ITL Florence 4A
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ROF= Ring of fire journey
ITL= Italy Journey
Tuesday November 17, 2015
Florence, Italy 4 Fiesole
On the 2nd day of the hop on-hop off bus we took the highland route that went out the eastern sid of Florence then north up into the highlands of Florence... to Fiesole.
Fiesole was on the other side of the Florence valley from Michelangelo Plaza.
Arno River running down through florence. We've now seen Florence from both sides overlooking the city.
Fiesole was 3,500' elev so it was "up in the mountains". cooler in the Summer... it was the mountains retreat for the Forentine wealthy. It was their Summer home in the cooler mountains.
Riding up the curvy road passed by many 5+ acre Italian estate homes. Most had gardens , grape vinyards, olive tree orchards adjacent to the family homesteads.
I would say these homes/ estates have been in the same family for hundreds of years.
I would say the vineyards produced their own family line of wine for their own consumption. Probably their own cold pressed virgin olive oil. The gardens their own heritage tomatoes for spagetti sauces. My god these Italian folks have got this down to a real quality of life.
At Feisole we didn't have much time to look around. The city square with the city catthedral on one corner. A square that looked like they have some summer festivals with plenty of room for street mercado vendors. Some statues on pedistles.
There was an ampitheater... was gated and closed.
Was reading some of the history and realized how fantastic this place was.
This was the low gap in the mountains that led to the Florence valley; this was the strategic gateway to Florence. ... ALL... of the invading armies... Alexander the Great, Hannible, The Huns, The Hordes, The Franks, The Lombards,... ALL came through here... through Fiesole. Even the Florentines sacked Fiesole in 1010, 1025,... and came back a hundred years later - 1125- and conquered Fisole again just for the sport of it.
You never drink twice from the same stream.
