On the far side of the Arno

We woke to blue skies and sunshine, perfect for our planned walk on the other side of the Arno. So after breakfast we walked down to Via dei Benci, but instead of crossing as we had done yesterday, turned left to cross the Ponte alle Grazie. From here we had excellent views of the Ponte Vecchio in one direction and low morning clouds over the hills in the other direction.

Halfway across the bridge on the west side, facing the Ponte Vecchio, is a sculpture by local street artist, Clet. Called Common Man, the black metal figure appears to be stepping off the bridge into an abyss. The city authorities are apparently not keen on it and have removed it several times, but it always reappears! And it seems it’s a popular target for stickers, as it looked anything but black when we were there.

There were plenty of examples of Clet's work on the far side of the river. His speciality is modifying street signs, so we had fun searching some out to photograph. I found the ‘no entry’ signs especially clever!

And we enjoyed wandering through the quiet Saturday morning streets here.

We turned left into Via di San Niccolo and popped into the church of San Niccolò Oltrarno. This was the Florentine church most badly affected by the 1966 flood, being so close to the river, but it has been fully restored. It has some lovely stained glass and various paintings.

We zigzagged our way up from Porto San Niccolò towards the Piazzale Michaelangelo, one of the most popular spots for vistas over the city.

For part of the climb we followed a path through the Giardino delle Rose which cut off a couple of zigzags in the road. We stopped for photos several times as even from a little lower down the views were great. We also had a great perspective on this stretch of the city’s wall.

Piazzale Michaelangelo

After a fairly steep but not too lengthy climb we reached the Piazzale Michaelangelo. Although busy it was still easy to find a spot by the wall from which to soak up, and photograph, the views.

I also got some shots of the city’s second David replica (this one in bronze) which sits in the square, although the lighting wasn’t great with the sun behind him. And we bought a cold drink from one of the stalls and found a empty bench where we could enjoy it while continuing to take in the views.

It was too lovely a day not to continue a little higher, so we followed some steps up to the Chiesa di San Salvatore al Monte, part of a monastery of Franciscan friars. There was a mass in progress so we contented ourselves with a quick look and photos from just inside the door.

Basilica di San Miniato al Monte

A little higher still and we reached the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. This has a fabulous location with a terrace offering possibly even better views than the Piazzale Michaelangelo, and with a fraction of the crowds.

The basilica is named for an early Christian martyr, St Minius, who apparently climbed this hill after being beheaded, carrying his head under his arm. Unfortunately for us it is currently undergoing extensive restoration both outside and in, but we were still able to see the beautiful wooden ceiling above the nave and the main altar, although the side aisles were boarded up.

Descending the hill

From here we followed busy Viale Gallileo Gallilei a short distance before turning into the much more picturesque Via dell’Erta Canina. Lined with some beautiful houses (a couple of which are used as schools and one as the Israeli consulate), this led steeply downhill and eventually became a grassy path with more great views.

At the bottom we spotted a sign for a restaurant with a garden, Beppa Fioraia. We checked the menu and saw that there was a lighter lunch option of a sharing board with prosciutto, salami and cheese. There was a table available in the garden - perfect! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here, with an amuse bouche of a single tasty Ascolano olive, a generous sharing board, and good bread, washed down with beers.

Beppa Fioraia

And up again!

We wanted to visit the Giardini Bardini, and it was just as well we'd had a good lunch, as that meant another steep uphill climb on the Via di Belvedere which follows the city walls.

At the top we discovered there was a 10 euro entry charge for the gardens but we'd come too far, and climbed too high, not to pay it! However, we only explored part of the gardens as it was a bit late in the year to see them at the best and also the weather had started to turn cloudier, so the views were less well lit.

Exiting on to the Via de'Bardi below we passed a memorial marking a visit to the city by St Francis of Assissi and another interesting-sounding church, Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, which was unfortunately closed.

This road ended at a busy square overlooking the Arno. We bought excellent gelati at the Cantina del Gelato before continuing along the river bank to the famous Ponte Vecchio. This was packed with tourists, a real contrast to the quieter areas we'd spent most of the day exploring, but it had to be seen!

We crossed the bridge, dodged the crowds to follow narrow Via dei Girolami, and met up with them again by the Uffizi.

We paid a brief return visit to the Piazza della Signoria, to take more photos of David, before making our way back along Via dei Neri (much livelier than it had been yesterday) to our accommodation on the Borgo Santa Croce.

In the evening we went to Mass in Santa Croce followed by aperitivi at our by-now regular bar in the piazza. For dinner we went back to the Bisteccheria Santo Croce where we’d enjoyed dinner on my birthday. This time I chose a mixed Tuscan starter of crostini with different toppings, which I found a bit large, though the tomatoes and chicken liver pate were both very good. I enjoyed my red radicchio and tallegio cheese risotto much more, and we shared a good cheesecake for dessert. The service was very friendly; they seemed genuinely pleased that we'd chosen to return. After the complimentary limoncellos we had a stroll around the piazza to round off our last evening in Florence.

Time to go home

Time to go home, after a lovely few days in Florence. We'd had mixed weather, see many of its sights (but missed more than we saw), wandered its streets, eaten gelati every day and excellent meals every evening, and slept well in our beautiful room in the Borgo Santa Croce.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes to Allegra, who was on duty this morning. She produced a lovely farewell gift, soap from the family's very upmarket perfumery. We tried to get an Uber to the station but in the end found it easier to simply hail a taxi. From the station we caught the tram to the airport. This is pretty small - too small, I would say, even for the number of passengers passing through today. I suspect it's a nightmare in high season!

Once through security we got a coffee and muffin in a coffee shop to tide us over, rather than buy lunch on the plane. We still had time to wait before our gate opened and luckily managed to find two empty seats nearby, despite the crowds. When our group was called for boarding we were held back at the gate for some time but eventually allowed simply to walk across to the plane standing a short distance away.

We took off on time and after a pleasant enough flight landed at Heathrow ten minutes early. It wasn’t surprising therefore that we had to wait a while before the plane could park up. Bu to our slight surprise, given that Terminal Five is the self-styled ‘home of British Airways’, we weren’t at one of the gates and instead had to wait for buses. As we were seated quite near the back we didn’t make it on to the first bus and were kept waiting ages for another one – not the standard of service we expect from BA!

Give all that, we expected the airport to be very busy but instead it was quiet. We sailed through passport control with no delay and of course had no bags to collect. However with engineering work on the Piccadilly line we had to use the Elizabeth line to Ealing Broadway and then catch a bus home. A little bit slower than our usual direct route but not too much hassle with only hand luggage. And it had been such a super trip!