It's Friday, July 25

Today is my last day in Florence, and I'm filled with mixed emotions. I could live in this city forever, I think, although I will be very happy to get home to see friends and family. And there are still so many things that I haven't seen, but that's just my excuse to return, right?

Yesterday, I went on the afternoon outing to Santa Croce with the school. Marco was our guide, and he's just wonderful (as usual). It's a beautiful church and very important to the people of Florence. Michelangelo, Vasari and Machiavelli are buried there, and there are empty tombs for Dante and Giaccomo Rossini, although there seems to be some question as to whether or not Rossini is actually there or still in Paris, where he was first buried.

There's also a beautiful chapel belonging to the Pazzi family, built mostly by Brunelleschi, with terra cotta work by della Robbia

The interior is fantastic - here's a very poor quality video of Marco explaining it to us:

Later last night, I had dinner with Marco and his friend Giovanni (along with Magre the english spaniel again). We went to a restaurant called Ora d'aria, run by a chef who is considered one of the top chefs in Florence and all of Italy right now. Here's an article (in english) about him:

http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=3365&browse-by=Up-Close-Personal

Dinner was great, and lasted almost 3 hours. We all had the tasting menu, and it was very haute cuisine - tiny little dishes with exquisite tastes of food on them. I'm not really even sure what I ate, but it all tasted delicious.

So now I'm off to spend my final day in Florence. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, but probably I'll end up at 4 Lions for dinner, which has been a gastronomic highlight. As much as I enjoyed last night, there's something so wonderful about a plate of pasta and some bread, right? This will be my last entry from Italy, since I'll be packing tonight. Hopefully, when I get home to Seattle, I'll be able to upload more photos from the trip - between Aunt Clare and I, there must be hundreds!

Busy days!

As I approach the end of my almost-six-week-long trip, I'm scrambling to make sure that I see everything that I need to see before I go. It's not nearly everything that I WANT to see, but that wouldn't be possible.




Yesterday turned in to a day about Michelangelo. I started out at the house that he bought here in Florence. They are having an exhibit entitled "The Face of Michelangelo", which includes many romanticized pictures of him, as well as those from his time. It is a beautiful exhibit. You can read about it here:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/21/michelangelo-portraits.html

The house also has treasures of his, both of works that he created and items that were collected while he lived there. There are also works of art commissioned by his family in later years, including an entire room painted with scenes from his life. It's definitely a beautiful museum!

After that, I went to the Medici chapel again to see the tombs that Michelangelo built for Lorenzo and Giulio di Medici. (Thank goodness I bought this "Friends of the Uffizi" pass - I can go see anything I want as many times as I want!) I'm glad I went back, because there was a new exhibit in the main chapel: items that had been taken out of the coffin of the last Medici grand duke, including his crown and his baptismal medallion. To read more about why they're exhuming the Medicis, go here:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2206238
(warning: lots of technical jargon for scientific types like my mom)

Then I headed to the Uffizi to see the Doni Tondo, the only known preserved panel picture by Michelangelo. It's said that it's very easy to see that Michelangelo was a sculptor by looking at his painting: look at Mary's arms, in particular, as well as the way their robes drape around them.



Since I was at the Uffizi, I looked at a few more paintings, including the Rembrandts and the works by Caravaggio, including his Medusa, which is SO much more powerful in person:




(Melissa, you HAVE to see this work!)

Then it was back to 4 Leoni for dinner, where I had a nice chat with the waiter who remembered me from all the times I've been there. I decided it was time to try some beef, but I couldn't possibly eat an entire Bistecca Fiorentina, so I just had this plate of beef:

Good thing, too, because this was hard to finish! But yum, so delicious!

Tuesday's lunch

Trio of three soups: Ribolitta, Pappa al pomodoro, and Farro and Chickpea soup with rosemary.

Arugula with pears, brie, and pinenuts

The museum I visited today...

Monday...Marco's birthday!

Yesterday was Marco's birthday, and we had a small celebration at school - a little singing, and a fruit tart that I had brought him as a treat. I had thought that he would take it home and share it with his friend Giovanni in the evening, but he insisted on sharing it with all of us.

Afterwards, I headed to the train station to go to Lucca, stopping on the way for a panino (turkey, cheese and tomato) and a fruit salad. I got to Lucca in the mid afternoon and tried to find the restaurant that Marco had recommended: Buca di Sant'Antonio. He had told me that it was closed on Sundays, but they must have changed their day off, because the sign said that it was closed on Mondays. So I decided just to spend a couple of hours in Lucca and then head back for dinner in Florence.

Then I set off on the main purpose of this trip: a Puccini pilgramage (as Lucca is his home town). I first tried to go to the Puccini museum, which was his childhood apartment originally, but that too was closed on Mondays.

Then I headed to the other side of town (after a bit of a detour which was caused by an Italian giving me mis-information!) and finally found Palazzo Giunigi, where a Puccini exhibition was being held, in honor of the 150th anniversary of his birth. This exhibition filled 7 rooms of the Palazzo, mostly with documents, pictures, and letters of his. I saw a letter from Mascagni to Puccini expressing condolences after the death of Puccini's brother. I saw the census from 1861 with the list of the family. I saw Puccini's certificate for first prize in organ school. I saw scenic and costume sketches from the premieres of both Le Villi and Edgar. I saw a piece of music manuscript with Puccini's handwriting on it, reading "Ms. so and so, please wake me at 9 am". It was really wonderful, and I could have spent hours there, but I wanted to make sure I caught the 7:30 train back to Florence.

A panino for the train (and a little prosecco!) and the ride back to town took no time at all. I went to Pizzeria Dante for dinner, and then to Gelateria La Carraia afterwards (chocolate-orange gelato!). Home to bed....

Happy birthday Pam!

My beautiful daughter is 22 today! Happy birthday, darling girl!

By the way, for all who are interested: Claritin in Italian is still Claritin (and it's cheaper here).

The Duomo

Today, after a late start to the day, I went to the Duomo, the Baptistry, and the Duomo museum, and I saw some really amazing things. I had been to the Duomo before, but last time we hadn't gone down below the church. In the 1960s, they had done some excavating and discovered much of the earlier church of Santa Reparta, which the Florentines had built around and demolished in part while they were building the Duomo. It was fascinating to walk around down there, in a roman church that was built in the 5th century!

What was also fascinating to me was that Brunelleschi's tomb is located down below the church, in Santa Reparta, but this was unknown to the general public until 1972! Of course I had to go see it, as Brunelleschi is such an important man in Florence's history.

After leaving the Duomo, I went over to the Baptistry. I had walked around this building 100 times, but never been inside, and I was certainly missing out! It's a beautiful space, filled with art, including an amazing ceiling studded with mosaic glass. The baptistry is also the burial site of Baldassare Cossa, Pope John the 23rd, one of the "anti-popes".

After this, it was over to the Duomo museum, where all the priceless works of art that used to be in the church are held. This includes the original Ghiberti gold panels for the door of the baptistry (the ones that are on the door are bronze casts).

Also at the museum is one of the three "Pietas" by Michelangelo. This one was done when he was 80 years old, and intended for his tomb. The man in the back is Nicodemus, and thought to be a self portrait of the artist.

There is also more homage to Brunelleschi in this museum, including this bust:

and his death mask:

The weekend is here!

I can't express what a great time I'm having here. I'm hanging out a bit with my friends from school and speaking a lot of italian. It's pretty incredible.

Thursday night I went back up to Fiesole with the intent of going to see "Carmina Burana" as performed by the orchstra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in the Roman ampitheater there. But dinner was so great and the conversations at the table just went on and on and before I knew it, it was too late to go to the concert. So instead of hearing a great concert, I had dessert: a flourless dark chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. Yum!

Also in the category of culinary adventures, I had my first tripe sandwich on Thursday afternoon after school. As you can see below, it's been memorialized for history:

It was ok, but I won't be having another!

Last night, I had dinner with Marco at this great restaurant called Taverna del Bronzino, which is in a 15th century building. It was originally the painting studio of il Bronzino, Agnolo di Cosimo, who painted many of the portraits of the Medici family. The food was really wonderful, and the conversation was fantastic. Marco brought his dog with him, a cocker spaniel of some sort. The sweet dog slept under the table at my feet during the entire (2 hour long) meal.

And now I have two days in front of me with no school in which to make plans. I'm thinking about going to Torre del Lago on the coast, where Puccini spent most of his life. If there are no posts for a few days, that's where I've gone.

Wednesday's events

After class on Wednesday, I attended the afternoon activity, which was a guided tour of the church of San Lorenzo, the Medici's parish.

Christina was our guide, and as she's a native Florentine and a resident of this neighborhood, she knew just about everything there was to know about this church. Brunelleschi was the architect of this church, as well as many other structures built in Florence during this time.

Christina talked a lot about the light and dark colors of marble and stone that he used, in order to create contrast: chiaro and scuro, which is such a hallmark of the renaissance. There was also a wonderful painting by Filippo Lippi, his annunciation. This picture does not do it justice. Christina pointed to this painting as one of the most characteristic Renaissance paintings. In particular, the sense of prospective, the movement of the bodies, the facial expressions, the setting (which is purported to be a florentine garden), the colors, and the use of light, as if this event were taking place at noon on midsummer day, with the sun shining directly downward.

Also within the church are sculptures by Donatello and Michelangelo, both of whom were friends of the Medici family. The story goes that the current pope (a member of the Medici family) asked Michelangelo to build a new facade for the church. Michelangelo agreed, and plans were drawn up, including a large model which currently resides at Michelangelo's house here in Florence (I hope to see it before I leave). The pope approved, and building was about to commence when they had a disagreement about the material. Michelangelo wanted to use marble from Carrera, which was very pure white. The pope, however, had financial interest in another quarry and wanted that marble to be used. Michelangelo refused, on the basis of his artistic eye. The pope would not budge, since as pope, he never had to negotiate with anyone - his word was law. The two were never able to agree, and it was never built. That's why the front of San Lorenzo doesn't have the dazzling facade that some of the other Florentine churches have.

In addition, we visited the graves downstairs, which included those of Cosimo the elder and Donatello. There was a fresh laurel wreath on Donatello's grave...people here still love him.

Later last evening, I went to an orchestra concert given by the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in the courtyard of the Bargello museum (outdoors). It was wonderful! They played an "adagio for strings" written by David Jackson, a young Monk who lives in Florence. Very reminscent of Barber's adagio for strings. Also on the program were the Sibelius romance for strings and Nino Rota's Concerto for strings. But in the middle, was the Bach E major violin concerto, played by David Garrett, pictured below:

You wouldn't think that a guy who looked like that would be a classical violinst, would you? Maybe a rock guitarist or singer, but not a violinst! But yes, he played the heck out of that concerto, and then encored with two movements from one of the Bach partitas. Such a great performance! He was extremely musical!

After the concert, I walked over to Vivoli for a little gelato before heading back home. Do you suppose I can get italian gelato shipped to Seattle next month? Otherwise, I'll be suffering from withdrawal...

Foods I have loved

Monday again...

...and back to school! Marco has returned, and it makes such a difference! The morning flew by, and before I knew it, it was 1 pm. We have another new student in class this week: Monica from Germany. But wait, you say, didn't you spend last week hanging out with Monica from german-speaking Salzburg? Yes, true...this is another person entirely. I guess the name "Monica" must be popular over there...

I didn't do much of anything this weekend....watched a little italian TV to work on my listening skills and took a few walks. Yesterday, I stopped for a drink in the middle of the afternoon and had a "Rossini" made of champagne and strawberry juice. Yum.

For dinner last night, I went back to 4 Leoni, which mom and aunt clare and I had visited while they were here. I had a little antipasto (including crostini with chicken liver) and then the pasta which mom had last time: fiochettini. It was just as good as I had remembered. And then for dessert, the waiter recommended the cheesecake with chocolate sauce, which is his favorite dessert there. It was wonderful! And afterward, I used a phrase which Marco had taught me: mi piace da morire, which means, literally, I like it to death - a Tuscan expression meaning that you like something very very very much. The waiter was very surprised and pleased to hear me say that!

Tonight I'm going up to San Miniato al Monte to watch the sunset over the Arno...hopefully I'll be able to get some spectacular photos. Then dinner at a new place recommended to me: Osteria Antica Miscita di San Niccolo. Another adventure...

Okay, you tell me which way I'm supposed to walk! It appears to be into the construction site, doesn't it???

A video from our evening in piazza signoria

Here's a video I took on the night that mom, aunt Clare and I saw Zubin Mehta conducting Beethoven's 9th symphony with the orchestra and chorus of the Maggio Musicale Festival in piazza signoria.

Friday night

On Monica's recommendation, I decided to go to the Bargello museum on Friday afternoon, one of the options available on my "Friends of the Amici" card. Boy, am I glad I did! Besides the usual displays, they are having a special exhibit entitled "The great bronzes of the Baptistry", which is all sculpture by Vincenzo Danti, a student of Michelangelo. You can view the exhibit's website here:

http://www.danti2008.it/galleria.asp

My favorite of the sculptures in this exhibit was a work entitled "L'Onore che vince l'Inganno", or "Honor triumphant over deceit".

I absolutely love the tortured, twisted body of deceit beneath the body of honor. This picture does not do it justice. You can walk around all sides of this sculpture, and every detail is so thoroughly portrayed, every line shows the pain and suffering of the man beneath and the victory of the man above. It's spectacular.

Also within the museum is Donatello's David, among other famous artworks.

David is in the process of being restored, and the amazing thing is that he's being worked on in the middle of one of the exhibition halls. On Friday afternoon, he was lying face down on a work table, surrounded by lasers, cameras, and tools. Unfortunately, the restoration was done for the week, but I am definitely going to go back next week to watch the technicians bringing him back to life. Sorry, no pictures were allowed, so I can't show you any of this in progress....

After a couple of hours in the museum, I headed to Vivoli for gelato - this time raspberry with dark chocolate. Yum. Went home and chilled out for a bit, and then went to Pizzeria San Jacopo, which is in my neighborhood here. This is the second time I had gone. Tonight, I had a 1/4 liter of red wine (about two glasses), a pizza with mushrooms and prosciutto, a side salad and a coffee. I went up to pay, having totaled my bill in my head and coming up with almost 12 euro. The manager/boss at the register punched a few buttons, and then told me that my total was 10. "10, really?" I asked, and the answer was yes. I guess repeat customers get a discount!

Yes, Melissa, you're right, I don't want to come back. I love living here, but I would need to transport all of you here to live with me because I would miss my family and friends too much. And mom, I finished "Marley and me" last night, and I cried like a baby....

Friday afternoon

....and school is finished for the week! Marco returns on Monday, and I'll be very glad to see him again. Our "substitute" teacher was fine, but Marco is such an amazing teacher that everyone else pales in comparison.

Yesterday was an exciting day for a couple of reasons:

First of all, I purchased a membership entitled "Amici degli Uffizi", which is basically a donation to the foundation which supports the state-owned art museums in Florence. With this donation, I received a card which gives me free admission to all those museums. This includes the Uffizi, the Accademia, Palazzo Pitti and all of its many sub-museums, Boboli garden, the Medici Chapel, etc. etc. This enables me to enjoy these museums at my leisure, without making reservations or standing in long lines waiting to enter. It also allows me to spend as little or as much time as I like, without worrying about trying to see everything, since I can always come back. Yesterday, for example, I spent 90 minutes in the Uffizi, most of it in the Botticelli room. I saw about 10% of the museum, but I could go back today, tomorrow, Sunday, etc. etc. I think this is probably one of the best purchases I could make!

Following my afternoon at the Uffizi, I went back to school for the afternoon excursion. Today it was a guided walk to the other side of the river, known as the "Oltr'Arno". Although I had walked over there numerous times before, I had never done so with a native Florentine, and what a difference that made! Christina told us all about the history of the city, and the importance of the river to the city, and the history of the expansion across the river. In addition, the other side of the river has much of the artisan work that used to exist in Florence proper prior to the flood of 1966, when thousands of artisans were destroyed in one night as the river washed away all of the tools of their trade. Today, across the river, you can still see, for example, shoes being made by hand, with apprentices learning the trade from the master.

Afterwards, I met many of my classmates for a beer near Santa Croce. There's a very interesting phenomenon here: many bars put out a buffet spread during the cocktail hour, between 7 and 9. If you buy a drink, you can help yourself to as much food as you like. So we each had one drink: a beer or glass of wine and plates full of food. I don't know how the bars make money on this, since the drinks were not priced very high and the food was plentiful. It's a good thing to know about if you're trying to save a little money!

OK, off to the museum of the afternoon...which shall it be?

Tuesday night's opera

Please forgive me if this post is a little short, because I'm pretty tired after only 4 hours of sleep!

After relaxing at the apartment after school for a little bit, I got on the bus and went down to porta Romana, which is the back entrance to the Boboli Gardens.

I was there early since I wasn't sure when the bus would get me there (I had to transfer buses at the train station). Upon arriving, I went across the street to a little cafe to have an "apertivo". I told the bartender that I wanted a little something to drink, but didn't know what I wanted, to which he said, "would you like me to make something for you?" Since I've been making an effort to try things I've never had, I said that I definitely wanted him to make something up. He created a drink that was mostly juice but also had a little gin and some other ingredients. Very tasty!

I went to the entrance to wait for Monica, my classmate who was going to the opera with me. While I was waiting, I chatted a little with an elderly lady, who was waiting for her daughter and granddaughter. They had dropped her off while they went to park the car. When they finally arrived, she said to them "Look! I found an american!" I found that very funny, particularly considering how many americans there are here in Florence at the moment.

Monica arrived, and we found our seats, which were lovely. The stage is mostly built out of scaffolding, with an orchestra pit, and the opera was staged just as it would be in a theatre, although the singers were miked because of the outdoor acoustic. Marco had told me that this company was not up to the professional level of the Maggio Musicale, but it would be entertaining to attend. I agree. And it was very lovely to sit outside on a clear cool night and listen to Verdi. The audience was VERY enthusiastic. That's one big difference here in Italy: the general public (for the most part) knows and loves opera. You could hear people humming along with some parts, and everyone felt free to yell "bravo" at the end (or in the case of the man in front of me, speaking about Germont, "I hate you". I don't know whether he hated the singer or the character)

It was a very entertaining evening, and lovely to speak Italian with Monica during the (3!) intermissions. Afterward, I found the night bus, but I had missed the 12:28 bus and the next one wasn't until 1:15, so I walked towards "downtown" and got a cab on one of the main streets. Tonight I'll be going to bed early!

Monica didn 't want to have her picture taken, but I insisted!

Tuesday...

The view of the Duomo from piazza santa annunziata

As I suspected, life is much less interesting now that Mom and Aunt Clare have gone. Yesterday's events in a nutshell: went to school, had lunch, went to happy hour for the new students, bought groceries, went to the tabaccaria to add minutes to my phone, ran 3 miles, ate dinner, studied, slept. Not very interesting, eh? But I do feel a lot of satisfaction about the fact that I'm able to do all of this without using any english. In particular, the interaction at the tabbaccaria was very challenging, because neither I nor the woman behind the counter were really sure which company my cell phone belongs to. But we succeeded, all in italian, which makes me very happy.

Tonight is another challenge, as I need to take the bus to the southwest corner of the Boboli Gardens to go see "La Traviata" with Monica. Hopefully, we'll be successful in getting tickets: I couldn't buy them over the internet (because it was only one day before the performance), the ticket office was closed yesterday, the school secretary couldn't make a reservation over the phone, and the ticket sale center in the downtown bookstore was having "technical problems". Very Italian. The opera doesn't begin until 9:15, since it's outdoors, and therefore it won't end until after midnight. Trying to figure out which buses run after midnight was difficult! I've found a bus, which takes me most of the way, but I may just grab a taxi if I'm tired. This afternoon is free, and I'm planning to wander a bit, and hopefully find an interesting place for lunch.

But here's an interesting bit of trivia from class this morning: in english, we say that someone has "the wool pulled over their eyes". In italian, there's a similar phrase, but they say that someone has "the prosciutto over their eyes". Very apt for this culture, don't you think?

Yesterday's lunch: tomato and mozzarella on "schiacciata" bread. Delicious!

An interesting fountain at piazza santa annunziata

Monday, with new classmates again

My school has two-week long "courses" and last Friday ended a course. This morning, we spent the first two hours doing individual grammar work while the incoming students were tested, and now we have two new classmates: Lisa from France and Kun (?) from Holland. Anna from New York has left, so I'm once again the only american in the class, as well as the only one who has english as her mother tongue. I like it better that way. And I can feel myself getting better at speaking, although I'm not nearly as good as I would like to be. But there's still time....

Last night, I had dinner at I che c'e c'e, a restaurant that I've visited every time I've come to Florence. Marco had recommended it, and it's a great place...friendly people and good traditional Tuscan cuisine. I was the only one there speaking Italian with them...all the rest of the diners were American, as far as I could tell. I asked why, because my memory of this restaurant is that I couldn't even get in to the restaurant some nights, since it was so full of italians. The answer was that most italians spend the weekend at the coast, since it's so hot in town (as my hostess did). Also, many italians are on vacation in July or August, and they don't stay in town. Dinner was great: ravioli with sage and butter (one of my new favorites), grilled chicken, and vin santo with biscotti (another new favorite). When the bill came, I saw that she had rounded it DOWN...instead of charging 28, the bill read 25. It just amazes me how nice everyone is here.

Tonight there's a happy hour for all the new students, and then I'm heading to the ticket office: Monica (from Salzburg) and I are going to see La Traviata in the Boboli Gardens tomorrow night! I'm very excited, not just to go see an opera, but to go with a new friend and speak only Italian with her all evening.

I think that today (or yesterday) marks the halfway point of my trip. I've been here 19 days, and I have about 18 to go. Very sad...

To leave you, here are some pictures of things that I find very typically Italian:

Train and bus strike, but as you can see, from 6 am until 9:15 am and during lunchtime the bus was running to accomodate the working folks. Would never happen in america, would it?

Great works of art covering up other great works of art - hidden treasures! Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time to see this - I would never have known that there was a fresco behind this oil painting!

The bodies of dead saints on view. This saint (I've forgotten her name) died in the late 1200s. They fashion a plastic or ceramic mask, hands and feet for the saints, but under that nun's habit, her bones are there.

Places where very famous people have been. This placard marks a hotel where Mozart stayed on the first of his 3 trips to Italy. I'm always stunned to see something like this, just unobtrusively hanging on a wall!

A quiet weekend

After the crazy party that happened here for the fourth of July, I'm ready for a rest! (no, just kidding....no one even acknowledged America's Independence Day, as I knew would be the case). Yesterday, I wandered around the city at a very slow pace, seeing a few things and just ambling in general. I did visit the Medici Chapels, with the spectacular tombs by Michelangelo. That was pretty stunning.

I also went inside Santa Felicita and Santo Spirito, both beautiful churches. Santo Spirito had been designed by Brunelleschi, who I am coming to admire more and more for his architecture.

Dinner was at Pizzeria Dante, across the Arno, where I had this AMAZING fried polenta with mushroom and tomato sauce. Delicious!

Chiesa Santa Croce

Poor Cosimo...the indignity of having pigeons landing on his head every day...

My new apartment

I moved on Friday to my new apartment, in an area a little farther from the center of town. The apartment is owned by Rosella, and her daughter Constanza lives there as well. I'll have to take the bus to school now, but at least the area is a little cooler, weather wise. And the heat seems to have broken, as Aunt Clare knew it would just after her departure!