notte.