The Road to Bologna (4) - Florence, Osteria de Cicalina. Alberti Dischi, Rail chaos...

What was supposed to be a nice day out In Florence proved a little more taxing. The train from Bologna was on time but the plan to drop by the church of Santa Maria Novella opposite the Florence railway station was abandoned when a slow moving queue was approached and a sprinkle of rain started. So we missed seeing the Giotto that is the pride and joy of the place. Wikipedia tells us it's a cross painted in tempera  and gold on wood panel  by around 1290-1295. It is one of the earliest known works by the artist, then in his early twenties.

A quick trip to the Antica Farmacia round the back of the church was as usual productive but access to the courtyard and the famous mural of Christ preaching  on a platform and a pesky little long tailed devil making merry hell under the platform was no longer possible. Maybe someone finally got the joke....

So it was off for a drink at a bar cum eatery called just Sophia Loren and then lunch with an old friend at Osteria de Cicalina, a splendid meal of  zucchini flan, veal osso buco, salata mista and a bottle of a Sardinian Vermentino between two of us.

Just part of the offering at  Alberti Dischi

But the main purpose of our trip was unrequited. The once fabulous DVD store Alberti Dischi near San Lorenzo is no longer in business. What was once small chain of three shops had shrunk to one the last time we were there but now, since January it's "Close-ed".  The remarkable holdings of American cinema all catalogued by director or genre have been abandoned. It also had a comprehensive collection of Italian titles all of which require patience because you have to pull out the disc and then search  for any information regarding subtitles or not before deciding to buy.

Even the nearby Feltrinelli bookshop, several floors high, has abandoned sales of DVDs but it does advertise online sales. The market for the purist collector is shrinking.

Then back to the railway station and our hopes for an early return are dashed. Chaos everywhere. All trains are running between one hour and two and a half hours late. No reasons known. Maybe somebody from Sydney State Rail has been appointed to manage the system and immediately decided to do "trackwork"...