Arty Farty Florence

Florence, or Firenze, smells like leather, tastes like pizza, looks like the renaissance and feels like the sun.

Leather

Florence is a cow’s nightmare. There is leather everywhere. Every shop and market is filled with leather goods. You’ve got bags, belts, jackets, books, key rings and the list goes on. I was able to do an introduction to Florence tour where they told you all about the history of leather and how to spot a fake. Basically it all comes down to the little imperfections that make the leather genuine. Cause isn’t that true of life? We are all a little imperfect and that’s what makes us human.

Pizza

I had been itching to get in the kitchen to do some Italian cooking so my friend and I booked knot a pizza and gelato course at a Tuscan estate. What a great life decision!

We were taken from their office in the city to a private Tuscan estate that looked over olive groves, cyprus trees and a vegetable garden. You could also see the city of Florence in the background. Then we were taken to the garden to pick some fresh produce to flavour our gelato. Roses, Sage and Basel. Next we were given some Tuscan wine and bruchetta to fuel us for our cooking lesson.

Gelato was first. I never realised that there was such a science to gelato making. We were shown graphs and formulas then we’re able to apply our new knowledge to the flavour we desired. If I’d learnt anything from the Italians it’s that sometimes the most simple of ingredients are best. With this in mind we chose the vanilla bean, however this one had an egg so it was really more of a custard.

Then we learnt how to make pizza dough which has to be done just so. We were told to be careful with our ‘baby’ that we kneaded then tucked in to rise. Later they brought out some dough that was prepared earlier and we learnt how to stretch it and then toss it in the air. Successfully, I might add.

Then it was time to deck out the pizzas with toppings. The key is the best quality ingredients and not too many. Finally we put our ‘babies’ into the oven. It only takes 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven. Which is good news when you’re keen to eat. After polishing off a pizza each and getting to know the others in out class we finished by sharing our gelato. Perfecto!

If you’re keen to have the same experience then book with walkabout tours.

Tuscan Sun

Florence is in the Tuscan region and has a look and feel about it that is classic of Tuscany. The city of Florence has a weathered look about it and wears summery colours.

Renaissance

As fair as I can tell renaissance really just means a lot of doodles on statues and permission for nudie paintings. Michelangelo’s David is probably the most famous example. I guess it was the period of enlightening when the human form was appreciated in all its glory. Which I guess you can understand if everyone was as fit and ‘sculpted’ as David. That, or artists exercised their artistic licence and portrayed the perfect bodies they hoped to have.