Gateway to Tuscany, Florence and Pisa, Italy- Travel #18

Dear Steemit friends, Gemma here, let me take you on a journey through Tuscany, Florence and the iconic town of Pisa. Tuscany is situated in central Italy and spans from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The landscape, artistic heritage, historic architecture and amazing cities make Tuscany an unquestioned protagonist of international and local tourism. This region's nature has many different facets, starting from the coast that alternates long and sandy beaches, like the Versilia beach, with rocky cliffs and steep headlands. Tuscany has lush landscape and is filled with culture so welcoming and warming that you will walk away swearing that you are Italian. Florence is the capital city of Tuscany and is the most populated city in the region. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, romantic, enchanting and irresistible. The perfect place to bask in the Tuscan sun sampling some of the worlds finest Italian cuisine and admiring incredible artwork.

It is rare to find a city as compact in size as Florence yet bursting with extraordinary art and architecture masterpieces at every turn. The core of this small city, on the banks of the Arno river in north-eastern Tuscany, has hardly changed since the Renaissance. It's narrow cobbled streets are a cinematic feast of elegant 15th- and 16th-century palazzi (palaces), medieval chapels, fresco-decorated churches, marble basilicas and world-class art museums brimming with paintings and sculptures. Designs and architecture by the famous Botticcelli and Michelangelo dominate the scene and unsurprisingly, the entire city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

To find me, look for my chihuhua's face

Tuscany, Florence and Pisa

There are various options available for exploring Tuscany dependant upon budget, time constraints and personal preference. The first step is deciding how you are going to get to this region in Italy. The most common way would be via air travel. You can choose to fly into Florence or Pisa from major destinations throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Florence Airport, Peretola (Aeroporto di Firenze-Peretola) is the international airport of Florence and is the 2nd busiest Tuscan airport in terms of passengers after Pisa International Airport. Once you have arrived in either Pisa or Florence, the ground transportation options are available to you such as organised tours, buses/coaches, hire car and trains.

Another way to get to Tuscany and as many of my readers know, my choice of travel, via cruise liner. I travelled with my family aboard the beautiful Carnival Vista on its maiden voyage. The Vista being the largest, newest and the flag ship of carnival's fleet was certainly a holiday in itself. The ship offers a luxurious, safe and a very convenient way of travelling. The ship docked in Livorno. Livorno is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany. Livorno is situated only 30 minutes from Pisa and 90 minutes from Florence making it a very attractive base to explore Tuscany. Many cruise companies offer Livorno as a port of call so be sure to consider it when you next travel.

The beautiful Carnival Vista

Port of Livorno

On this trip to Tuscany, I travelled with my older brother Wayne, younger brother Scott and our mum. Scott is an avid adventurer and global traveller, miraculously he travels everywhere in his trusty set of wheels, his wheelchair. Before travelling to Europe, especially visiting the old towns, I was a bit concerned how he would go getting about, to our delight, he has had no trouble so far. He is definitely an inspiration to me and my family and hopefully can be to many others as well. Let nothing hold you back in life, breath life into your dreams and let nothing be an obstacle.

Once we had docked in Livorno, as soon as you step off the ship there is a tourist information centre. In the tourist information centre after weighing up all our options we decided the best value for money and the best way to maximise our time was to hire a car. Car hire is available right there in the tourist information centre at the port of Livorno. This gave us the freedom to explore Tuscany at our own pace. All you need to hire a car is a valid drivers licence, I would recommend getting an international drivers licence as well just to ease up the process. I highly recommended having a GPS in the hire car as getting around without one is very confusing. A hot tip, make sure the GPS is programmed in a language you understand prior to departing otherwise I hope you can learn Italian real fast. Another thing to bear in mind is that Florence is not Florence on the GPS, it is Firenze.

Mum and I with our hire car

Wayne and Mum

I am slightly nervous as they drive on the right here and I am used to the left

Family ready to go

The first stop is Florence, the capital of Tuscany. It is a major historical city in Italy, distinguished as one of the most outstanding cultural ,economic, political and artistic centres in the Italian peninsula from the Late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The foundation of Florence dates back to ancient Roman times, despite evidence existing to show that it was already occupied during the prehistoric era. The oldest part of the city bears the imprint of these Roman origins as it originated as one of Caesar's colonies.

The built-up area, like all the cities founded by the Romans, was characterized by straight roads which crossed at right angles creating distinguished blocks. The two main roads led to four towered gates and converged on a central square creating the Piazza della Repubblica. It is at this location that the Curia and the Temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva) were later to rise. Archaeological excavations of the area, many of which came to light during the course of works which "gave new life", to the old city centre, have made it possible to locate and identify the remains of various important public works. These include the Capitoline Baths, the Baths of Capaccio, the sewage system, the pavement of the streets and the Temple of Isis, in Piazza San Firenze. Without these important Archaeological discoveries, these incredible sights may have been lost forever.

Florence developed rapidly due to its favourable position and the role it played in the ambit of the territorial organization in the region. Economic power was the ultimate driving force behind the urban growth of the young colony. Commercial activity and trade thrived due to the fact that important communication routes including both land and water, intersected in Florence. This offers an explanation for the presence of those oriental merchants, probably on their way from Pisa, who first introduced the cult of Isis and then, in the 2nd century, Christianity. For those of you who are history buffs, this barely scratches the surface of the history of this fascinating region. Just walking around and exploring Florence for yourself will allow you to walk the pathways of history and read the stories that the architecture writes to you.

Tuscan countryside on the drive from Livorno to Florence

Roman inspired statues line even the highways

Modern University in Florence

Modern vehicles run on electricity are a common sight in this old historical city

Modern apartment building

Roman monuments can be found in even the least practical of places

The Roman influence is very strong and noticeable in Florence. Of all the Italian towns and cities I have visited, it has to be strongest influence outside of Rome itself that I have seen. The people in Florence are friendly and have that Italian hospitality to them and of course the food is sensational, fresh and bursting with flavours. As far as I've experienced most people can understand at least a basic form of English which helps with getting around. To discover Florence there are many tours available, walking tours and bus tours. These can be purchased from the tourist information centre, online, from your hotel or from your cruise ships shore excursions desk. I must admit driving around Florence was not easy, I got lost numerous times, went up a one way street the wrong way(because I followed a motorcycle that went up that way) and I may have slightly crashed a few times. All in all, everyone was safe, the car was drivable and it was well worth the experience in my opinion, I haven't asked my family how they felt the drive went but let's just say we all survived.

The unique architecture of downtown Florence

After exploring the beautiful city of Florence, it was time to drive to Pisa. Pisa was about a 75 minute drive from downtown Florence. Of course the main attraction being the leaning tower of Pisa. As I was driving with my Italian speaking GPS, I knew I was headed in the right general direction as the highway signs all indicated that I was heading towards Pisa. I assumed that once in Pisa that I would be able to see the tower or at least it would be well sign posted being that it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. On neither of those was I correct, the tower was not visible at all and there were absolutely no signs whatsoever indicating where the monument would be. I was extremely stressed and after driving around for what felt like an eternity only on the pure luck that my brother Wayne recognised a building adjacent to the tower that we stopped and found it. Even once we had stopped in the correct location, not a single sign and it wasn't until we were passed the buildings that Wayne recognised did we actually see the tower, that's right, not as tall as I was expecting. An absolute marvel of a building when you get to see it, definitely worth every hassle, it is stunning.

The many winding roads of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is hiding behind this wall

Pisa is famous worldwide for its leaning bell tower of the city's cathedral even though it is also home to over 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces and various bridges across the Arno. Pisa is set just above the Arno where it flows into the Ligurian Sea. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics. The city is also home of the University of Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, has a history going back to the 12th century and to this day produces some of the countries most prized scholars.

Cathedral Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower of the cathedral in the Italian city of Pisa, known famously worldwide for its unintended tilt. The tower is located behind the Pisa Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in the city's Cathedral Square the Piazza del Duomo, after the cathedral and the Pisa Baptistry. From certain angles with the way the tower is tilting, it is as though the tower is peaking out from behind the Cathedral saying peek-a-boo. The tower's tilt actually began during it's construction in the 12th century and is caused by an inadequate foundation built upon ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure's weight. The tilt slowly increased in the decades leading up to the structures completion in the 14th century. It gradually increased until the structure was finally stabilized and the tilt partially corrected by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. When looking at the tower, it almost feels like an optical illusion, playing tricks on your eyes. As you can see from photographs, the tower looks like it is very much on the tilt in some photographs while in others, it looks almost straight. It is very apparent though when you look at the base of the tower, it definitely is leaning.

The height of the tower is 55.86 metres/183.27 feet from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres/185.93 feet on the high side. The tower's staircases even differ one side has 296 steps and the other only 294 steps, the 7th floor has 2 fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed on the tower between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an alarming angle of 5.5 degrees. After the restoration the tower now only leans at about 3.9 degrees. This means the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres /12 feet 10 inches from the centre.

Construction of the Tower of Pisa started in the year 1173 and was completed in 1372. Construction stopped and restarted twice over those whopping 199 years it took to complete due to wars. War stopped construction the first time for almost a century which gave the underlying soil time to settle and compact. If construction had not halted, the tower would most likely have toppled and have never been completed.

The entire Cathedral Square was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 including its cemetery. Seven bells sit in the bell-chamber at the top of the tower, one bell for each note of the musical major scale, an interesting architectural fact. The tower's design has widely been attributed to Guglielmo and Bonanno Pisano however recent studies suggest the architect Diotisalvi may have been involved in the design. While the original architect of the tower has never been verified many are known to have worked on it including: Bonanno Pisano and Gerardo di Gerardo in phase 1, Giovanni Pisano and Giovanni di Simone during phase 2 before Tommaso di Andrea Pisano oversaw its completion. Due to the marshy underlying subsoil there are several other towers in Pisa with less prominent tilting issues, however, tilting issues just the same.

No trip to Pisa is complete without lots and lots of silly photographs. As you can see my family thoroughly enjoyed their day in Pisa. Tuscany is a stunning place vibrant in history and culture, no trip to Italy is complete without spending some quality time in Tuscany. After all the shenanigans and fun, it was time to head back to our ship docked in Livorno. I headed into my banged up rental car- hot tip, scratches become hardly noticeable when wiped down and buffered so to speak with baby wipes. Thanks to mum and her baby wipes, I some how didn't get charged for any damages to the car. We ate some delicious pizza, chowed down some cannoli on the drive back and hopped onto our ship for the spectacular sail away. Onward and onto our next Italian destination.

Port of Livorno

Livorno port tourist information centre

I hope you have enjoyed my blog on the gateway to Tuscany, Florence and Pisa, Italy, thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you, until next time, Ciao, Vegoutt Everybody!!