Day 10
It was cloudy and wet, and after our typical breakfast of capuccini and croissant, we climbed all 463 steps to the top of the Duomo, and admired the roofscape of Firenze. Felt sooooo gooood!
By now, we’ve seen the duomo and piazza at all hours – from the sunny afternoons to the buzzing late hours, office hours (some locals have to work) rush to the quiet mornings when the cafès are open but the streets are being swept. It’s fantastic ambience!

The basilica took 200 years to build. Amazing to think that people planned and built this structure, not so much for themselves, but for future generations! Or maybe they didn’t realize it would take so long? Brunelleschi, who designed and built the duomo is considered the #1 architect of all time. Even Michaelangelo was inspired by the beauty of the dome!
They sell these cute umbrellas with duomo print on the sidewalks at atrocious prices, but that’s another story. . .
We walked around a bit in the drizzle, wondering what to do next. Chianti tour or Siena? Chianti is too far for cycling (for us novices), so we booked a guided bus tour for the afternoon.
Fantastic drive into the Toscano countryside, with lush green trees and rows and rows of vineyards. The villages and farmhouses are so dreamy (sigh!); when we visit again we will rent out a country villa.

A little bit of wine tasting and shopping, a lot of admiring the landscape, and a surprisingly interesting, quirky guide made up the tour. We visited a village – Greve- in Chianti, whose claim to fame is one Verrazzano who explored and discovered New York Bay. We wondered why he left this beautiful place to look for “the new world”! They honor him here as well as in New York, and his contribution to tourism is quite significant!

We had a quiet evening after all the day’s excitement – Souvik with his takeaway hot dogs and football match, me with a book and cough syrup. Hmmm.