chefmaison

I took my breakfast at VaLu Bakery just a few steps away from the hotel. This was already my last full day in Florence which I started with a visit to the Cenacolo di Fuligno, one of the Last Suppers included in the San Marco combination ticket. It is a small museum housed in the convent of Sant Onofrio of the monks from Foligno. On the farthest wall you find the Last Supper by Pérugin and some other works of art on the other walls. With the ticket you can visit a fifth site, the last supper of San Salvi, by Andreo del Sarto but it is located on the outskirts of Florence in the refectory of the Vallombrosa abbey, so I skipped that one. Back at home I read up on that last supper, and it seems to be the most beautiful of the last suppers, praised by Vasari, so maybe I should have visited anyway! 

I crossed the Arno river via the Ponte alle Carraia, to the oltrarno quarter and walked to the Chiesa de San Frediano in Cestello.  Cestello refers to the Cistercians that occupied the church in the 17th century. It has a nice fresco in the dome above the altar.

I continued in the direction of the Basilico de Santo Spirito ( free of charge), which is the last project of Brunelleschi before he died and has a bare facade. It is a beautiful church, with the adjoining cloister of Parigi, but you are not allowed to take any pictures in the church itself. It has an impressive baroque baldachin over the high altar, and some altarpieces in some of the 38 side chapels are by Filippino Lippi and Fra Bartolomeo. You have to pay 2 euro to visit the sacristy and the cloister. In the octagonal sacristy you can see the crucifix made by Michelangelo when he was only 17 years old at a time when he was allowed to make anatomical studies of corpses coming from the convents hospital. In the refectory you again find a fresco of the last supper. 

I walked a bit back to have lunch in Lunetta, a small brunch place where I had a bagel with eggs and avocado and a ginger beer. The place is cozy, the food really good but a bit too noisy for my brain…. After lunch I went to get a gelato at Sbrino, a place that caught my eye when I had passed it on the way to Santo Spirito. It was a really great gelato!! I continued in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio, but did not cross it, and if I would have to cross the river I would have chosen one of the other bridges because of the masses of tourists on the bridge. I climbed up to the Giardini Delle Rose, a small rose garden, with a great view of Firenze, also visit the upper garden, where the tourists don’t come… Some of the roses had a wonderful perfume. ( I smelled all of them…)

From there I continued higher up to the Basilica de San Miniato al Monte, on the highest point of the city. It is one of the most scenic churches in Italy with a wonderful view of the city below. Attached is a monastery and in the back an impressive cemetery. In the shop the monks sell liquors, honey, tea and ice cream. The altar and choir are raised on a platform above the crypt which holds the relics of Saint Minias. Above the relics, frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi. The vault above the altar is decorated with ceramics by Della Robbia. The apse has a beautiful mosaic on its vaulted ceiling dating back to 1207. The wooden beams are colorfully decorated. The church has a beautiful black and white patterned pavement that also dates back to 1207. Walk around the church to the back to see the monumental Porte Sante cemetery with numerous family burial chapels many of which look like small churches. From the earliest days the most important and rich people in the city were buried here and it shows. Walk around looking for the most beautiful statues on the graves. And even though this is really a great spot to visit, not many tourists come all the way up here. Most tourists walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a view of the city and for sunset, but I think this view is better than the one on Piazzale Michelangelo and often less crowded.

This was a perfect end for my three day visit of Florence, but we rounded it of with a last dinner at Restaurant and Pizzeria Il Clarinetto.

I did not visit the Uffizi gallery this time, since I visited it the last time I was in Florence. If you do wish to visit the Uffizi, and you did not get tickets in advance, this might be a tip for you: If you book an online ticket on the morning of the day you want to visit, you can get a ticket at 16 euro if you take a time slot after 4 PM (instead of 25 euro for tickets before 4 PM on the day of visit). If you buy an after 4 PM ticket in advance it costs 20 euro (instead of 29 euro for a ticket bought in advance). The gallery stays open till 6:30 PM, and you thus have 2 to 2,5 hours for your visit, while the place is less crowded than during the rest of the day and tour groups have left. And even if the online tickets are sold out, you can still try your luck at the on-site ticket office.