“A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset.” – meme on Pinterest
Luca took me on a day date yesterday…to a cemetery. I mean if this guy doesn’t know how to show a girl a good time, I don’t know who does.
In all fairness, I asked to go to two burial sites and he was happy to take me. I love a peaceful cemetery and apparently, he appreciates them too. Who would have thought two weirdos like us would have ever found each other?
The first was the stop was Cimitero delle Porte Sante, the cemetery of the Holy Doors. It’s located at the top of a hill (just before Piazzale Michelangelo) behind the church of San Miniato al Monte, which is described on Google maps as an “11th century church with a gleaming Romanesque facade, medieval interiors and city views.” They didn’t lie. The church was beautiful and the city views were stunning.
We took off on the scooter around 10:30am and the ride was beautiful. The leaves are turning, the air is crisp and it’s a pretty time to experience Florence. Like Google said, the view was amazing. I actually liked it better than Piazzale Michelangelo (less people and a little higher up).
We climbed the (many, many) steps up to the church and walked around. Inside we saw beautiful frescoes and the alter that is said to contain the remains of Saint Miniato – who has a very bizarre legend about the end of his life and the church was unable to torture and kill him for not honoring the Pagan gods, so eventually the Roman soldiers beheaded him. Then he picked up his own head (yes, you read that right) and walked to this hilltop to die. So because of these miracles he is a saint. I didn’t write the story folks, I’m just sharing what I learned.
Next we walked around to the back of the church and into the cemetery. It felt very crowded. Lots of headstones but they were beautiful. Most of the tombs dated back to the 1800’s up to present day. I saw family members placing flowers and trimming shrubs around their loved ones graves. We saw a team of people working on cleaning a few busts on the headstones. They were using cleaner and tiny brushes. Luca could hear them talking and said they might be art students learning how to restore marble…a cemetery would definitely give you plenty of stone to practice this craft.
We were specifically looking for the tomb of Carlo Lorenzini better known by his nom de plume, Carlo Collodi, the author of Pinocchio. Found it! Not all that exciting and it was interesting that there is not a noticeable marker indicating his career. Though they do sell little Pinocchio trinkets in the gift shop.
Next we scooted down the hill a little ways to Piazzale Michelangelo for a cup of coffee and to enjoy more views of the city. Florence truly is one of the prettiest cities in Europe. It’s got a magical feeling to it.❤️
After a quick scooter ride we were back in the city center to visit the next and last burial site of the day. Opera di Santa Croce. This church contains incredible paintings from the Medici Family private collection and many monuments and memorials including the tombs of Dante, Michelangelo, Galileo, Niccolò Machiavelli and Rossini. There is also a robe wore by San Francesco of Assisi. The Basilica has a wonderful, pleasant vibe. They still have daily mass as well if that interests any of you.
After we finished visiting the tombs of all the historical dead people, we went for lunch in Santa Croce Square at a restaurant called Finisterrae, which is also the name of the town on the Camino known as The End Of The World (spelled a little differently though – Finesterre). We split our meals of roasted chicken and root vegetables and Pappardelle al cinghiale, which is thick ribbons of home-made pasta with a wild boar sauce. Yum! We finished the day by sharing a cone with three gelato flavors before riding the scooter back home just before the sunset to relax and unwind.
It was another enjoyable day in Florence filled with history lessons, beautiful panoramas & art, and delicious food.
Click the link to check out the video recap of our day.
Goodnight and much love from Italy! 🇮🇹