Arriverderci Florence...

My last 2 free days in Florence were spent on more distant areas of the town.  So I don't have a lot of identification of what I was seeing.  But there were still a lot of interesting sights.  Like this building with an offset tower.

Building with Offset Tower.

This close-up of the tower shows an intriguing curving stairway.  Was the top section an afterthought?  Did they forget to include a staircase when they built it?  And what would they be hauling up with the block and tackle on the left side?

Close-up of Tower Top.

 Here's another intriguing tower.  It seems to be free standing with no rubble around to indicate that it was part of anything.  It also had openings on all four sides, which would contribute to the idea that it was free-standing when it was built.

Lonely Tower.

It also had some interesting details in its brickwork.

Tower Detail.

Love the repetition of these architectural details.

Another interesting and unidentified building.

Garden courtyards were everywhere.

The following pictures were from a community garden - not the garden pictured above.  This one had places to sit and places to stroll.  It looked like the decorations might have been made by school children, but I didn't see anything to indicate where they came from.

Rock with Statues in the Community Garden.

At the back of the garden was an actual gardening center where vegetables were growing.  I did not see any crows in Florence, so this guy must have been doing a very good job!

Scarecrow in the Community Garden.

The I met this fellow, sitting on the wall separating the river from the streets.  He let me sit with him in the sun for quite a while.  I left before he did...

My New Friend.

Enjoying the Sun.

 Here's another stand-alone tower.  The arch at the base might indicate that this was a city gate and that its connecting wall surrounding the town has been taken down. Notice the small protruding part on the right side.

City Gate?

 Here's a close-up of the protrusion.  There appears to be a hole in the bottom of the protrusion but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  If there is, indeed, a hole, this might have been one of the original indoor toilets!  (I have read about castles that had just such places where what you did simply dropped to the ground outside.  Easier than using an outhouse, I guess...)

Privy?

Another View of the Privy Tower.

 I could not identify this round structure.  It appeared to be on top of something else, but what?  This picture was taken from a park across the river.  There was a map there with significant buildings noted, but it was confusing because the map was facing the opposite direction, so trying to read it or figure things out meant some mental gymnastics to turn the view around in your head.  The arches are definitely not Gothic, but they aren't Roman, either!

Another Enigmatic Building.

I love the painting on the outside of this building.  It sets it off from its neighbors.  It's the building with the little balcony in the next picture down.

Painted Building.

Painted Building and Its Neighbors.

 Another tower.  I wonder what the purpose of the upper outdoor staircase here is.  It can't have been for an escape route as it does not reach the ground...

There were a series of grottos under an upper level fountain.  I don't know if the water dripping in the grottos and their associated pools were on purpose or just an artifact of time.  In any case, although the upper fountain was running, the grottos appeared to be untended.  But maybe that was intended...

Drippy Grotto with Duckweed in the Basin.

Another Grotto in the Series.

 On the Via del Studio, I found this intriguing place.  It did not appear to be open or perhaps just didn't welcome visitors.  There were no signs to say if this studio made reproductions or restored statues and bas-reliefs.  Would love to have gone in and talked with whoever was working there.

Studio on Via del Studio.

And finally, I went to my local "salumeria" to get some cheese to take back to my room to enjoy with my wine.  The place offered sandwiches at a reasonable price so when I arrived there was a long line of students waiting to get in to place their orders or to eat at one of the small tables.  I decided to wander further down the street rather than stand in line.  On my ramble, I came across a Nose Store!  Well, maybe it was a costume shop, but I've never seen noses offered for sale.  They had quite a selection, including a Pinocchio version which didn't make it into this photo.

The "Nose Store."

 

Ariverderci Florence!