On the first Sunday of each month, state owned and/or operated museums in Florence have free admission. As this was that Sunday, I had what I thought was the brilliant idea of going to the Uffizi to buy a museum pass since no one would be there buying day tickets. I would not have to queue.

Of course, I arrived and the ticket office was closed! The queue to enter ran the length of the building and some demonstration, I think, about funding the arts, was happening.

Instead I went shopping. The main streets were busy.

I went to Sephora, a cosmetics shop, to buy not interesting stuff like makeup remover and sunscreen. The store was very busy.

I strolled back towards the apartment but stopped for lunch at a small place recommended by a number of people, Note di Vino. They offer schiacciate, sandwiches. The strip of tables outside was full so I happily sat inside out of the sun. I think I have already mentioned it’s hot — 28-32 the three days I’ve been here.

After dropping off my purchases and leftover schiacciata, I walked to the Duomo or Santa Maria dei Fiori as the main cathedral is named. Across the street is a statue of Brunelleschi, who designed the dome.

He’s looking at his creation. I highly recommend reading Ross King’s “Brunelleschi’s Dome”. He’s from Edmonton — King, not Brunelleschi.

Lots of people were waiting to go up the dome.

But I went to the Museo delle Opere di Santa Maria dei Fiore or the Cathedral Museum which had no one queuing.

Inside are many of the original works either that have been removed from the cathedral and baptistery and replaced by something else or removed to be protected and a copy put in its place. The first display on the main floor is set up to put sculptures into the same relative position as they would have been on the cathedral front or baptistery. It lets you get much closer than you can when actually standing outside the edifices.

One of the stars of the museum is Donatello whose works not only are innovative and highly skilled but show his work in a wide variety of media and function:

The museum is on four levels plus a basement, which I did not visit. I discovered on the top level, there is Terrazza Brunelleschi, an open air terrace. It has a great view of the Dome (which is in my feature photo at the top of this post) but being afraid of heights and because it was so hot, I only took a photo from the doorway.

I climbed up and down all the stairs so that nearing the end of my visit, I needed to sit and contemplate the Michelangelo Pietà, which was never created to be part of the Cathedral complex but was donated by someone who purchased it after Michelangelo died and at one point was placed was inside the Cathedral. It was the last of the three Pietàs carved by Michelangelo. This one was never finished, supposedly because he found a flaw in the marble, got enraged and attacked it, knocking off parts which were later replaced by another sculptor. But it remains unfinished (notice Jesus has only one leg and Mary’s face is partially done) and the fourth figure, the angel, was added by another sculptor. The standing man has Michelangelo’s face. Some people call this the ugliest of the three Pietàs.

On a totally different topic, I have a long list of recommended gelaterie (gelato shops) which I am working on. Today, being Sunday, hot and still heavy tourist season, I noted the lengthy queues outside of many gelaterie. Very nearby is Vivoli, which I tried on an earlier trip. It has long been considered one of the best but the queues have been long and in the full sun. Another very popular gelateria is Giolitti, which Michelle Obama took her daughters to (back when she was the First Lady). It had a crazy busy queue. But less than 2 blocks away from Giolitti is Perchè No!, which some think is the best in Florence and I walked straight in and ordered.

The gelato was very creamy textured but Gelateria dei Neri’s nocciola was more intensely hazelnut flavoured. Not that I’m complaining about the flavours of the Perchè No gelato.

Where I am staying offers a wine tasting of wines from the vineyard owned by the extended family, Malenchini Wines. I decided to try it. It’s offered in the sitting room on the 2nd floor (3rd by North American counting).

I think there are five other rooms/suites here and I have not seen a lot of other guests. No one else showed up for wine tasting so it was just me and the manager, who also provided canapés topped with olive paté and another with soft cheese and cherry tomatoes and a small Tuscan salume sandwich.

She described the history of the tower, the vineyard, which is a former Medici villa and the wines. As I told her I’m trying to speak Italian, she described this all in Italian and I was able to follow what she said as she speaks slowly enough in standard Italian without a regional accent.

The Italian practice of always having food with alcohol is great, especially for me now that my alcohol tolerance has been wrecked by my encounter with salmonella, but it does fill me up.

I’ve had gelato for lunch many times but this time it was gelato for dinner.

Very good and the whole hazelnuts took the nocciola to another level.