In the heat & heart of Florence

The beautiful Rugiardi villetta is in a fairy-tale setting, surrounded by lush green grass, olive trees, and a colourful garden.

For five days we resided in Florence, enjoying the sweltering heat and the scalding sunshine that is typical of the Tuscan region in late summer.

With the sun bearing down on us, we ventured into the city on several occasions, managing the bus trips with our newly acquired skill in Italian communication. Walking around and exploring the beauty of this medieval city in the blistering heat was seen by our Italian hosts as rather foolish (this reminded Maria of a phrase once read in a story set in South America: "Only gringos and mad dogs go out in the midday sun!")

Nonetheless, the exceptional beauty of the ancient city gave us much enthusiasm, and kept our jetlag and exhaustion successfully at bay.

An old doorway opening directly onto the street.

We roamed small streets, all paved with stones polished clean over the centuries by the countless wheels, hooves and feet that have passed over them. We passed beneath imposing tall stone buildings, along incredibly narrow streets, and passed impressive huge solid wooden doorways that opened immediately onto the streets (to our surprise).

The tall buildings of Florence are commonly bridged, above head-height, by stone arches that link the houses across narrow streets. We were told that the larger of such bridges were originally used by wealthy Florentines in Medieval times to travel around the city without ever having to set foot in the slums that existed at ground level.

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