Basilica di San Miniato

Martha had read about the Basilica di San Miniato, which was a little off the beaten path for most visitors.  Located on a hill overlooking the Piazza Michelangelo (see post of November 1), which itself overlooks the Arno River and Florence, it had even more spectacular views.  It was some distance away, so we decided to take a taxi and planned to walk back. 

The basilica is one of the finest Romanesque structures in all of Tuscany.  It also has a spectacular monumental cemetery, and readers of this blog will know that I especially enjoy visiting burial places.  The basilica was undergoing renovations, but we walked around the side and began seeing remarkable gravestones, tombs, and statues.

Then we walked around the back where we saw even more of the same, acres and acres, with small paths threading through tombs and mausoleums as large as small churches.  What a beautiful place!  And we had it mostly to ourselves.

On our way back to the front of the basilica, Martha noticed that the doors were open, so we slipped inside and explored its dark interior, not as large as some of the magnificent cathedrals we had visited but somehow a very quiet and sacred place, a sanctuary for prayer and meditation and very much still in use.  A robed priest, or perhaps a monk, slipped quietly into a private area and disappeared.

We made our way downhill to the Piazza Michelangelo, where we had been two weeks earlier.  It was a little windy today, but we found a table in the sun in a café below the piazza and enjoyed pizza and red wine. 

From there we made out way back downhill through a maze of gardens and walkways, including a Japanese garden, and found ourselves not far from the Ponte Vecchio crossing the Arno River.  It had been a long walk and we had worked up a good appetite, so we decided to try a restaurant recommended to us by Monica, our landlady, on our first day, Risotteria Melotti.

I love risotto, and sometimes make it myself, a slow, labor-intensive process of adding stock to rice (usually Arborio rice).  If you order risotto at a restaurant and it arrives in less than 25 minutes, you are getting a re-heated product.  That was not the case tonight!  The menu contained nothing but risotto, and in varieties I had never imagined:  Risotto with minced Pork and Veal, Cinnamon and Rosemary; Risotto with red Chicory and Monte Veronese cheese; Risotto with Pistacchio cream and Stracciatella cheese; Risotto with Duck Ragù, Orange and toasted Pine nuts; Risotto with Pumpkin and Amarone wine.  So much Risotto, so little time!  We opted for an appetizer of arancini (rice balls) and then shared the risotto with fresh fish of the day, sea bass, and absolutely delicious.

 
We learned from the friendly waiter that the restaurant is owned by the Melotti family, who grows three varieties of rice (not the Arborio that I am used to) on a farm near Venice.  We loved this photo of the family posed with what looked like a tractor from the Model-T era.

We had enjoyed some delicious food on this trip, especially the Culinary Journey, but I think this was our best dinner to date.