Days 22 and 23 "Non Toccare"

Italy 2010

Days 22 and 23

“Non Toccare”

We had several occasions to relive the phrase “Don’t Touch!” or “Non Toccare”. We seemed to be doing okay in the morning, visiting the Duomo and climbing the 463 steps to the top, which is called the cupola. Along the way, we got a close-up look at the “Last Judgment”, an incredible mural.

The bottom layer shows the fate for those going to H-E-double hockey stick; the second and third layers depict angels and the saints. The first layer is as scary as many a horror movie.

The climb was worth it for the views.

Soon after this, our group started getting some negative attention. First, one of us touched a restaurant flower (in a vase) to smell it, and the owner came running out to instruct us that our touch would kill the flower. Non Toccare!

Shortly later, we were on a tour of the Uffizi Gallery, one of the premiere art museums of Europe. We were on a guided tour and getting information to understand the significance of the art (some of us know art primarily through play-dough and plasters of our hands). There was a special portion of our tour that took us through a secret passage called the Vasari corridor that the ruling family used to secretly move about part of the city. Our guide was accompanied by a “guard” who watched our every move so that we didn’t wreck anything. One of the four of us touched a marble table, which prompted the lady guard to run over wagging her finger. Non Toccare! Another of us did the same thing two minutes later, evidently not noticing the former chastising. She gave quite a loud verbal lashing that time. Non Toccare! Our packs and purses had to be moved to the fronts of our bodies so that we might not back into a painting with them. Shortly thereafter, one of us backed into a painting, and it seemed an international incident was about to happen. We weren’t allowed to take any photographs of this secret passage. Later, we did get this picture at our gelateria that summed up the afternoon.

In the container are little ice cream sampling spoons. It was a fitting and funny end to our afternoon.

The next day, which was our last day in Italy, was filled with lots of eating, shopping, and walking. There is a central market in Florence with hundreds of vendors. The core of the market is dominated by meat markets, cheese stores, pasta stores (yes, there is such a thing in Italy), and a few eateries including the poor peoples trattoria called Nerbone.

Since some are squeamish about some foods, I’ll only point out the well-known shop that sold boiled beef on Italian hard rolls with pesto where we had lunch. It was soooooo good!

We did our best to see a little more of the city. It was a hot day so we took a long walk through the shady lanes of the Boboli gardens, a huge garden left to the city from the renaissance rulers.

We had a full week in Florence, and it seemed like that wasn’t enough time. Walking home from dinner on our last night, the sun was setting on Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge), perhaps an omen that it was time to leave. It’s definitely a special place.