Oh Fiorentina...

After giving Rome a systematic beat down during a two day visit where we essentially saw everything (or at least it felt like it after walking hours upon hours), Paula and I watched Roma receive a beat down by ACF Fiorentina last night. As Paula described in pretty great detail, it had taken a lot to get tickets to the match. Here's why...although I think only 2 of you might care...skip ahead if you don't...

So, each Italian soccer (or calcio) team sells its tickets though different online vendors. The problem is that they don't really sell them online. Instead, you have to buy them in person. Then, say you want to go to the Fiorentina game, but you're in Rome. Well, they won't sell the tickets to people from out-of-town, like Rome...especially if you're trying to buy the tickets in a city that is going to be playing Fiorentina. According to the guy we talked to in the AC Roma team store, the fans will likely get violent to one another. So, you have to buy tickets in Florence in person for the Fiorentina game. Fortunately, it was the first thing we did after arriving in Florence off the train.

Paula and I had spent much of the day wandering around Florence. Yes, we did the Uffizi museum (a well known museum in a horrible building and horrible lighting for a museum) and the Academia museum (not much there except the original David statue, which is pretty amazing). We looked into renting a car (which essentially would have cost our first born) and then mosied over the Boboli gardens. Afterwards, we made our way to the stadio for the match.

The night was spectacular! We started off grabbing a panini and Coke from a street vendor similar to a tail-gate type situation you might find at a Seahawk game. The difference of course was the wild boar laying on the chopping table where they were slicing off fresh, delicious meat for the sandwiches (apparently, with the swine flu outbreak, its a good thing the boar isn't from the Mexico). Then, everyone has to go to their own enterance to keep people organized and separated. In all honesty, the stadio isn't very nice in comparison to any stadium you might find in the states. It's essentially a community field where the team plays. Actually pretty refreshing from US sports where if they don't have a nice stadium they complain and threaten to move the team (or actually move it...bring back the Sonics).

Fiorintina played in their purple home jerseys with gold lettering. Roma was wearing their away whites. I didn't know anyone on the Fiorentina roster at the start of the game but recognized Totti, Baptista, Riise, and Pizzaro off the Roma squad (Pizzaro got a red card in the game). However, Fiorentina played fantastic. They were much more aggressive and strung several series of beautiful passes together. They drew an early goal, and then another, and then another, and finally another. Alberto Gilardino (number 11) had 2 great goals and played a great game overall. As did Stevan Jovetic (number 8) who was perhaps my man of the match. Julio Baptista from Roma put in a late goal to break the shut out, but it was nothing to write home about... The 4-1 result solidified Fiorintina in 4th and Roma in 6th on the Italian Serie A table.

Here's a video of the Fiorentina fan's celebrating after a goal. The guys in front of us were elated and gestured thier pleasure towards the Roma fans...especially the bald guy who was amusing the whole time. You'll notice I turn to the small section of Roma fans (fenced in between barbwire) being pelted and insulted by Fiorentina fans as part of the celebration...

(Back to news about our our actual trip)

Today we took an early bus to Siena. It's a bit rainy, but not too bad. However, the town is small enough that we've been to most places that we're excited to see (we're done with museums and churches now...and that's final. I think we're going to try to tally all of the museums and churches we've been to and add it to our blog in the future). So, we spent about an hour trying to figure out where a restaurant, situated in a cave somewhere outside of town and recommended by my friend Cory, was located. However, that didn't pan out so well.

So, we've booked a tour to Chianti tomorrow to imbibe and celebrate the wine there. The next day, we're looking into booking another tour to south Tuscany to enjoy the wine from that region. Unfortunately, the cost of renting a car and our hope to buy a house when we get back home has prevented us from renting a car and spending true quality time in the towns recommended by everyone that offered advice to us. So, we'll be stuck to visiting via a crowded tour bus full of potentially drunk and poorly behaved Americans. Oh well...

That's all the news for now...talk to you soon.