Firesole

Back when I was in Florence, the weekend my husband visited, we took day trips to Siena and Firesole. We were able to reach Firesole, a town just outside of Florence, by a local bus rather than a coach.

The town itself was very small and there wasn't much to see there, but it was also raining which may have made it seem drearier than usual.

We ate some really bad food at one of the restaurants in the main square. I'd really recommend bringing your own food. There also wasn't much in the way of shops and small cafes, and the normal kinds of places people need to go day to day.

But the walk was nice and the view was beautiful.

The Roman ruins were small and a little disappointing. My colleague's travel guide has a photo of Firesole with the ruins in front and the church steeple in the back. The steeple was under construction when we were there, but it looks more like a castle tower than a steeple, so I'd been under the impression there was some sort of roman fortification as well as ruins . 

Further up the hill, there are a lot of beautiful (and probably expensive) homes and since they were built on the side of the hill, you could look down into the gardens full of flowers and fruit trees.

I really loved this cat sleeping on the motorcycle surrounded by flowers!