A City Like a Village

Piccoli piccioni

I find it really hilarious that on my recent trip to Italy, I took one photo.  Seriously.  One photograph.  Me, the one with a minor in photography...who takes photos almost everyday of random moments...I only took one picture the entire 10 days I was in Firenze!  And that's it above...it took my single, solitary picture of a few pigeons.  And why, one may ask?  I honestly have no idea.  The only explanation I can give is that this trip to Italy was a trip of rainy days and sicknesses.  I didn't feel so inspired to take lots of photos, I suppose.

But that's not to say my trip was a flop.  Not at all.  I'm proud to announce that I was able to accomplish a little bit of what I hoped this trip could be for me.  I previously wrote about seeing new areas of the city, walking new streets, getting another view of the city I love.  And I can boast that this happened in my short vacation.  Well...okay...I did go to some of my favorite places in il centro (the center).  I sat with the elderly Italians in Piazza Republica for a good hour and watched the bambini riding the merry-go-round.  I walked through my favorite stores (oh Zara, Calzedonia, and the numerous shoes stores...I missed thee!) and made sure to note some new aspects of the Duomo's fascade everytime I walked by it.  Believe it or not, I actually had to smile and laugh each time an Italian male made some sort of comment as I passed by (a grand total of 5 times)...and maybe it's wrong to admit it, but I kind of missed that kind of attention!  Is that wrong???

So besides the normals activities, (such as my 2 hour naps in the afternoon) I was able to see some new places.  I had a lovely, most elegant, and very entertaining dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Riflessi.  We were dining with a rather elderly gentleman who couldn't (and wouldn't?) speak a word of English, and my "translator" was having a very good time with that fact.  The best part of the dinner was the wine and the waitstaff.  Both were pleasantly delicious...a nice blend of classic Italian flavors combined with modern flair.  Our waiter was the most attentive I've ever had the pleasure of meeting (and that's saying a lot, considering this is Italy we're talking about)...but this was probably due to the fact that this elderly gentleman we were with apparently dines at this restaurant nightly.  The other younger waiters were equally attentive and charming and humorous throughout the evening...it really was a lovely dining experience!

Another hightlight of my trip was finding a new church in the center that I'd probably walked by a million times, but never even noticed!  The reason I discovered it this time, was because I just happened to be walking by a side street and happened to hear an organ playing.  Since I had nothing but time to kill, I allowed myself to transition into tourist mode, and I began poking my head around the church door to see if I was allowed to enter.  By reading a big board written entirely in English I found this was the Church of Orsanmichele.  It once was an area used as a grain market (think early 1300s) and then after a fire was rebuilt into a church (around 1400s).  The church has some artistic highlights I appreciated and it had an overall Gothic style.  I loved listening to the old woman playing the organ while devoted followers kneeled in contemplation.  I mean really...how often does one stumble upon this kind of church in the States?  You just don't.

One other lovely memory was one morning we decided to take un giro (a ride) around the city.  This is something we do often.  But this particular day was a fabulous giro!  It started around 11am, going to our local open air market.  We walked around, shopped for cheap things we really didn't need, and bought our daily bread.  We headed towards the center and stopped unexpectedly when we saw a friend on the street who owns a little bar along the Arno.  Chatted with him a few minutes.  We then went to visit with a friend who owns an art gallery on the Oltrarno.  He just happened to have a new painting by an artist that he insisted we see, but it was at his house.  This led us up into the hills past Porta Romana into a beautiful area with luxurious houses lining a wide boulevard.  I'd never been to this area of Firenze before!  Our friend showed us into his house and insisted we then stay for lunch.  Of course!  Only after we'd eatten pizza, pasta and wine were we allowed to see this new painting.  As we were leaving, another friend called to say he'd love us to stop by for a minute to say hello.  Why not?  Again after chatting a few minutes, we headed to a nearby favorite sports club to refuel our energy.  With a quick coffee we were headed back home, literally making an entire circle of the city, seeing friends at every stop.  This prompted a comment that I'll never forget, something along the lines of "Firenze is a city that looks like a village...one where you can meet a friend at every corner."  I love that image of Firenze...a place that is large, and ancient, and filled with history, but is current, and intimate and alive!

Up next: my 5 hours in an Italian ER...