Florence and Rome: A Study in Contrasts

In Florence, street vendors sell boxer shorts with an image on the crotch of the genitals of Michelangelo’s famous David sculpture. In Rome, vendors sell shorts with the same image, but enhanced with additional length. For me, these images comically sum up the personality differences between Florence and Rome in a nutshell (so to speak.)

The train ride between the cities takes less than two hours, so you can easily sample Florence’s more refined nature and Rome’s boisterousness in a single trip. I began my visit in Florence, where I don’t think I saw a corner that wasn’t worthy of a photograph, even when one of the hundreds of Vespas whizzed by.

Beautiful sculptures are nearly everywhere you look, and it’s easy to see why the medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge is so celebrated. In certain light, its colorful façades and dark green window shutters reflect on the Arno River, begging you to lift your camera.

Of course, I visited the mainstays in Florence, including the Duomo, the Uffizi Galleries, and the Academy Gallery. Make reservations in advance. The works on display are some of the best you’ll find in the world, including the aforementioned David. You needn’t know anything about sculpture to recognize Michelangelo’s genius when you see the David; he is definitely deserving of his notoriety.

There are some less visited sites that are well worth the time, such as the Museo dell’Opificio dell Pierre Dure, a museum filled with intricate mosaics. I marveled at the craftsmanship of the varied pieces in this small museum, some of which look like paintings. I also enjoyed the large expanse of the Gothic basilica, Santa Croce, which contains tombs or monuments for Michelangelo, Dante Alighieri, Machiavelli, and Rossini.

I stayed at the Four Seasons Florence, which looks like a museum itself with its very own Renaissance frescos. Situated about a 15-minute walk from the Duomo, the hotel’s service and amenities lived up to the Four Seasons name. (I was even offered an umbrella as I left the hotel on a rainy morning.)

The hotel occupies an estate with two Renaissance palaces that underwent a seven-year restoration before opening in 2008 with a garden, business center, fitness center, library, bar, pool, and spa.

It was my dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, Il Palagio, however, that made an indelible impression on me. The waiter knew the menu intimately and treated me as though I was his only guest. I started with potato leek soup with shavings of fresh Tuscan truffles, followed by a main course of veal with spring vegetables and potatoes. These ingredients may sound simple, but I have never tasted dishes with more delicately combined flavors. I can only imagine the care and time that was required to achieve such subtlety.

My favorite part of the meal was the dessert called a violette “bubble.” It looked like a lavender Christmas ornament with edible gold leaf on the top. Inside was cassis sorbet and vanilla crème. Afterward, I was given a plate of fresh orange pastries hot from the oven, which were so light that they almost seemed to contain no flour. The meal was a perfect way to spend my last evening in Florence before venturing on to Rome.

My hotel in Rome, the Massimo D’Azeglio, was a short walk from Rome’s Termini Centrale Station. Staying so near the main train station proved to be ideal, as Rome is not an easy city to navigate.

The Massimo is a 4-star Bettoja Hotel situated by two other Bettoja properties. While my room was relatively basic, it contained all of the necessary amenities, and the bathroom was marble and unusually spacious. The staff was enormously friendly, and even though I arrived hours before check-in time, they graciously offered me a complimentary breakfast while they quickly prepared my room.

The Massimo has undergone numerous renovations, but it maintains a 19th century atmosphere and once hosted Benito Mussolini.

Tours are the best way to see the main sites in Rome because they often allow you to save time by jumping the lines. I booked two tours in advance online with Viator.com, a website that is a one-stop treasure trove of reasonably priced tours offered by companies all over the world.

My first tour was a half-day walk through Ancient Rome. Our guide was an archaeologist who filled us in on her most recent digs. We walked past the lines to immediately enter the interior of the Colosseum, followed by visits to the Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona.

The next morning, I took the subway to the Vatican to meet another tour, which also bypassed the lines and took us into the museums before the crowds. By the time we made it to the Sistine Chapel, however, the place was packed with people.

Our guide was not only knowledgeable, but very entertaining. It was easy to tell that she loves her job, as she gave us tidbits of information that only someone who is passionate about art and history would notice or remember. She had discovered, for example, that the eyes in a particular tapestry seem to follow you no matter where you stand in the room.

Of course, the Vatican’s art collection is as mind-boggling as you would expect. Besides the masters of the Renaissance, there is an impressive collection of modern art in an effort to gather the work of those who will be considered masters in the future. We also visited St. Peter’s Basilica, where I tried to imagine what it would be like to be there during a mass rather than surrounded by tour groups.

My favorite tour, however, was a bit outside the norm. Context Travel offers a host of specialized walking tours and longer trips with scholar docents, most with Ph.Ds. I chose a wine tour, which gave me the opportunity to visit two out-of-the-way wine bars with a sommelier.

Context keeps their tour groups small, so our intimate group enjoyed cheeses and breads while sampling several different wines along with the locals. It was a different Rome from the noisy and tour bus-laden areas where I had spent the majority of my time.

When leaving Rome, I had an unfortunate experience with the Terravision bus service to the airport. The driver refused to allow me to carry my small bag containing my camera equipment and computer onto the bus. Instead, he wanted to shove it into the underside compartment, in which he had forced bags beyond its capacity.

The Terravision personnel were terribly rude and wouldn’t refund my money when I said I couldn’t allow my valuable equipment to be stored haphazardly. So I cut my losses and took a taxi to the airport, which was not so very expensive. At least I was able to protect my valuables.

However you choose to travel to and from the cities, Florence and Rome make for a great combo trip, even if you have no more than a week. You’ll get a dose of ancient history, view the art of the greatest masters of all time, and earn the gratitude of your taste buds for a long time to come.