Badger5

Hello,

My husband and I just returned from an 8 day adventure starting in Florence and ending in Positano to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time, and would like to share our experience with anyone who might be interested.

Travel Day: We flew United from Chicago O'hare to Florence - connecting through Frankfurt Germany. Both flights were on time and we had no travel issues what so ever. When we arrived in Florence we hopped in a taxi and went directly to our hotel.

Hotel (or more accurately B&B): In Piazza Della Signoria
What an absolute gem this B&B ended up being. We arrived at about 10:00 am after travelling for about 13 hours. Our room was ready about an hour after we arrived. We dropped off our luggage and immediately went out. A couple great things about the B&B. First of all, our room was lovely. We had a large room with an incredible view of the piazza. We could see the replica of Michaelangelos David from our window. The bathroom was very nicely appointed with plenty of room. Breakfast was served each morning in a room on the 4th floor and was very good. Fresh fruit, breads, yogurt, eggs, sausage, fresh juice etc... very good. Free internet access to check e-mail from our kids at home was super nice. Monica at the B&B arranged for museum tickets and a car and driver for a day in Tuscany. Everything was flawless. I cannot recommend this place highly enough. If I were to return to Florence, I would without a doubt stay here.

Museums we enjoyed
We started out by going to the Bargello. I am so very glad that we took the time to see this gem of a museum. The Donatello version of David - cast in bronze is here, and is striking. The Bargello is mainly a sculpture musuem, which I love. This is a very worthwhile stop in Florence. Next was the Accademia. What can I say - David just took my breath away!! The prisoners were also just amazing pieces. We were very glad to have reservations here, as we just walked past the huge line and right into the museum. We spent about and hour and one half just enjoying the sites of this museum. Next was the uffizi - again we were very glad to have reservations. The paintings here were magnificant, but I did not enjoy it as much as the Accademia. Please note that this was all done over a period of days as I am condensing information into categories.
Th Duomo - we climbed all the way to the top. What a view. The dome is quite incredible. We took many pictures and just marveled at the heaven to hell layers of artwork that is the dome. Beautiful. You really miss the detail unless you really climb up there and take a look. Luckily we went there early on a Monday morning when it was not busy. I cannot imagine what it is like when crowded.

Fun Sites
The funnest place we visited was the Mercato Centrale. We had a ball just browsing all the different types of food products you could buy at this market. In my opinion, this is not to be missed!! We spent well over and hour just looking around and taking in the atmosphere. A little before noon, we found a little counter that served coffee, espresso, wine etc. We stopped here, stood at the counter and had a nice small glass of Brunello while just taking in the atmosphere. It was great fun!!!
Another interesting spot is right outside the market - the San Lorenzo Street Market. Lots of bags, belts etc.. etc.. It was fun checking out all the stuff and getting good deals. We picked up a couple things here for our kids at home.
One evening we walked up to the Piazza Michaelangelo for sunset. What a beautiful view of the city. Definately worth it!

Day trip to Tuscany
This was the best day of our vacation. Monica at the B&B set this up before we arrived in Florence. We had a private car and driver for the day. We started out by driving to Sienna and spending a couple hours. We LOVED Sienna. Unfortunately, the Duomo was closed, so we climbed the tower next door to get a birds eye view of the city and surrounding area - just lovely. We then walked to the piazza and had a cappucino in a little cafe and watched throngs of students having fun on a Sunday morning. Gee, there were alot of students - groups and groups of them. They provided endless entertainment!! We then walked the small streets of Sienna and just loved every minute of it. I found a shop that sold the most killer purses that I ended up buying 4 bags and a wallet. My husband just laughed (bless his soul!!). We then met back up with our driver and he proceed to drive us to a wonderful winery where we sampled multiple wines, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. We had a delicious lunch there while tasting the incredible wines. We ended up shipping a case of wine back to the states. If I could relive one lunch from our vacation - it would be this one. It was so much fun!! After the wine, we went to San Giamgnano. What a cool little town. Beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside from here. We stayed here for about 1 1/2 hours - had gelato and then headed back to Florence. It was one of the best days of my life!

Thats all for now. Next, food, food, food......and Positano

Fondly,

Badger5

emerald125

Hi Badger5

Thank you for posting your report... It sounds like you had a great time! If you could only choose one from Sienna and San G which would you pick?

I am planning an 8 week trip next year and would love to know the contact information for your BnB

Thanks
Emerald125

LoveItaly

Hello Badger5, I love your trip report! It sounds like the perfect trip. I would be interested in the info regarding the B&B in Florence also. Inspite of the many times I have been to Florence I have never been to the Bergello Museum and loving sculptures as you do I should have visited it..well next time whenever that will be.

jamikins

Loving your report! Cant wait for more!

ekscrunchy

Badger: Sounds like a wonderful trip.

I am so glad that you chose the In Piazza della Signoria B&B! We stayed there a few years ago and I, too, would not consider staying anywhere else in Florence!

Congratulations on your anniversary.

Waiting to read more!

Badger5

Good morning.

Thank you all for your kind replies.

Escruncky - yes, one of the reasons we stayed at the B&B was based on your input, so thank you!

Esmerald125 - If I had to choose between Sienna and San G, I would go with Sienna. As a matter of fact, we want to stay in Sienna next trip to Italy. The website for the B&B is www.inpiazzadellasignoria.com. We booked and made all arrangements with Monica on line. Very easy and convenient.

Now to the food.
Breakfast was always at the B&B. It was very nice to walk upstairs, have a cappucino and delicious breakfast to start the day.

Lunches: Except for the lunch as the winery in Tuscany, these were very casual affairs for us. One of our favorites was a little place called Il Fratellini - seriously, this is a tiny little place where you walk up to the counter order a pannini from the board and a glass of chianti or brunello and sit on the curb and eat with all the other people there. We met people from all over the world sitting there on the curb. My favorite pannini was the spicy pepperoni with soft goat cheese. My husband loved the wild boar. Total cost for lunch for two was under 10 euro - No Kidding! That included the wine. Once you finish, you put your wine glass on an outside shelf and away you go. By doing this we then also had room for gelato later in the afternoon. We had gelato everyday! It is good no matter where you get it!

Dinners - This was more of an affair for us. I will tell you about two of our favorites. The first is the Frescobaldi Wine Bar located right next to our B&B. This is a very upscale place to dine. The standouts here were the pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage and the classic Fiorentina steak. We asked them to pair each course with a different wine - and they were spot on in their choices. The brunello we had with the steak was incredible. All wines come from the Frescobaldi vineyard. I would highly recommend dinner here! The second great dinner we had was at Aqcua al Due. We had heard about their tasting courses and wanted to try them. We had the salad, pasta, and beef tasting. The salad tasing came with three very different, wonderful salads. The pasta tasting was five very different selections. My favorite was the vodka mac & cheese, my husband loved the cannelloni. The beef included their signature blueberry steak (wonderfully different), a balsalmic tenderloin (my favorite) and beef in a puff pastry. All very good. We were to stuffed to have the dessert tasting, but it looked great.
All in all - the food was what you would expect in Florence. Not a bad meal around. We really tried to have a wide variety of dining experences while there, and even tried pizza from a little stand where they heat it up and you eat it on the run. Just wonderful food.

We also spent time every afternoon just lazing in an outdoor cafe watching all the groups of students having a wonderful time. Sometimes we would drink espresso, sometimes wine - depending on how we felt when we sat down. This was such a delight to sit and watch the world go by. So relaxing!

Well, thats it for now. Coming up next: Train travel and Positano.

Fondly,

Badger5

Badger5

Well,

On to Positano. We took the Eurostar train from Florence to Naples. What a nice way to travel. We were in 1st class, but I really think 2nd would have been nice as well. We stopped in Rome just briefly then onto Naples. Once in Naples we had previously arranged to have a car and driver take us to Positano. I am really glad that we did! The coastal road is quite something. We arrived in Positano a little before dinner. We were shown to a lovely room on the top floor at Le Sirenue. What a stunning hotel. Our room was very nice and had a balcony with a small table and chairs and an incredible view of the beach and sea. It was stunning!! We changed for dinner and then went down to the pool area for a before dinner cocktail. Le Sirenuse certainly lived up to its reputation for us! The second day we were there we had massages in the spa. The spa is very small but very nice. Our therapist was Stephano, and he did a wonderful massage. They also have top notch workout equipment and several computers with internet access which we used daily to check messages from home. Very nice. Two of the afternoons, we lazed by the pool and enjoyed the view of the sea. Very relaxing.

Food. The food was again wonderul. Several of the highlights were: La Cambusa - they had outstanding food and service. We actually ended up going here twice. The fish dishes they had were terrific, as was the pasta. The spagetti with cottlefish was a highlight as was the pasta with zuccini. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We had a delightful lunch at La Guarrarra - which is on the walkway over to Fornillo beach. The mixed seafood appetizer was the standout as was the pasta with mussles. They serve the house wine in little pitchers which was alot of fun. The dining highlight, however, was our anniversary dinner at La Sirenuse. It was beyond spectacular! We had the Chefs tasting menu, and just asked them to pair each course with a different wine. Incredible. The dinning room is lit with over four hundred candles and it is very romantic. It was expensive, but after 20 years together we decided that we deserved it!!

Things we did. The highlight in this category would have to be our hike from Ravello to Amalfi. We took the bus from Positano to Amalfi to Ravello. Once in Ravello we walked the small quaint streets, visitied Villa Ruffalo and Villa Cimbrone. Both are worth the visit just for the views alone. If I had to pick one, it would be Villa Cimbrone. We spent quite a bit of time walking the lovely gardens and taking in the stunning coastal view. We really liked Ravello, but decided that it would be to remote a place to stay for our taste. Once we were done touring the town we began our decent to Amalfi. We absoutley loved this hike. It took us about 75 minutes to get to Amalfi. You get to walk thru lemon groves, and thru ruins of past towns. I highly recommend doing this. You get to see things you otherwise would miss just driving. Once at the bottom, we ate in a small restaurant right on the beach. It was fun to sit and watch all the activity on the beach. Our lunch as very good - spagetti with tomato sauce and mixed seafood. We walked around Amalfi for a while, had gelato, and then took the ferry back to Positano. This is an excellent way to see the coastline from the water. Positano is beautiful coming in from the water. After our hike, we lazed by the pool until it was time to get ready for our evening cocktail and dinner.

Those are basically the highlights of our trip. We loved Italy and will definely be back. The food, the people, the artwork, the sites are all amazing. Please feel free to ask questions if you have any. Thank you for reading!

Fondly,
Badger5

rbnwdlr

Badger 5 - I want your life! Well, actually, I have your life without Le Sireneuse! We are a little more downmarket. Don't you love, love, love the Amalfi Coast???? Thanks for the report!

Badger5

Oh, please believe me when I say we are very ordinary people who were lucky enough (read saved for a long time) to experience an extraordinary trip. Thank you for the nice compliment.

dcd

Badger,

Was the hike from Ravello to Amalfi marked? In other words, how did you know where to go? And was it along the road or on a defined trail? Thanks!

JulieVikmanis

Nice report. Enjoyed all of it, but especially Positano, one of our favorite places in the whole world. Sounds like you really did it right.

Badger5

Hi dcd,

We had written directions that we found on a website before we left. There are signs on parts of the train, but we were very glad to have written directions. Most of the hike is on a defined trail with very short spurts on the road. I highly recommend taking this walk. One couple we met had the sunflower guide which had very detailed directions.

Julie - we loved Positano. So different from anywhere else we have been. Looking forward to going back some day.

jshaw2002

rbnwdlr:

My two sisters and I are planning a trip to Positano in August. Where did you stay? I would love to find a hotel or B&B under 200USD, but one sis wants a pool and the other wants a spa - any recommendations?

MissJane111

What a wonderful way to spend your anniversary! I happened upon your blog by googling "getting to Positano from Florence", and I am very glad I did. I am planning a trip with 3 girlfriends (not until 2011, admittedly)wich will include 2 weeks in Florence, and a week in Positano. Your blog has provided me with many extremely helpful tips - as most of what you took the greatest delight in is also dear to our hearts! My grateful thanks, and wishing you many more such anniversaries! Jane.

GDoug

Badger5 - do you know the name of the car service that took you into Tuscany and what the cost was? Also do recall the name of the winery? I have an email out to Monica but trying to cover all my bases in short order as we leave next week!
P.S. Your trip report was fabulous and gives us some great ideas that we will deinitely follow...a fellow Chicagoan and Wisky fan.

Texastrips

Hiking from Ravello to Amalfi is fabulous. The tourist office in Ravello hands out free, very clear hiking maps. You can walk down via Atrani without being on the road at all - very easy to find route on good path (only slightly tricky finding the pedestrian route from the main square in Atrani to Amalfi via pedestrian streets). Amazing views all the way. Recommend highly.