Alberto Cozzi - a little bit of heaven in Florence.

Florence is a paper addicts heaven!
Of course it is well known for its colourful marbled paper - and you do see a lot of it once you start looking.
It was a lovely surprise to come across the first of many lovely little papery goods shops....and they had such delightful little cards.

And then we wandered past Alberto Cozzi - but just had to go in!

In the back you can see the craftspeople actually crafting with paper and making the marbled variety.
They also do book-binding and leather stamping.

Behind the counter is a rack of all sorts of interesting-looking tools!
(and those of you who are fascinated with tools will think they're interesting as well!)

I bought a few little gifts - paper-wrapped bracelets.

And paper-wrapped pens.

I wish we'd had more time/money/space to investigate more.

Highly recommended if/when you visit Florence.

Saturday 7 - places I have just been to - blogtoberfest 2013 day 5

I have just come back from a month away in northern Italy! Aren't I the lucky one?!

It was absolutely fabulous!
I feel to lucky and privileged to have seen some amazing places, met some wonderful people, eaten delicious (mostly) food and witnessed the glories of nature and man.

So without further ado I bring to you - in reverse order -

1. Rome.

There is so much more to Rome that the Colosseum and the Vatican although they are pretty splendid.
For example here is the Pantheon - it is a 2000 year old temple, remarkably well-preserved because it was made into a church. Bits of the outside were pilfered (recycled) for other building projects but not as badly as other places. And it has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome!
Yes, the romans made concrete - who knew?!

2. Sardinia

Sardinia is an island. In the Mediterranean.
It has a spectacular limestone coast.
And unbelievably blue water.

3. Tuscany.

Tuscany looks like this.
No really!

4. Florence

Everyone raves about Florence - and it grew on me.
There is more to see - there always is.

5. Cinque Terre.

Five of the most beautiful little villages, perched above the sea, on and into the cliffs - connected by walking paths and a train.
Delightful.

6. The Dolomites.

Spectacular!

The Dolomites are series of mountains stretching from the eastern border to the Italian Alps. Lots of very sticky-uppy bits with the greenest of valleys in between and the sweetest alpine flower-bedecked villages dotted around.

7. Venice.

Venice - ah! Venice.
It did not disappoint at all.
I could ramble on all day about Venice and you can read why here and see why here.
....if you like.

And a bonus one today, because we didn't plan on going there but just needed to hop off a train to see  - Pisa.

There is a lot more to Pisa than the leaning tower, although it is much nice in real life...but you will have to wait for that!

If you would like to see more of my travels hop over to my other blog Adventures with G & T.