Florence: Santa Maria Novella la bella

One of the big advantages of our motorhome travel in New Zealand was the flexibility to change plans and pick and choose where we'd be on any given night and how long we'd stay there. Since we were driving, we kind of planned out our Italy honeymoon along the same lines. We made an itinerary and booked hotels for every stop (unlike NZ, where we didn't book anywhere in advance), but we were careful to book places that could be cancelled if we changed our minds. In fact, so far we've stuck to the plan. Turns out it's a bit more complicated to change things around with hotels and apartments than when you're a travelling snail in your shell. The upshot of this, though, is that we didn't make any advance bookings for things like museums or tours, just in case we weren't where we thought we'd be on the day in question. Mostly, this hasn't been an issue. The season is over now and places are definitely getting quieter. There was one spot, however, where it is big enough and tourist-filled enough to make a difference, and that is Florence.

There are SO many tourists in Florence. I don't remember it being quite so bad the last time I was there in 2009, at around the same time of year, although I do remember there were long lines at the Uffizi even then. Since we didn't have advance tickets for these sorts of places, and could be bothered neither to stand in line for them nor to monkey around with Italian websites, we decided to skip some of Florence's big hitters and go instead for some slightly lesser-known attractions.

First, though, we had to arrive - by car. This wasn't actually quite as traumatic as I was expecting (easy for me to say, I wasn't driving), although we did end up accidentally driving through a pedestrian-only zone in the Santa Croce square. Not that you could really tell, since all those million tourists just walk in the road whether it's a pedestrian area or not. We'll see if there's a fine waiting when we get back to Brussels though... After a pause while Jules waited in the car and I did some on-foot reconnaissance to discover whether it was actually possible to get to the parking garage by car (you'd think so, or it would sort of defeat the purpose), we were happy to abandon the car for a couple of days and explore the rest of Florence via Shank's ponies.

While we were waiting for our apartment to be ready, we picked up some panini and then checked out the Duomo.

Outside the duomo

The inside of the famous Duomo domo

The inside is not so spectacular

Jules and my sandwich, I think. In one of the famous hole-in-the-wall places on Via dei Neri

Then it was on to our main attraction for the afternoon, the church of Santa Maria Novella. I went back in 2009, but since then they have actually opened up the cloisters and associated monastical structures, which adds a ton more to see, including the famous Uccello frescoes. I'm not sure how long this part has been accessible, but if you visited a while ago, it's well worth going again to see the rest of the complex.

Massaccio's Trinity, said to have induced terror in viewers when it was first revealed, due to its trompe l'oeil perspective

Beautiful Ghirlandaio frescoes behind the altar

Harmonious ceiling vaults in the cloister cemetery

In the cloisters

Ucello's flood. I had to study this via a black and white photocopy at school, you can imagine how uninspiring that was. In real life, the dramatic perspective and foreshortening is much more effective. It was originally in an arch in the cloisters, hence the shape, but has been moved inside for preservation

The Spanish Chapel, located off the cloister

Ceiling and wall of the Spanish Chapel

I can totally picture this as an ad for some hipster perfume or something

Fresco in the Spanish Chapel

Jules in the Great Cloister

It's not quite the Uffizi, but the amount and quality of artworks in situ in churches and cathedrals across Italy is still mind-blowing, and SMN is a particularly good spot to while away an afternoon. And we didn't have to queue!

We recovered our energy at Florence's Central Market, a destination which was new to me. It wasn't, to be honest, the *most* amazing food Italy has to offer, but you've got to hand it to them for making a really slickly-branded, tourist-friendly place to people-watch and sample some food and wine. They have common branding and staff (bussing tables) that make it, if perhaps a little antiseptic, at least a very inviting and easy place to spend some time. I think my favourite market experience is still the place we went to in Madrid, which was more authentically markety, but this was fun too for an early dinner grazing session.

Jules in the Central Market

Tasting some Tuscan reds

Staff hard at work

La dolce vita

Modena is an overwhelmingly pleasant city. Not as touristy even as Bologna (or Florence for that matter, where we are right now) and not as bustling as Ferrara, it leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of la dolce vita. If you watched the second season of Master of None, you might already be tempted to move here, and I can confirm, it's the kind of place that has you lingering outside real estate offices thinking "why not?". You don't seem to need to move faster than an amble, and there are plenty of pleasant places to window shop or stop for a drink, gelato or meal.

Modena Duomo. I loved all the beautiful Romanesque carvings

Alley next to the Duomo

Some wild grape-eating creature

Beautiful chapel inside

A lion caught a knight!

Very dangerous, these lions!

Squished by the weight of his column

Modena's central market

For lunch, we found this delightfully retro place that seemed to be frozen in the sixties/seventies (the Oreste). The gentleman in the picture, the owner (?) informed us at the beginning of the meal that there were no waiters today due to an unspecified problem, so he served everyone himself using a little tray on wheels. Service therefore proceeded at a glacial pace, but the food was delicious and the ambience was a lot of fun - you can just see the old record-playing jukebox on the left. The next table to us was made up of an odd trio of an older guy in a suit, looking very Mafia don, who kept stepping out to take calls on his cellphone, and two much younger guys, one of which looked kind of like an 80s greaser and the other who was dressed in a tracksuit, baseball cap, and mirrored sunglasses indoors. It was fun to concoct outlandish stories about what the made man and his goons were up to today.

After lunch, I treated my Bolognese friend to some gelato

Modena has some porticos too

Synagogue, with soldiers

So cathedral, food, more food, walking around and handbag shopping - that was it for Modena, and very pleasant it was too. When we move there, I promise you can all visit.

Bologna la Grassa

On our second day in Bologna (our only full day really), we didn't have much of a plan but ended up doing most of the things I did already on my first trip to Bologna. I suppose there isn't all that much to see. But it was enjoyable again the second time, so no complaints from me. The first time was in winter, complete with snow. This time, it rained, so it wasn't so different really. This once again proved the value of Bologna's many covered porticos, as well as the importance for sitting down for a long and ample meal.

First stop was the Anatomical Theatre, once part of the University of Bologna, the world's oldest university. It's compact and somehow cosy, due to the all-wood panelling, despite the grotesque depictions of flayed bodies and the marble slab in the middle to remind you of its original purpose of displaying dissections.

In the Anatomical Theatre

The "Skinless" statues by Ercole Lelli

Apollo hovering above the dissection table

The corridors are decorated with thousands of coats-of-arms and memorials to teachers and students

The "Stabat Mater" reading room

Jules in one of the famous porticoes

In the middle of town, we stumbled across a "ragu fest", dedicated to Bologna's famous culinary traditions. It actually wasn't the most exciting of festivals (not enough free samples!) but it was fun to walk around for a little, and it felt like another little serendipitous moment of honeymoon fun.

Ragu fest

Did Sophia Loren really star in a paean to Bologna's favourite sausage?

New friend

A slightly sulky lunch of tortellini in brodo, while it poured outside. The rowdy Italian family behind us were being very rowdy and Italian

The sun came out while we were lunching, and we popped into Santo Stefano, or the seven churches, another repeat from my previous visit. Dating back perhaps as far as the 5th century, these preserve a special atmosphere even though they were more crowded than on my winter trip.

In front of the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Animal attacks

Altar inside the Holy Sepulchre

So we actually accomplished quite a bit in Bologna, while seeming not really to do anything at all. One thing we definitely did do was eat. A lot. Platters of sliced meat and cheese, tortellini, tortelloni, ravioli, ragu bolognese.... even between the two of us, there was a lot going on. Hence why they call Bologna "La Grassa", or "the fat"!

Making friends with our rival tower Asinelli

Piazza Maggiore by night