A Florentine Farewell: The Finale City in My Italian Spring Tour
just a teensy bit late....oops!
Saluti! The last leg of my Italian spring is here (6 months late… oops)! To round out this sweet Italian tour, I ended my journey in the Florentine hills. Florence was the perfect farewell to Italy with its quintessential Italian sights and scenes.
A Renaissance Reprieve from Rome
After the hustle and bustle of Rome, Florence offered a peaceful reprieve. This Italian city is one that lends itself to mindless wanderings with lamp-lit alleyways, hidden wine windows, and endless gardens. I LOVED Florence. At this point in the trip, I’ll admit that I wasn’t convinced about Italy just yet. Where were the vintage Fiats? The cypress trees? Turns out they were in Florence!
When we arrived in Florence, we were greeted with stunning views as we walked across the Arno and into the quieter part of town away from the craze of the train station. Our first impressions of our third Italian city were off to a great start. There was an air of tranquility here that allowed us to breathe a breath of fresh air. Or maybe it was the noticeably fewer tourists in our little corner of Florence! To get our bearings and stretch our legs, we wandered into the Boboli Gardens. Fun fact: Entry to this garden and many other museums is free on every first Sunday! Honestly, I felt a bit underdressed as we walked through the garden. From the statutes to the perfectly trimmed hedges, the Boboli Gardens evoked the age of royalty.
Then, with the sun setting and the town around us coming alive, we set out for dinner at Babae, a trendy Italian kitchen with a wine window! Be sure to queue up a bit early as this window draws a crowd quickly. With a long day of travel behind us, we sat and listened to the din of Italian as we sipped on our new favorite drink: the Hugo Spritz! Mom and I recapped our favorite parts of Rome with my sister, who had just finished her semester abroad there. Excited to be in a new city and happy to be done with final exams, our first night in Florence gave us a taste of Tuscan hospitality and the Florentine way of living.
Vineyards and Wines
The Florentine way of living absolutely includes generous glasses of wine! Our second day in Florence was an excursion to Dalle Nostre Mani, a vineyard about an hour’s drive away from the city’s center. Seeing the Florentine countryside as we were shuttled to this quaint farm really allowed us to see the beauty of the Italian wine country. When we arrived, we were greeted with homemade lemonade and a short look around the property before we ventured into the vineyard.
Our guide, Matteo, walked us through the vineyard while explaining that the grapes had been growing for as long as we could see. Seeing the grapes up close and learning about the unique way this farm cultivates region-specific grapes was the most interesting part of the entire trip. If this was my last itinerary item for Italy, I could have left the country satisfied. As we walked the vineyard, it was clear just how passionate the farm and its family of employees were about keeping the dying art of Florentine wine-making alive. And we got to taste the love they had put into their wines as we wandered into the winery that was lined with aged barrels.
My sister and I have never done a wine tasting before, so this was an all-new experience! We tasted a total of six organic wines that were paired with freshly made hors d’oeuvres to bring out the layers and notes of each sip. As my mom chatted with a Dutch woman on a solo adventure, my sister and I side-eyed each other as the couple next to us recognized notes like whiskey barrels and dried cherries from the scent alone. While we might be able to appreciate the depth of wine in the future, we’re not huge fans of wine from the drier persuasion. Sorry, not sorry! To end the evening and to soak up the six heavy pours, we were led into the kitchen to cook our dinner. Wine and homemade pasta made for a lovely night of conversation and laughter. Seeing strangers come together over good food and even better wine left me wanting to find more experiences like this and connect with people from around the world.
Farewell, Florence!
Leaving Florence was bittersweet. I was leaving to come back to reality after a dreamy European spring while my mom and sister headed to Venice as a last hurrah! With this being the end of my trip and the end of my sister’s semester abroad, we booked a reservation for Trattoria Pandemonio, one of Florence’s best steak restaurants. Once we sat down and let the wine flow (though not nearly as good as we had at the farm!), we indulged in Florentine beef, some of the best in the world! Although, I did not know that until after we arrived. We giggled, reminisced, and gossiped in true girls’ trip fashion. After dinner, my sister and I headed out for our own last hurrah at some of Florence’s popular bars nearby. Being so close in age and attending colleges away from home, my sister and I have never really been in the same place for long enough to just sit and chat in a random bar. Ending my introduction to Europe like this was perfect.
Catching up with her in Florence, adventuring with my mom around Rome, and wandering through the Swiss and Italian Alps with my boyfriend was more than I could have imagined for my first trip to Europe. While I’m not sure I’ll make it back to Italy sometime soon, I’ll be exploring the rest of the European continent in the near future. Maybe France? Definitely London.
For the rest of my Italian spring, check out my Rome blog!
If you’re gagging for more GTG, follow my IG at @girlstripglobal!