Firenze!

My friend Helen works for Oxford University Press, and occasionally has managed to swing a work meeting in Florence. So we took all of a few seconds to decide to jump a train and head north for the weekend, when we heard she was coming to town.We arrived on the Friday night and immediately set off in search of dinner- and what a meal! Restaurant selected at random turned out to have a cavernous back room that was packed full of italian diners - always a good sign when the locals eat there! Steak Fiorentina, a bottle of Montepulciano, liver bruschetta, wild boar ragout, luscious tuscan desserts, lemoncello on the house. Bliss.

Next morning we hit the town, wandering past street stalls and the main market (check it out!), through the centre of town and out to the famous Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), packed with tiny workhouse cottages, once the home of slaughterers and offal sellers, who were moved across the river by the Medici to rid the city of their stench. And so the goldsmiths and jewellers could move in.

I loved every minute of Florence. It was like stepping back in time. Home of the much maligned Medici, who though they spawned some of the most ambitious and ruthless nobles (in a time known for ruthless ambition), also sired the Renaissance and nurtured the likes of Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci in the cradle of the Tuscan capital.

Heaven only knows what Florence has been or done since, but the city is a living tribute to those heydays and you cant help be awed by the glorious marble faced duomo, the Signoria (home of one of Europe's first and most powerful democracies) with its replica David, the original itself, carefully repaired, and the stunning Pietra Dura, or stone pictures, that face the Medici tombs. The greatest though, Lorenzo Il Magnifico and his adored, murdered brother Giuliano, lie in an adjacent room, guarded by mad Michelangelo's inspired statues: Night and Day, Dusk and Dawn. Although they don't let you take photos of any of that. *sulks* We stopped often for eating and drinking: roast bunny with all its innards, salsicce e fagioli (anyone who imagines that tinned 'sausage and beans' can in any way compare to this simple tuscan masterpiece is dreaming), prosecco, more superTuscan red, cocktails by the Signoria at sunset. The Ponte Vecchio, countless Palazzi, shops and markets, we walked til our feet were sore and drank til our tongues were tired.

And yet we barely touched the surface. Ants and I came away with a long list of places to see next time, a horseback tour of vineyards, a day trip to Pisa,, the famed Uffizi, the Hawkwood painting at the Duomo (which was closed to the public for the weekend)... And that's before we returned to Rome and learned there was an armour museum we'd never even heard of.

I can't wait to go back.