Finding Leonardo in Fiesole
View from Fiesole down over Florence © A. Harrison
I thought I knew Florence. Well enough, at least, to know the buses. Until in between visits someone changed the routes.
Once upon a time when I stayed a while in Fiesole, I’d catch the bus down to Florence, alighting near the Duomo. Today, however, after dutifully buying my ticket from the Tabacchi I walked around the entire Piazza Duomo – twice – to no avail. The route had changed, and the closet stop was now at the Santa Maria Novella train station.
Yet it’s worth catching the No. 7 bus to Fiesole simply for the ride. The bus still winds near the Duomo, then past part of the old walls, followed by a stretch through some outer suburbs before the climb to Fiesole begins. The road winds back and forth past houses the colour of sunburnt terracotta, with terraces filled with olive and cypress trees hiding behind old stone walls. With each turn the view back over Florence becomes more stunning. Many fled this way – including the heroes of Boccaccio’s The Decameron – to escape the plague.
Part of the old Roman Baths, dating between 1C BC and 1C AD © A. Harrison
Founded by the Etruscans, Fiesole once rivalled Florence, and was a popular summer retreat for the likes of the Medici (and the now King of England while still the Prince of Wales). Yet when my bus pulled up into the Piazza San Francesco beside the cathedral, the town felt asleep, as if not yet awake for the influx of summer tourists.
I first found the plaque marking where Leonardo tried to fly many years ago when staying in a convent here. Hidden in a small street near the Medici summer palace, the Villa San Girolamo dates to the 10th century. Once under the patronage of the Medici, from the 1880s it was run by the Little Company of Mary, (a nursing order of Irish nuns) as a nursing home but who also took in occasional students and pilgrims – until a communist mayor shut them down on the grounds of illegally running a hotel. Unfortunately the villa is now privately owned, with the gates firmly closed. All I Ould do was peer through at my memories.
Being a town of very steep hills, Fiesole is not for the faint hearted. I was always walking up, up, up (unless pausing to catch my breath whilst pretending to admire the view) until suddenly I realised I was veering towards the next valley, away from where I thought I was heading.
The trick is to find the path to Monte Ceceri, some 2.5 kilometres from the town. It’s part of the Montececeri Park, which has been a stone and marble quarry since antiquity – before either the Romans or Etruscans mined this area. Some old quarries, along with huts belonging to the stone cutters, remain.
The plaque marking the spot where Leonardo set about proving man can fly is notoriously difficult to find. If in doubt, just keep heading uphill, for it’s in the highest part of the park. Even if the plaque proves elusive, the views are spectacular. Of interest, it was’t Leonardo who flew, but a volunteer (sic) whose identity continues to be debated. Some wings were strapped to his back before he leapt of the edge of the hill. His ensuing broken bones matched Leonardo’s broken pride.
Coming back down towards the town, I detoured past the Archeological park with its Etruscan ruins and then up another (an almost mild) hill to the Chiesa San Francesco. (The main route to the church is the impressively steep Via San Francesco, which begins at the Piazza San Francesco,) The back of the church offers beautiful views back over the town towards the ruins, across the hillside and into the various surrounding valleys. Like the tow the place was deserted, with birdsong competing with the buzz of bees.
I love the small courtyard outside the back of the church, complete with a well and its own covered arcade with a fresco hiding on the wall. To one side is the most gorgeous gift shop, where the guy behind the counter was spending the day listening to jazz. This building was originally a chapel dedicated to St Bernard, dating back to 1625. Not a bad way to pass one’s day.
The gorgeous courtyard – complete with fresco – of the Chiesa San Francesco © A. Harrison
The original church dates to 1333, built on the site of an Etruscan then a Roman acropolis. Beneath so many churches in Florence (and Italy) lie a hidden history, including the Duomo rising from the valley below me. Within, the Chiesa San Francesco was dark and peaceful. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dimness after the brightness of outside. The church also boasts some lovely cloisters, as well as a rather intriguing museum filled with an eclectic collection of objects gathered over the centuries by Franciscan missionaries.
Walking down the Via San Francesco back to the heart of Fiesole is much easier than waking up this street, especially after a morning of negotiating hills. Florence lay spread below me, hazy in the heat. While waiting for the return bus, I had time to quickly visit the Cathedral San Romolo, which was founded in 1028. (Romulo is believed to be the first bishop of Fiesole, after being converted by St Peter. Like many an early bishop he was martyred rather gruesomely, the process beginning at the Villa San Girolamo and ending near the site of the current cathedral.) Within, the cathedral is light and spacious, with high vaulted ceilings, and steps leading to a lower nave. Besides a few people restoring some artwork behind the altar, I had the place to myself.
And so, the bus trip back to Florence, where a glass of a local wine awaited as a toast to my wonderful day.
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Dante began writing The Divine Comedy while exiled from his beloved Florence. The pain of banishment weaves through his work. The poet never returned to his native city; even the tomb built for him in 1829 in Santa Croce remains empty. Yet were Dante to return to Florence today, much of the city would be familiar to him.