"Who Loves a Garden Still His Eden Keeps"~Bronson Alcott~

We managed to catch Fabio in between breakfast guests and take his picture in the garden.  He has been so kind and helpful, a delightful, creative man.

We met Jeremy and the boys at the train station to see them off to Rome.  They have well over a month of traveling ahead of them; Italy, Albania, Hungary, Germany.  I meant to give them an Italian farewell kiss...you know, on both cheeks...but I revert back to my "motherness" in these sorts of times, and I just held them tight, told them I loved them, told them to be safe.

Patty happened upon a church called Chiesa di San Salvatore a Ognissanti.  It was one of those serendipitous moments on the trip where we were oddly in the right place at the right time.  Silence was required and for women, shoulders and knees needed to be covered...a reverence, if you will.  A woman who was probably one of the volunteers loaned us scarves and spoke only in Italian about the paintings, the frescoes, etc. We didn't get any of it, but looked it up later...it was built in the 13th century and in the beginning was a simple church.  It was one of the first examples of Baroque architecture and the Franciscan order eventually took control of the church.  Botticelli is buried here.  Oh my.

We bought slices of mushroom pizza at a neighborhood cafe that we like near our B&B, washed out a few clothes (even we have to do laundry), took a short riposo, and then headed to Boboli Gardens.  The gardens are on the grounds of the Pitti Palace, the main seat of the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany.  Designed by Buontalenti, it includes sculptures by Lorenzi and Giambologna, and was built in the 16th century.  It has no natural water source, so an elaborate system of irrigation was routed from the river Arno.  The iris and peonies, were, of course, spent, so there was not a great deal of color, but the grounds were expansive and it is hard to believe that the Medici family did not use this wonderful garden to entertain.  It is not a site for those who don't want to hike a bit...there were some steep paths and the views of the city were amazing.  There were a lot of people...especially Brits, enjoying the formal beauty of this place.

We did not take the tour of the Duomo and we did not get to the Galleria dell Accademia.  But while I am not interested in going back to Rome, I want to come back to Florence.  It is a beautiful city, with people who smile back, music and art in the streets, and very.good.gelato.  The pasta is not too bad either.  Tonight for dinner we went back to a little osteria called Santo Spirito and had a). Risotto with zucchini and parmesan, and b) Spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and chili peppers.  The chunks of parmesan were quarter-sized, same with the garlic.  We came very close to finishing it all.  We should feel guilty, but here's the thing...we don't.

Tomorrow we get back on the bikes.  We head south and west to San Gimignano in Tuscany and the scenery promises to be spectacular.  Stay tuned.