Restaurant near the Spanish Steps

Judy, the restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome is Ristorante "Al 34." It is located on Via Mario de'Fiori 34. Telephone number is 679 50 591. This is what the front of the restaurant looks like.

At the base of the Spanish Steps, if you walk down one block away from the Steps either down Via Delle Carozze or Via Della Croce, Via Mario De' Fiori is the first street that intersects them.

From Piazza Barberini, walk up Via Sistina up to the top of the hill. That should bring you past the Hotel Hassler. If you bear right there, you should be right near the top of the Spanish Steps.

Campanile di Giotto (Giotto's Bell Tower)

In 1334, Giotto started the cathedral bell tower (clad in the same three colors of marble gracing the Duomo) but completed only the first two levels before his death in 1337. He was out of his league with the engineering aspects of architecture, and the tower was saved from falling in on itself by Andrea Pisano, who doubled the thickness of the walls. Andrea, a master sculptor of the Pisan Gothic school, also changed the design to add statue niches -- he even carved a few of the statues himself -- before quitting the project in 1348. Francesco Talenti finished the job between 1350 and 1359 -- he exchanged the heavy solidness of the base for a lighter, airier effect.

The reliefs and statues in the lower levels -- by Andrea Pisano, Donatello, and others -- are all copies, the weatherworn originals now housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . You can climb the 414 steps to the top of the tower. What makes the 84m-high (276-ft.) view different from what you get out of the more popular climb up the cathedral dome, besides a cityscape vista, are great views of the Baptistery as you ascend and the best close-up shot in the entire city of Brunelleschi's dome.

For a short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JTaUCjFrmI&feature=related

More Florence and Chianti Region

hello

Annie got a fly in her nose tonight at dinner at Quattro Leone Restaurant and Maureen got hit in the face by a pigeon today.

This morning after a great breakfast at our hotel we went up to the top of the Capinele SP? or tower next to the Duomo......... hope Mark can find a pic of it...........what a breathtaking view of all of Florence.

We went on a wine tour of the Chianti Region with 5 other people and Anna who was our English speaking guide from Placerville (who worked at the restaurant on Chestnut and Steiner called Bin 23 last year). We took a scenic ride out to the Chianti area and went to two wineries for tasting and a place that I can't remember the name of for lunch and more wine. It was an all day event that went by so quickly. We walked around the Mercado area, Moe rubbed the boars nose, and then we went over the Ponte Vecchio at sunset to a great dinner place and ate outside...........it was too cold. It's cool but sunny and clear here.
I can't believe how much quieter it is here this time. Our guide today mentioned that tourism is significantly down.

Can you tell we have free internet at this hotel?

Off to Rome in the morning for two nights.

Ciao for now.

Me

i really hate pigeons now

maureen reportng,pigeon did a full flying body slam into the right side of my head this am.judy and i climbed the 421? steps in giottis tower to be rewarded with a breathtaking view of florence.it was not crowded at all..the tuscan wine tour was so enjoyable.the van took us on about a 25 minute ride out of the city into lush vineyards and cypress groves.the first stop was a wine tasting at a castle originally owned by the Pozzi family (which means crazy in italian.)we then went on to lunch and another wine tasting at a smaller vineyard.Anna our guide is originally from placerville.another early train ride tomorrow into rome. i will miss florence,so much to see, so little tme.what a beautiful city.scott, thanks for the cicada clip.

Fiesole & San Miniato al Monte

Villa San Michele, Fiesole (Florence in the backround)

Fiesole

San Miniato al Monte (Some ancestors of my grandmother are buried in the cemetary right near this church)

Ristorante La Giostra

Florence

This place is okay. A bit less crowded so far compared to last May. It was great being up early to get to the Uffizi because on the way we got to see the Duomo area in the beautiful morning sun without the crowds. After the Uffizi went over the Ponte Vecchio after showing Moe the Hermitage, a place that Annie and Liz and Mark and I have stayed and loved before. As Moe said we did explore the other side of the Arno. Up the hill to St Miniato and the Poggio area that has spectalcular views of Florence. I led us of course on the way back and we ended up walking more but did find a great road that took us down the Forte Belvedere and then back across the Arno heading back home by way of Santa Croce where there was a outdoor market fair thing going on.
We had a full day already but Moe and I have been wanting to go to Fiesole, a small town above Florence and we were not disappointed. I would recommend it for anyone visiting this place.
Speaking of recommendations, and I have pictures to show when I get home, the place we ate at, La Giostra was my new favorite place to eat here. It was recommended by someone I know. Mark, we are eating at Quato Leone tomorrow. We love food. The place we are staying is charming and not too expensive. Very nice staff and free internet. More later. Hope everyone is well..........miss you guys.

september 21

maureen reportng.we went to the uffizi museum this am.this whole place is an emotional rollercoaster of such beauty i cannot even find the words to descrbe it.after the museum we walked across the ponte vecchio and up a hill where we had lunch near the poggio.great deli sandwiches ,a great variety of italian cookies and a nice chianti in plastic cups.we ate overlooking the city.we then explored the side streets of florence.in the late afternoon we took the local bus to the small city of fiersole.WOW, the panoramic view was surreal.while we were waiting for the bus to go there an older italian woman sat by judy and I and chatted away to us in Italian.She was sweet and very animated and she didn't seem to mind the language barrier.on or return trip from fiersole to florence a mean bus conductor yelled at judy and i.we did not realize that we had to machine stamp our transfers.all i did was tell him that we showed the bus driver our passes and that set him off.do you understand english? he kept asking...i guess he deemed me the friggin village idiot because he then got right in judy's face asking do you understand english.....he was a mean mean man...two old italian ladies that were sitting down then grabbed judy and pulled her up into a seat...they had a more difficult time hoisting me up and a little old man had to help push me up into the seat...they all gave judy and i looks of sympathy.we had a wonderful dinner at la giostra restaurant this evening.complementary champagne along with a fantastic appetizer plate that included duck pate.it was the best meal i have had in a long time. ciao

Update from Florence

annie said...
Great pictures Mark, its almost like youre finding and posting the pictures we took. Another beautiful day today, perfect weather for sightseeing and walking around. Went to the Uffizi this a.m., early, when it opened and there were not many people there, it was wonderful. Then we walked to a wonderful sight I cant remember the name of, we had a picinic there, wine to go with our Italian sandwiches, thank you were much. Twas lovely, it was. Tomorrow were going on our wine tour, so that will be fun as well. The public toilets are too much == Sheila will appreciate this. We each paid .60 to use the toilet today. But it was a regular toilet with a man in there to hand us paper towels to dry our hands after using the facilities. Both Maureen and I saw the attendant pick up dropped paper towels and put them back into the stack of towels he was giving to the customers == on 2 separate occasions. Lovely. I just realized, I should have written this as a new message instead of posting acomment. Hope everyone will read it anyway. Oh yea, when we were on the other side of the Ponte Veccio (sp) we saw a large bike race go through the tiny, narrow streets filled with tourists. It was fun we cheered the bikers on, they were escorted by police cars, motorcycle offices, and cars with who knows who in them proudly waving to the public, and followed by ambulances and more police. It was fun. Our dear Judy hollered go USA when the US car drove by, then quickly quieted down thinking she was offending the people. She was embarrassed and then was ready to run and hide in the massive crowd in case a terrorist was now after her. Poor Judy. Now, having said that, its our poor Judy and her wonderful sense of diection and skillful use of the map thats getting is around in all these wonderful places. We give her pats on tne back for that. Will write again soon, Maureen and Judy May will probably write tonight. Toodles everyone.

Firenze

one more week

Man, we have been moving. Train ride was nice from Nice. No rain but did see some dark clouds ................better go, someone keeps turning out the lights ......yikes