On Tuesday I had a mini adventure with two friends from school. They were in a photo class that required them to take photos of landscapes, and since there were none to be had in the city of Florence, we took a 30min bus ride up to Fiesole.
A short history of the town taken from fiesole.com:
" Fiesole is of Etruscan origin, as may be seen from the remains of its ancient walls, and was probably founded in the 9 C BC. One possible reason for the prosperity of Etruscan and Roman Fiesole could be its location near a ford over the Arno close to where Roman Florence (Florentia) would rise. Fiesole's location also made it strategic for travellers on all the main roads between southern and central Etruria to the south (covering large parts of present day Tuscany, Umbria and Latium) and the Etruscans in the area around the Po valley to the north.
The Romans conquered Faesulae, as Fiesole was then known, in 283 BC. Under Roman rule, it became the seat of a famous school of augurs, and every year twelve young men were sent here from Rome to study the art of divination. Rome typically drew heavily on the Etruscans for priests and augurs. Sulla colonised it with veterans, who afterwards, under the leadership of Manlius, supported the cause of Catiline. Near Fiesole, the Vandals and Suevi under Radagaisus were defeated (405) by hunger rather than by the troops of Stilicho. A considerable number of interesting finds from the Etruscan period - urns, bucchero, clay and bronze statues - together with other objects from Roman times are to be found in the Museum near the archaeological zone.
During the Gothic War (536-53) Fiesole was besieged several times and in 539 Justinus, the Byzantine general, captured it and razed its fortifications. In the early Middle Ages, Fiesole was more powerful than Florence in the valley below, and many wars arose between them. In 1010 and 1025 Fiesole was sacked by the Florentines, and its leading families obliged to take up their residence in Florence."
What a view of the countryside from the city!!!
I love the sign there
We even came across a few quirky things in English, which always entertain me to no end.
Italian "puppies"
a pub sign (don't ask, I don't know!)
More historically though, we came across an ancient Etruscan tomb. It wasn't closed off, which surprised me. Text from a sign near the site:
" This important archaeological site dates back to the Hellenistic age (III II B.C.), and was in use up until the Late Imperial age, although some finds from high levels of the diggings that had subsequently accumulated inside the tombs indicate that it was also used in a later period. These tombs are the only surviving testimonials of the necropolis that, in Etruscan and Roman times, was situated immediately outside the walls and at the sides of the roads leading into the town. The tombs at Fiesole are composed of two rectangular shaped chambers, built by placing huge, very thick, squared up blocks of "pietra serena" or local; grey stone one on top of the other without mortar. The smaller chamber appears to be underground, as it is carved of of the difference in the level of the rock, which the other is completely open to the eye. The urns of parellelepipedal shaped coffins in stone were stopped by covers with an inclined surface on either side and placed on stone benches inside the tombs. The Romans instead used terracotta cinerary urns with a concave handled cover. The relative finds can be dated as from around I A.D."
It was fascinating to be able to walk around and actually touch the stones of this tomb. Luckily the youth had not chosen to graffiti the stone like they do on so many buildings in Florence.
being right in the tomb!
my friend Becky in the tomb
area of tomb
And a few other snapshots from around the city:
(luckily it didn't rain!)
blooms outside residence
statue in wall of a residence
statue in the square of town...of course I'd focus on the horse!
Once I returned to Florence and parted ways with my friends, I decided to explore a little more. I came upon the cutest toy store! It was so much more charming than huge, imposing Toys R Us stores in the US:
And that was only the Lego section! There were similar little enclaves for model cars, Barbies, anime models, etc etc. The store seemed more of a set of toy-filled caverns. And I found an Italian way of teaching boys at young age to live up to the "Italian stallion" mentality that is SO common here:
I had a good laugh from that. And just for my good internet friend Alphess, a lover of fine European cars, I photographed some models of Lambos. (Sorry I didn't see any real ones yet! I'm still keeping my eyes open for them - promise!)
I also wandered into a video game/movie store and couldn't help but take a snapshot of this too:
Well hey, it made me smile. :) Other things that are purely European:
I wanted to buy everything! *yum*
And finally, the return home from this wonderful day was equally nice because I went walking by the Duomo at about 7pm, just when the setting sun lit up the buildings in a glorious golden light:
Yesterday, my host "mom" Elisabetta made whole roasted apples that were stuffed with raisins and sweet goodness. It was a great end to a party with her, her two friends, her daughter and me. Don't be fooled by the slight blackness on top - they were absolutely heavenly!!!
Not much went on today except classes. But I did walk by a protest of sorts going on outside a gallery. Not sure if they were trying to include the gallery in their protests, but their signs indicated they were protesting against the rising costs of bread and pasta, among other daily foodstuffs of Italians. It was a peaceful rally, with about 10 flag holders, a few sign holders and one man speaking over a loudspeaker. The police were standing near, but they seemed relaxed and even slightly bored. It was interesting though. There were three or four photographers standing around and even a few video cameras.
And I will leave you for now with an image of dozing pigeons, just because, and also it's a 'thanks for reading my long post'!
