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- Posted:Tuesday, April 13, 2010
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Take in Renaissance Florence on Five Florins a Day
Posted in: Travel
If you've got upcoming plans to stay in a Florence hostel quite soon, then I highly recommend you nip down to your local bookshop and get yourself a copy of Renaissance Florence on Five Florins a Day - trust me, you certainly won't regret it.
According to the Financial Times (not the usual publication you'll catch me reading, I'll admit, but I found it on the seat of my train this morning), this book takes its readers on a "colourful and engaging" tour of the city as it once was, way back in the 15th century.
I definitely enjoy learning as much about a destination's history and people before I head off on my jollies and I reckon that it would be lots of fun to leaf through a few chapters of this tome before whisking yourself away to Florence. You'll probably end up in a whole load of different streets and districts, just because you decided to give Charles Fitzroy's words a go.
"We encounter both aristocratic wedding banquets with roasted peacocks' tongues on the menu and the high-class prostitutes who display their wares in church," said the Financial Times of the work and, while I can't guarantee that you'll come across anything like this on your travels (although you might if you search long and hard enough), you'll at least be able to amaze your companions with interesting and little-known facts about what life was like back then.
Of course, Florence does have lots to offer the modern-day backpacker as well. Helen Pickles of the Times recently recommended getting a good view of the Duomo by leaving from the Bardini Gardens, or getting off the beaten track to see masterpieces in smaller churches, rather than heading straight for the Uffizi.
Find cheap hostels in Florence
According to the Financial Times (not the usual publication you'll catch me reading, I'll admit, but I found it on the seat of my train this morning), this book takes its readers on a "colourful and engaging" tour of the city as it once was, way back in the 15th century.
I definitely enjoy learning as much about a destination's history and people before I head off on my jollies and I reckon that it would be lots of fun to leaf through a few chapters of this tome before whisking yourself away to Florence. You'll probably end up in a whole load of different streets and districts, just because you decided to give Charles Fitzroy's words a go.
"We encounter both aristocratic wedding banquets with roasted peacocks' tongues on the menu and the high-class prostitutes who display their wares in church," said the Financial Times of the work and, while I can't guarantee that you'll come across anything like this on your travels (although you might if you search long and hard enough), you'll at least be able to amaze your companions with interesting and little-known facts about what life was like back then.
Of course, Florence does have lots to offer the modern-day backpacker as well. Helen Pickles of the Times recently recommended getting a good view of the Duomo by leaving from the Bardini Gardens, or getting off the beaten track to see masterpieces in smaller churches, rather than heading straight for the Uffizi.
Find cheap hostels in Florence
