FLORENCE - THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

When thinking of Florence, anyone who has already seen this beautiful city immediately thinks of Renassaince, art galleries and crowds of tourists. But there are other, more valid reasons to choose Florence as the goal of an Italian journey - its location, its countryside and the Historical Fancy-Dress Footbal game.

Anytime I go to Florence, which happens quite often because my parents live there, I always arrive at the Santa Maria Novella rail station, no matter how, if by train, plane, car or coach. The city airport is well connected with the station by bus and with Pisa`s airport by train. The main car parking site of the town is just below the station. The Eurolines` coach station is on the same square.

Florence is a good starting point for a Jouney in Italy, because of its geographic location. You can spend a week in Italy, visiting the main Italian cities without carrying around your luggage and changing hotels.

Why Florence ? First because it`s a beautiful romantic artistic cultural historic city. Rome and Venice are as well, but Florence is in the middle of Italy, just beetwen this two cities and well connected by train. Only three hours by train devided Santa Maria Novella from Rome, Milan or Venice.

The city is so compact that most of the hotels are within easy walking distance of the station. You can sleep in Florence and wake up early in the morning to catch the train to the more romantic Venice, to the 'capital-mondi' Rome or to the business city of Milan. After the Venetian Gnocchi and polenta, the Roman Bucatini alla Matriciana and a wonderful Risotto alla Milanese, you can go back to your Italian base in Florence - ready for a bloody, thick beef steak, the Florentine.

Eating in Florentine restaurants is an unmatched sensation - Florentine cousine, Renaissance background and genuine Chianti wine. The food taste much better. Drinking in one of those bars in those wonderful squares dominated by imponent churches is definitely something that go to the head. It makes you see the famous artists that have embellished the town appear from those medieval narrow streets.

If it isn't Monday, you can turn left out of the station and ask for the San Lorenzo`s market. Exploring the market is a rewarding experience - you will find cheap Italian style clothes. Turn a corner and you come across the imposing facade of the Duomo, branch off down a side street and you happen on a peaceful piazza.

To climb the Duomo you have to walk a narrow balcony all around the Brunelleschi`s Cupola. That`s a unique feeling. You will find yourself in the middle of the fresco that cover the ceiling. The tackiest thing to do in the city. You are so high that the inside visitors of the church look like ants.

The main street on the right side looking at the front of the church is Via Calzaioli. From the Duomo it`s a short, but over-populated stroll across several 'must eat' ice creams, to Piazza Signoria.

There you can admire and visit the Palazzo Vecchio, today Florence`s town-hall and once the Medicis` residence. The Uffizi Gallery, home of countless masterpieces, is linked to the power building by the Vasariano corridor, used by the lords of Florence to reach the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the river - a real fortress, very useful in case of annoying revolts.

The Corridoio Vasariano can also be seen on the top of the jeweller`s shops on the Ponte Vecchio. Florentine partisans used the secret corridor to avoid the German machine-guns that stopped the allies from entering the city, on the other side. The Old Bridge was the only one left on the Arno - too beautiful to blow up.

The £ 2 ticket to see the Giardino di Boboli - the wonderful Reinassance garden protected by Palazzo Pitti, is worthwhile. The other green place worth seeing, for its view of the town, is the Forte Belvedere - an ideal place for a picnic. By coincidence it`s inside another fortress, as if in those times, people were more concerned about green issues.

Climbing the hill to this fortress is a lovely stroll among huge villas and cute houses. One of which once belonged to misunderstood people like Galileo Galilei, who had unique ideas about the shape of our planet.

If you really want to have inspiration for your D.I.Y. when you get home, take the bus to Vinci and go to see Leonardo`s house and the Vinci`s castle which house the genius` bizare projects. His birthplace house is covered by olive threes and surrounded by Chianti vineyards. I`ve always wondered if they have inspired his genius.

Something not to be missed if you are in Florence in June is the Florentine Fancy-Dress Football. This particular style of football is really a mixture of wrestling, rugby and football. Its roots derive from an ancient Greek ball game, later adapted by Roman legionaries from Florence to keep fit.

Since ye olde times, Florence has been divided into four quarters, or four teams each with its own color - Santa Croce (blue), Santo Spirito (white), San Giovanni (green) and Santa Maria Novella (red). On the anniversary of the patron-saint John the Baptist, the town dresses in mediaeval atmosphere to recall its glorious days and to revive a famous football match played in the 16th century when the walls of the town were assediated by the enemies.

The Piazza S. Croce is covered with earth and divided in the centre by a white line. All around the playing area thousands of supporters and tourists attend every move watching for the outbreak of a fight. The attention is then focused at the fight not the game and hence its violent reputation.

The referees seem incapable of controlling a game where anything goes. The only rule is that the ball can not be still. Players often come to blows or perform martial arts one each other. Most of the players also box, do karate or judo, or are club bouncers. Nice chaps.

The brawls aren`t exlusive to the playing fields. Fights break out in the bars of the quarters between rival supporters and players. But rest assured, they will never touch a tourist.

Jane from Birmingham, 24, a waitress in Florence says, "it`s as if all the supporters of Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United lived together in a small town and the championship took place over only three weeks."

When annoyed by crowds of tourists, art galleries and the Italian noisy traffic, rent a bike and go into the countryside which is just few minutes outside the city. Take the old road to Siena, pass through the Certosa - a beautiful convent - and the American cemetery which is in a peaceful park. When you see the sign Rignana, follow the small path beetwen olive trees and grape fields. You are in the heart of the Chianti area.

Don`t stop at the wonderful medieval village of Rignana, I want to show you something cooler. Turn instead into the street next to the medieval walls of the castle and go down it freewheeling. Isn`t it like 'A room with a view' ?

When at the bottom climb the path near the small wooden bridge - you can`t miss it. Go up into the wood. On the top is a small lake. It`s known only by the local people. There you can swim and relax completely immersed in nature - water, wood and vineyards. No tourists, no cars, no noise. The only sounds disturbing your peace are the chatting of birds and the hourly bells of the village church.

felix petrelli

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