We made our way from Torbole south through fair Verona (of Romeo and Juliet fame) and Bologna (of spag bol fame) to Florence in Tuscany.

Florence is where the Renaissance began in the 14th century and is still Italy's home of Art and Architecture. We spent several days wandering the streets and alleys, admiring the piazzas and statues.

Budget hotels don't really exist in Florence and the hostels aren't great. We got 'touted' though, and stayed at the Camping Michealangleo camping ground (backpackers can hire tents and it is half the price of the cheapest hotel in town), perched up in the gardens in the hills overlooking Florence. Its only 20 mins walk into town, the views are spectacular. There is a foodmarket, a bar and a really nice patio for hanging out and looking at the view and enjoying the cool evening after a hot day in Florence.

We couldn't decide between checking out the Renaissance art at the Uffizi Gallery, or going to the Academia Gallery to see Michealangelo's David sculpture. We chose one and lined up and were stoked to discover we were there in Italy's Cultural Week and that all the state run gallerys were free - so we went and saw both. The David sculpture was larger and more impressive than we expected.

One night we stumbled across a restraunt which was a no frills 'locals' restaurant, away from the tourist areas. We could get a plate of excellent pasta there so big that we both had to tackle 1 together, and it would cost about 3 euro - less than half the restaurants in the tourist areas. Every meal is accompanied with vino, of course. We went back 3 more times to stuff ourselves full, and passed the tip on to other backpackers we came across.

Florence is a university town - which means head to the uni quarter for good value cafes and restaurants. We found a cool cafe bar were we indulged in Machiatos.

We did a couple of day trips. We went to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. It's impressive to see - the photos don't do it justice. The best description we could come up with for it was "really leany".

We also went to the Medieval hill-top town of San Gimignano in the rolling hills of central Tuscany. Its really cool, but a massive tourist magnet overrun by hordes of school groups and stampeding tour groups. Go in winter in the rain, or in the late afternoon and stay for the evening.