So very early on in our stay we decided to visit, and late one Sunday afternoon hopped in our car and off we went. We didn't do any research beforehand, so had no real idea what to expect, other than good views of Florence and a slightly cooler hill top climate. It turned out to be very close indeed, a 15 minute drive at most - much closer than travelling to the "Dandenongs" the equivalent Melbourne hill suburbs. We arrived at the town square and found a place to park, bought a panini (sandwich) from the only shop open, admired the old style service station and the old buildings around the town square, especially as they were covered in old Family / Guild Coats of Arms and then proceeded to walk in the direction in which we thought we would find the famed views of Florence.
We discovered a lovely walking path winding past many of the old houses and overlooking the Arno (river) Valley. Olive trees were in fruit and it was a very peaceful, pleasant place to be. Eventually we came to a lovely viewpoint, with an excellent view of Florence including the Duomo and the synagogue. Unfortunately it was somewhat ruined by the smog / brown haze over the city and the glare from the sun as we were facing due west right into the afternoon sun. Still you could see it all and it was lovely.
We continued the walk along the contour of the hill, past a large local park and playing fields and eventually arrived back on the main road out of Fiesole heading away from the Town Centre and Florence. There were excellent views of the next valley along and the hills all around; and signs pointing to the old Etruscan tombs; so we set off to find them. They were a bit disappointing really as they were clearly burial plots but all that was left were some old building stones. Still it is amazing to think that they were over 2,000 years old and still there. The other interesting feature for such a small town was the variety of gate post statues - not just your standard lions or eagles, but dogs, reindeer and a collection of other animals! By then the sun was setting so we headed back to the car and made our way back home.
When we mentioned it at school on Monday, the teachers were pleased we had been, but asked if we went to the Roman theatre, the old church at the top of the hill and a few other points of interest that we knew nothing about. Another trip, with a bit of research was clearly in order.
In reading up on a bit of the history of Fiesole, after this trip, we found it was settled by the Etruscans, several centuries before the Romans. Once the Romans took over, they intermingled with the Etruscans until the Etruscan civilisation was lost under the weight of the Roman power. It was very typical of the Roman style - to win by merger and amalgamation rather than brute force. Fiesole was not a major commercial or military Roman town, but obviously had a reasonably sized garrison there, for them to build a Roman theatre and baths. Also the temple was built over the site of an earlier Etruscan temple and was quite large.
For our second visit we decided to catch the bus, as a/ it was the local bus that stopped outside our front door, making it a very easy and hassle free trip and b/ Alan had stopped driving in Florence by then and I didn't want to do all the driving. As the buses ran every 20 minutes through to 10 at night, catching a bus was no hassle.
Second time round we actually made it up the hill with the alternative view of Florence (the one we were meant to see the first time), and to the 2 churches in the town - one in the town square and one at the very top of the hill. I think the view from lower down was actually better. However the churches were lovely. The one in town was a genuine Romanesque church with Renaissance Frescoes and art work. the one at the top of the hill contained a lovely small cloisters and a museum, which included a mummy from the old Etruscan tombs.
It was a steep climb up the hill to the church, but you had a lovely view of the town and the rooftops as you walked back down.
By the time we got back into town, it was too late to visit the Roman theatre as it closed early on winter time. Oh well - another visit would be planned.
Roman Theatre and Ruins
A week or two before we left Florence, we finally made it back to Fiesole to check out the Roman Theatre, and we were so glad we did, as we found the ruins to be far more extensive than we had been led to believe. They were also very interesting.
I found it interesting to finally view Roman ruins in Italy - in much of northern Italy the ruins have been plundered over time or more often built over or consolidated into the Medieval magnificence that we think of in Tuscany etc. It in the Byzantium part of the Roman Empire, ie Turkey and the Middle East, there are far more extensive and magnificent examples of the Roman presence, mainly because the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire lasted a lot longer than it did in Italy itself and also because the Ottoman Empire did not destroy or rebuild the ruins like the medieval merchants did in Italy or France.
Anyway these ruins were interesting and as well as the theatre which had a lovely spot overlooking the surrounding hills and valleys, there was still clear evidence of the Roman Baths and of one of the Temples. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the ruins and then decided we had better check out the adjacent museum as it was included in the ticket price. Well this was a find! It is highly recommended to anyone visiting Florence. There was a lovely Italian guide and an English ex-pat guide who had married a local girl. The Englishman took us under his wing, once we had spent some time there, because he obviously deduced that we were genuinely interested (unlike the majority of visitors who walked in and around in 10 minutes) and it gave him something to do and a chance to sprout forth his considerable knowledge on the history and the contents of the museum.
The museum contained an enormous number of local Etruscan artefacts and a magnificent collection of ancient Greek pottery donated by a serious collector in his will. The pottery was brilliant and I spent ages looking at it. I will write more on this at a later date, as I want to get this published now, but the history and the workmanship of the pieces was well worth studying.
When we finally left the museum, we were advised to pay a short visit to the Bandini Museum across the road, also included in our ticket price. This was a small art gallery with some beautiful pieces of art; in fact two of them are included in my favourite pieces that I saw in the whole 5 months! Partly because one of them was not a religious painting of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Annunciation, the Adoration or of various saints etc. (You can overdose on those very easily). Instead it was a 4 piece bed head (ie 4 pieces placed together on the wall over the bed) for a married couple and depicted the seasons, the characteristics or behaviours that make a "good person" and was full of symbolism and allegories. I will write more on this later when I have time. The other piece was of a pregnant Virgin Mary. This was most unusual. Most paintings of the Byzantine and Renaissance periods depict Mary at the annunciation, ie God (an angel) telling Mary that she will have a son, before she knows she is pregnant, or after the birth with the baby Jesus. This small painting of the pregnant Mary was beautifully done and different enough to be enjoyed for itself rather than the artist. The other artistic collection here was of the typical Tuscan glazed terracotta pottery style in blues, greens, yellows and white. It is not my favourite style abut there were some lovely examples of this style.
By the time we finished at the museum, everything was closed and the sun was setting, so we hopped on the bus and went home.
Next day when talking to our friends, we discovered there was a different road back into Florence that went straight down the hill rather than winding its way around the contours like the buses and cars have to. I wish I had known, but we were always lazy about researching Fiesole and it was too late now to make a 4th trip. Still we did see most of Fiesole and enjoyed what we saw. I am glad we visited in the off season and did not have to experience the summer crowds. It really is a peaceful haven with lots of interesting sites in which to spend a sunny afternoon.
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