© Richard Randall

Maybe Richard and I are a bit odd in the fact that we quite often don't bother to eat when we go out, especially on long journeys. We find that after a meal or even a snack, the last thing either of us want to do is get back into a car. Ideally we would both have an afternoon nap! We didn't expect Richards parents to go without food though, and they both thoroughly enjoyed all of the meals they ate. As neither of them were driving on this trip they both had lovely long afternoon naps in the back of the car on the journey back home. Richards father in particular would fall asleep as soon as the engine was started and usually sleep for the whole time only waking once we were at our destination, lucky thing! Obviously it goes without saying really that food plays an important part of life in Italy, and we did all enjoy some gorgeous meals whilst we were there. I am not in the least bit fussy when it comes to food, I like most things but I am spoilt at home. Richard is a wonderful cook so more often than not, whenever we have eaten at restaurants, I am left underwhelmed wishing I had waited until we got home for some of Richards cooking. So as well as doing all of the driving poor Richard spent a lot of his time in the kitchen at the villa feeding us all.

FLORENCE

Richards parents had treated us to this trip, and we thought that as a little thank you, when we went to Florence we would not do it as a day trip, but so that we could all really enjoy the place we would stay overnight. We didn't tell Richards parents, we thought it would be a nice surprise. So we booked two rooms at the Excelsior, Piazza Ognissanti 3, Tel: 055 2715 www.starwood.com. Described as the luxury leader in the city, we thought it would do! Apparently the hotel was a former address of Napoleons sister Caroline. We had read that the hotel was full of marble, immaculately staffed and decadently luxurious. Some of the rooms have views of the river, which is what we booked. The view from our room was lovely, especially at night with the lights on the Ponte Vecchio. Compared to Bracciano where we were staying, Florence was slightly busier with traffic. So as soon as we pulled up outside the hotels entrance it was with real pleasure that Richard handed over the car keys to the valet, and that was the last time we gave a thought to the car or parking until our departure. It did appear as though parking was at a premium, a nightmare just like many other cities. Richard was especially pleased now that he was no longer the designated driver, as finally he could sample some of Italy's finest red wines.

The Uffizi Gallery

Florence is a museum town, and our main reason for going there was to visit the famous Uffizi Gallery (Open summer Tues-Fri 8:30am-9pm, Sat 8:30am-midnight, Sun 8:30am-8pm, winter Tues-Sun 8:30am-6:50pm.) As the Uffizi gets seriously busy with long queues in the summer it is advisable to pre-book, Tel: 055 294 883, or if you are staying in Florence some of the hotels can arrange entrance for you. You could very easily spend a couple of days in the Uffizi as the collection is amazing. There are works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Cimabue, Ucello, Fillippo Lippi, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca, Piero di Cosimo, Goya, Van Dyck, Rembrant, and most famously Michelangelo and his marble David, whose work we had already appreciated in Rome, and Leonardo as well as so many others, I couldn't possibly mention them all here.

Ponte Vecchio

As I said, we had a great view of the Ponte Vecchio and the river Arno from our room at the Excelsior hotel. The bridge that you see today was built in 1345 to replace a wooden construction from the 970's, and that one was to replace one that may have gone back to the Romans. As with other medieval bridges, like in London, the new fourteenth century one had houses and shops all along it. By the sixteenth century the bridge was home to the butchers who were evicted to make way for the goldsmiths. Vasari had built Cosimo's passage above and the duke kicked the butchers out because he didn't like the smell. The goldsmiths have remained to this day, the whole bridge is full of jewellery shops attracting shoppers from all over the world. Apparently the most prestigious shopping location in Florence, the jewellers would not be moved even in 1966 by the flood which saw a fortune of gold washed away down the Arno river. Maybe it was just us, but it didn't feel that prestigious, it had the feel of a market and was dirty with lots of tourist tat being sold alongside the jewellery. Then again the location was pretty amazing so I guess that explains it!

We decided to split up from Richards parents and explore Florence separately, then meet up later at our hotel. After Richard and I had visited all of the museums, galleries etc that we had wanted to see, we thought that it was time to do some shopping. There were lots of the big name 'designer' shops in Florence, so we were more than happy. After clothes we found some time to look at some of the more specialist shops, in particular shops selling fine stationary. Florence is known for it's beautiful marbled paper, we bought some from Anna Anichini's shop in Via de' Bardi. You can buy the paper in single sheets or a variety of different books of various shapes and sizes. Anna Anichini binds beautiful books using the gorgeous handmade paper finishing them off with leather and canvas. Apparently the art of decorative paper making originated in France over 200 years ago. There are many shops selling these papers, the choice of colours and patterns is fantastic. It goes without saying that as we shopped our way round Florence, we made several stops for drinks and snacks. The choice of cafes is excellent, the Italians take their coffee drinking and snacking very seriously. Trouble is that once we sat down we found it hard to get moving again, as it was such a pleasure to just sit soaking up the sun watching the beautiful people going about their business.

All four of us had enjoyed a very full day but we wanted to make the most of our time in Florence, so even though we were all pretty exhausted we went out for dinner in the evening. The restaurant we had chosen was about a twenty minute stroll from our hotel. The walk was very pleasant as it felt like most of Florence was out and about, either going to dinner or just taking in the evening air. It felt very relaxed after the busy feeling of the daytime when there were hundreds of mopeds whizzing everywhere. The restaurant we went to was the Cantinetta Antinori, Piazza Antinorri 3, Tel: 055-292234. This restaurant is a showcase for the Antinori familys wines and other products, they are among the most respected wine makers in Tuscany. The restaurant serves snacks and full meals with the ambience of a fifteenth century palazzo. We had booked a table as it is very popular and does get busy. The service was impeccable, and the food was delicious, and as for the wine, we drank rather a lot and it was all excellent, thankfully we were only a short walk from our beds! I enjoyed my meal so much that I can even remember what I ate, Veal, and it was cooked to perfection. Richards mother had the same as me, I cannot remember what else we all ate but I do remember that it was all great, if ever we happened to be in Florence in the future I would definitely dine there again. The evening we were there, the whole place was packed out with many people being turned away, it wasn't hard to see why. We had enjoyed our evening so much that after a slow stroll back to our hotel Richard and I decided that we didn't want the evening to end, so we said good night to the old folk and headed to the bar. We were both quite tipsy from all the wine we had consumed at the restaurant, so I don't really remember anything about the bar or leaving it that night, I did have a very good nights sleep though! The next morning we made our way back home to our villa in Bracciano.

Lake Bracciano where our villa was located is one of Romes most popular places for swimmers. The area is very beautiful and clean. Situated around the lake are two other pretty villages Trevignano and Anguillara, both have medieval centres and a wide choice of eating places. As these were local to us we spent some very happy hours there, enjoying the views across the water and the odd ice-cream, well you have to eat some this is Italy after all and they know how to make delicious ice-cream!

SUTRI

One of the nicest ice-cream experiences we enjoyed was in the tiny village of Sutri. We had gone out for a little drive, and this charming place looked so nice we stopped. After strolling round for a while we saw a cafe that also served ice-cream. There was a huge refrigerated cabinet full of large tubs of every flavour imaginable. There were so many it was hard to choose, Richard didn't fancy any but the three of us all tucked into a small tub of the most creamy, fruity, soft, ice-cream ever, which we ate outside sitting by a soothing fountain. Sutri is situated between lakes Bracciano and Vico, and is famously old, supposedly dating from 1000 BC. Sutri was a strategic location for the Etruscans, and once again in the middle ages during which time it became a proper town after being rebuilt higher up for safety. There are remains of the ancient town in the Parco Archeologico Preistorico Paesaggistico (Open summer 9am-1pm and 3pm-8pm, winter 9am-5pm), you can see an ampitheatre that is carved out of the tufa that could date back to the Etruscans, and a cave church that was once a temple of the Mithras.

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Sundries

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