Falling for Florence (continued)

By Gavandra Hodge, Evening Standard

Last updated at 11:37 31 January 2003


It was a 20-minute train journey to Florence and our first destination was the Duomo. This confection of green, pink and white marble, topped with Brunelleschi's terracotta-tiled cupola, is a shocking oasis of colour among the sombre wintry streets.

We whizzed around the inside, surprisingly ascetic considering its flashy exterior, and then continued to the Piazza della Signoria - the vast square that is home to a host of sculptures - also recognisable for its starring role in A Room with a View as the location for wimpy Lucy Honeychurch's fainting fit. Here is the Palazzo Vecchio, once Cosimo I's home, and in the corner, the Uffizi Gallery - the most visited building in Italy, which leads you down to the River Arno and the Ponte Vecchio.

The bridge once housed the city's butchers, but Cosimo I deemed these unsavoury and had them replaced by the goldsmiths who still inhabit it today.

In Florence, every time you turn a corner it feels like you have jumped into a postcard. My favourite view is over the Arno from the Uffizi. This is particularly lovely in winter, when the mist hangs over the surrounding green hills and there aren't hordes of other tourists jostling for a vantage point.

After a day dragging my boyfriend around the city, I felt we deserved a feast of Medicean decadence. There are two restaurants off the road which takes you from the centre of Prato to Villa Rucellai - La Fontanelle and Logli Mario - both serving classic Tuscan fare.

We chose Logli and impressed the locals by polishing off five courses - antipasti of bruschette and Parma ham, a bresaola and rocket salad, pasta with wild boar sauce, a huge Florentine bistecca (a well-hung T-bone steak) and finally Vin Santo and biscotti.

We then wobbled back to Villa Rucellai for another bottle of homebrew and a game of chess in front of the fire. As the only other guests were running the Florence marathon the next day, we had the grand living room to ourselves and, for one night only, could pretend to be the (incredibly well-fed) masters of this enchanting place.

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