Firenze to Monterosso (via Pisa)

day 12 – giorno dodici

This morning we left Florence and headed west towards the Mediterranean. Our final destination was Monterosso, in the Cinque Terre, but we made two additional stops on the way.

The first stop was just a half hour outside Florence: the Florence American Cemetery. I can’t remember the exact number of service members buried here, but it doesn’t really matter because a high percentage of those who died in WWII were returned home to be laid to rest. This cemetery was for all service men and women who were killed during the war, from Rome north. Most people know nothing about this cemetery and Angel, our guide, really stressed that that was something that needed to change. At the top of the hill, up from the cemetery, is the Wall of the Missing. Hundreds of names are engraved on this wall, a majority of whom were on bombers, and their bodies not yet found. However, slowly but surely, remains are still being discovered. With technological advances, previously unidentified remains are also being identified and families finally getting closure after all these years. When I came to Europe in 7th grade, we went to the American Cemetery in Normandy and the thing that struck me most were all the un-named headstones. I can’t imagine being a family member and never really knowing what happened to a loved one. We’ve been having a very special experience on this tour and this stop was a great reminder that without all of those men and women who fought, it would be a very different world than it is today.

We were all in a somber mood as we re-boarded the bus and set off for our second stop, Pisa. We passed this ancient aqueduct on the way that stretched as far as we could see in either direction.

We arrived in Pisa around midday and had a few hours to explore the Campo dei Miracoli which includes the duomo/cathedral, the baptistery, a cemetery, and of course, the famous leaning tower.

First stop: the toilet. It’s fascinating how many different configurations of water/soap/hand dryers we’ve seen so far. See the tiny lit up symbols on the mirror? I think my favorite so far is the water control pedal on the floor though.

Second stop: the baptistery. A few things made this baptistery memorable. Firstly the domed roof is covered half with tiles and half with lead. The lead half faces the sea and is better able to withstand the salt air. Secondly, the multitude of arches and high balcony create amazing acoustics. Every half hour, one of the employees comes into the center of the room and sings for a couple minutes. It’s very simple, just a few different tones, but the reverberation was amazing. It sounded like she was singing three different things at once.

From the baptistery, we went to the cemetery. I was confused at first glance until I realized all of the tiles on the floor that had family crests on them were actually headstones. Makes for a nice floor, but I felt a little weird walking on it. There were also many ornate sarcophagi lining the walls of the rectangular building.

Tara and I split off from Mom at this point because we had luckily gotten a ticket to climb the leaning tower, so we had a timetable to stick to. We went in the cathedral next. The arches and striped marble columns… It’s all amazing. The gold leaf mosaics that cover the ceiling. Paintings and frescoes that line the walls. Plus the beautiful stained glass windows. It’s all so over the top, but such a collection of art. The lamp that Galileo observed swinging which helped him understand the movement of a pendulum was also in this church.

Finally, it was time for the tower. We had a little while to stand in line, so we educated ourselves further by reading Rick Steves’ section on the tower. It’s really amazing that the thing is still standing. Pisa used to be a major port on the river. I believe the water has since been rerouted or migrated on it’s own, but either way, Pisa is not built on especially stable soil. The tower started leaning almost immediately after construction started. They’ve since tried a variety of ways to straighten up/stabilize the tower, some much more successful than others. They actually ended up excavating like 17 tons of soil from the high side of the tower which allowed it to straighten up a tad. The tower was built in a few different stages, by different people and the last couple tried to account for the lean. For that reason, while we were climbing the tower, we felt the lean most dramatically on the first few floors and less so at the top. Just stepping into the bottom of the tower is quite a trip because you feel like you just walked into a fun house, everything’s so crooked. The stairs are worn down from all the climbers; the wear moving from left to right and back again as we went round and round. Great views from the top!

We left Pisa mid-afternoon and drove to Levanto, where we caught a train to Monterosso. The terrain along this part of the coast is very hilly and the road down to Levanto had a few very narrow blind corners. Sauro (our bus driver) slowed way down and laid on the horn before he cautiously went around the corner because we definitely took up the whole road. Everyone got very excited when we caught our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. This region of Italy has its own special olive oil and the terraced hillsides were covered with olive trees. Sarah pointed out that they were getting ready to harvest some of them because they had these orange nets bundled up under the trees.

Our train ride was very quick, under ten minutes, and we had to be quick getting on and off because there were a lot of people around. The smell of fish and chips greeted us as soon as we got off the train. The train station exit spat us out right onto the water. SO BEAUTIFUL. I can see why Italians come here to vacation. We had to walk a mile or so to get to our hotel so they came with this cute little tricycle truck and picked up our bags for us.

These were much smaller hotels than the ones in the big cities so the group was split between two, one basically right on the water (and next to the train track) and the other way up on the hill with an amazing view… We luckily got the view!

We accessed our hotel via this tiny stairway that led up from the main street. They have a beautiful citrus grove that we walked through to get to the main doors and apparently make their own marmalade.

Sarah had told us our room numbers on the bus and Mom and I had lucky 18. The hostess/owner’s wife showed us to our room and on the way said we had a very nice room. We walked along an exterior pathway and when she led us onto Our Private Balcony, mom said she felt like we’d won the lottery.

I couldn’t get over that view and how much it changed as the sun changed. The bells were very fun to listen to and we suspect were the start of some kind of celebration down by the church. The music drifting up definitely reminded me of some of the really upbeat brass bands we’ve heard at the Mission Folk Festival. We grooved our way back down to the other hotel and joined the crew again because we were going to a pesto making demonstration and dinner.

Turns out I’m doing pesto all wrong. First off, a Carrara marble mortar and pestle are the correct tools to use and secondly, if you’re using salt, your cheese isn’t very good. Oops. The recipe she used was obviously very similar to mine, with the exception of parsley and salt. And she was clearly an expert. I suspect it’s in large part due to the climate here, but her basil was SO much more flavorful than the stuff I grow. She used much less garlic and much more olive oil. And the key? Keeping everything very cold so the basil doesn’t get burnt. She did say that even she uses a Cuisinart these days to make large amounts, but an awesome tip was to put the blade in the freezer before use to keep it really cold.

So guess what we had for dinner! Obviously I was too busy stuffing my face to take a picture but I think Mom got some. We started with a small caprese salad and then had a white lasagna with pesto on top. Much lighter than the lasagna we think of in the states. Norm was sitting across from me and when I noticed him scraping off most of the pesto and cheese, I had to step in. I might have ended up having three helpings… Then the main course was sea bass, so flavorful and skillfully cooked I even ate the skin. With white wine of course. We topped off dinner with a bit of dessert wine and a delicious frozen dessert.

Yummmmmmm. Back up in our castle on the hill, Mom and I feel like royalty. The city is all lit up and the crashing of the waves of Mediterranean is the predominant sound we hear. Everyone already wants to stay longer. Buonanotte!