Thursday 29 September: Move to Florence

This is our last day at Il Poggio Alle Ville, so we made the most of the peace and quiet. Slept in, had a late breakfast, went back to bed for a couple of hours. Eventually we forced ourselves to pack up, tidied up La Canonica and said our goodbyes. For the last time, we faced the drive into Florence.

We had to fill up the Punto, so stopped into a service station on the way. It was fully self-service, and there was no ttendant. We couldn't make sense of the instructions, so moved on to the next one. This had an attendant, but (of course) it was siesta time, so nobody was available to serve us. We were nervous about inserting the Visa card without being able to understand the instructions, so we moved on again.

Finally got the car back to Avis and checked in to the hotel. It's really quite pleasant, and just over the road from the station. The guidebooks say this is not a very safe area, but it actually looks pretty good.

We decided we'd have a look at some of the artistic glories of Florence and headed for the Accademia gallery. We got there an hour before closing time, but the queue was still over an hour long. Maybe another day. Another exploration on foot, a cheap dinner at the station, then back to the hotel for the night.

Impressions: Florence is usually described as a city of great beauty, with incredible artistic treasures. The "glory of Florence" is a phrase often heard. On the whole, though, the place is not particularly beautiful and certainly not glorious. It's dirty, noisy and smelly. The crowds are oppressive, and the people impatient and rude. There are beggars everywhere, a lot of graffiti, and piles of litter. I doubt if Cosimo Medici would approve of the city as it stands today.