Fiesole is Fienice

By Colin McFadden
This post is part of a series called Florence 2014
Show More Posts

Sunday – our last full day in Italy. We got up early and (after a couple espressos and a pastry of course) caught the bus up to Settignano. Well, that’s what we intended at least. Turns out the number 10 bus to Settignano doesn’t run from San Marco on Sundays. Fortunately, ATAF has a decent mobile site and we were able to find a set of transfers to get us from San Marco up to Settignano.

From Settignano, we set out for Fiesole. We managed to completely miss the trail out of town, following the road for longer than we needed. Really not sure how we managed that. We did find the trail eventually, and enjoyed some glorious sunshine on our hike.

Although it’s still relatively early in the growing season, there were plenty of flowers and plants to admire.

Upon reaching Fiesole, we went directly to the Etruscan/Roman ruins. We’re both suckers for any chance to get to touch or climb on ancient sites.

We had a delightful lunch in town at a place recommended by the guide from our Vespa tour, and then wandered the antiques fair (the notional reason for being in Fiesole). It was a bit underwhelming, so we climbed the hill to the church to enjoy the views, and the sun.

Decent views.

Finally, we paid (really paid) for the privilege of a coffee overlooking the valley. We had a banana split. It was very sunny. We were very happy. Slightly sunburnt, but very happy.

I would be so bold as to call it a rather enjoyable trip.

2 thoughts on “Fiesole is Fienice

  • Susan May 7, 2014 at 2:50 am Reply

    Dad and I missed that trail, too, and never made it to Fiesole. Next time!

  • Colin McFadden May 7, 2014 at 2:59 am Reply

    Well, worst case you can always follow the road. There’s a point where the trail joins the road for a bit, so we were able to pick it up there and had the last ~3 or 4km on trail.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *