A walk and metro trip to Milano Centrale, we headed out of Milan and towards Florence. We booked a 4-person cabin on the train, very comfortable and would have been spacious if not for our luggage! Free food on the train was not the best….not up to Japanese bullet train standard, nor our own trains…but it was free. We arrived at Firenze Santa Maria Novella station a few hours later, and headed off in the heat to find our accommodation – Sette-Angeli Rooms. Clean and comfortable, but simple and not as exciting as the hotels we’d normally stay in.
We asked the accommodation’s owner for a recommendation for lunch – downstairs (NOT upstairs!) at the Mercato Centrale. She was right – really simple and cheap, yet incredibly tasty pasta, that the locals clearly frequent. A wander into Florence, we found the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, the original Panerai watch shop (some really nice, old and valuable pieces) and then headed for pre-booked entrance to the impressive Accademia Gallery, to see Michaelangelo’s David.
Then dinner at another recommendation – the excellent Trattoria La Gratella, a traditional Tuscan restaurant.
