We had so much fun exploring San Croce that we decided to do another church the next day. We struck out in the opposite direction toward Santa Maria Novella.

Cantinetta Antorini

But first – we stopped for lunch at a restaurant recommended in the guidebooks for being in a palazzo and having good wine – sounded good to us! It turns out that the restaurant is owned by the Antorini family, which is famous for its wines – and they actually still live in the palazzo. We had a wonderful lunch with fabulous “house” wine.

Santa Maria Novella

Next up – Santa Maria Novella church. I didn’t take pictures inside San Croce because I was so absorbed in the moment, so I made up for it at Santa Maria Novella. As you can see, it is stunning. We have become art nerds since being here and follow the artists around almost like rock stars, viewing their works. So today we were super excited to see Donatello, Lippi, Brunelleschi (our fave), and Vasari – names we didn’t really know too much about this time last month.

The Cat & the Fox

And finally, we ended the day at a place that is absolutely perfect for us – il Gatto e la Volpe – The Cat and the Fox. My initials are CAT (and everyone at work calls me CAT).  Frank’s last name is Volpe, which means fox in Italian. So it was like the restaurant was created for us! It was a fun and lively place full of art students and even a monsignor sitting at the bar. It is on our list to go back.

Next up – we are taking a little road trip and heading south to Naples for a few days. Stay tuned . . . .

Sunday was forecast to be rainy and cold, so we decided to take the day off. Then the sun peaked out, so we opted to venture out for lunch and strike out to a new neighborhood – around San Croce. There was a church there that looked pretty from the outside but didn’t seem as high up on the guidebook’s “must see” list. But we figured we could at least say we saw it.

Lunch in the Neighborhood . . .

The neighborhood turned out to be just what we love – full of locals just living – families walking dogs, parents pushing strollers, and couples lazing about in the sun. We chose an outdoor cafe (with heat lamps) and joined them.

. . . and an Amazing Church

It turned out the church was open so we figured, what the heck, we’re here – let’s look in. Wow. We ended up renting the audioguide and spending several hours. It turns out that this church – that is way down the “must see” list in the guidebooks – is the burial place for Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Rossini, among many other famous Florentines. And there were plenty of stories to go with each. For example:

– Michelangelo died in Rome, and they wanted to keep him. So his nephew snuck down there, stole the body, and wrapped it in rags to ferry it back to Florence, where he received a state funeral and was laid to rest at San Croce.

– Galileo took longer to get there because the church would not bury him in the actual sanctuary due to what they deemed his radical scientific theories that seemed to question the its teachings (mainly that the Earth revolved around the Sun, rather than the other way around).

The two rival families of Florence also had elaborate chapels built inside – the Medicis and the Pazzis. It turns out the Pazzis schemed to destroy the Medicis and sent someone to kill the Medici brothers at Easter Sunday Mass at the Duomo across from our apartment. The assassin succeeded in fatally stabbing one brother, while the other brother escaped. The crowd was so angry, it literally tore the killer limb from limb – all this in the church by our house! And you can see why the two rival families might need separate chapels.

But Brrr . . .

We also learned that churches in Florence are not heated. We were freezing by the time we left but didn’t want to stop learning. It took us the rest of the night to warm back up!

So, in lieu of dinner out, we opted to grab a mix of Italian antipasti at the local market and eat in – we feasted on alice (little marinated fish), polpo (octopus), prosciutto (ham), olives, and polenta cakes. Washed down with the wine from the leather store – see prior post. : ) We are really getting into the spirit of things here!

You are probably wondering why I took a picture of the sidewalk – if you look closely, you will see a face.  And it is the face of a famous Florentine author who was the center of our sightseeing today – Alighieri Dante.

We became real tourists and took the “Inferno” tour – based on the bestselling book by Dan Brown (which they are turning into a movie starring Tom Hanks).  We had read it a couple of years ago and thought would be a good way to see a number of sites.  It was fabulous!  What a fun way to learn history. Our guide started at the beginning and told us the actual story, weaving in the real history of the place as well. [By the way, the company we used was Florencetown, and I would highly recommend.]

Palazzo Vecchio (the “Old Palace”)

If you have read the book, you remember that Robert Langdon starts his run through Florence through the Boboli Gardens and across the Vasari Corridor (which we saw earlier in the week). So this tour picked up at his next stop – the Palazzo Vecchio. This was the home to the Medicis before Pitti Place. It had never looked especially interesting to me from the outside – but boy was I wrong. It was breathtaking inside.

The Palace includes amazing reception rooms with original frescoes and sculpture, the apartments of the Medici family, and even secret passageways. We got to see some of the highlights from the Dan Brown book, including the Hall of 500 and the death mask of Dante – kind of spooky. We also toured the Map Room, which has secret doors behind some of the maps and was where the hero of the book escaped.

Seek & Ye Shall Find

My favorite story (in real life – not from the book) – the Council of Florence selected Leonardo di Vinci to paint a fresco in the Hall of 500 (see very big room above).  He used a new technique, mixing paint with wax to make it shinier. unfortunately, the paint eventually melted.

So, about 50 years later, the Medici family hired another artist – Giorgio Vasari (of Corridor fame) to paint over it. He hated to paint over Da Vinci, even if it was unrecognizable, so he built a wall over the original wall, leaving less an inch of space, and painted his own fresco on the new wall (painting on right above). As you can see, the painting is huge and depicts a battle scene. On a battle flag near the top, too small to see from the floor, are letters Cerce Trove – in Italian – Seek and Find. Well, no one knew anything about Leonardo or why Vasari would have painted that message until only a couple of years ago. National Geographic was studying the Vasari painting and noticed little holes in it. They realized there was a fake wall, so they sent a probe into the space between the walls and discovered the Leonardo painting. So the meaning of Vasari’s secret message about what was hidden behind the wall was left undiscovered for over nearly 500 years!

Dante & Beatrice

Next, we went to the church where Dante worshipped.  In the book, Robert Langdon goes there to try to find a copy of Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” This is the church where Dante first fell in love with Beatrice, whom he loved all his life, even though they were both married. Beatrice is supposedly buried there and there is a basket where people leave letters to her full of their own lost love stories, hoping Beatrice may intervene.

Baptistery & Duomo

Finally, we made our way to the Baptistery and Duomo, which are in our neck of the woods and we can see from our apartment. These are amazing buildings both inside and out – full of intricate marble, mosaics, and frescoes.  The domes are my favorite part – on the left is the Baptistery and the right the Duomo of the big cathedral.  These were important in the book because they depict the judgment of Christ – where some make it to Heaven and some to the many layers of the alternative, as Dante wrote about in his “Divine Comedy.”

We are touring the Duomo next week – you can even climb to the top – 463 steps!  You’ll have to check back to see if we make it.

* * *

Thus was the end of Robert Langdon’s journey in Florence – in the book, his next stop is Venice – just like us!

Well, Frank and I surprised even ourselves with our latest day out on the town. Our plan was to have lunch at a cute little cafe and spend the afternoon at a museum.

Cantinetta del Varrazzano

The cafe – the Cantinetta del Verrazzano – is a bakery specializing in focaccia and owned by a family that is famous for its wines. It only has 4 little marble-topped tables in a narrow space, and we were super lucky to snag the table by the window. It was a rainy and cold day, so very romantic and cozy. We had a glass of Verrazzano Chianti and shared an assortment of facaccia finger sandwiches and Tuscan prosciutto.

And then  . . . 

As we stepped back outside and I was taking a picture of the cafe (above), a man standing on the street asked how we liked it. He and Frank struck up a conservation and turns out the man, Gianni, owned a leather good store on the same block. (Of course – I’m sure he completely saw us coming all the way from our window seat in the cute little cafe.) He told us that this leather company is small and is all in the family – 35 of them working in the hills of Tuscany designing and hand-sewing these jackets. He asked where we were from and told us that his business does trunk shows in DC each year (which did turn out to be true – at the Willard no less).

He said, “Let me just give you my card – come with me.” Well, that was our downfall. We politely followed him into his store, and he gave us his card. His “cousin” appeared and started taking down leather jackets and saying just to try. I have never really liked leather jackets (on me at least) so was not all that excited but did try one on. Meanwhile, Frank and Gianni were laughing about Italian stories and paying no attention. Then Gianni says, “Let’s all have some wine” and pours us all glasses of Chianti “from my family’s vineyard.” And his cousin keeps bringing down jackets for me to try on.

Long story short – I am now the proud owner of a beautiful blue leather trench coat style jacket – “an original designed by my aunt,” according to Gianni. See pictures below. Gianni even threw in a bottle of his family’s famous wine. (Needless to say, we never made it to the museum.)

And tonight, Frank and I are dining at the restaurant that is owned by Gianni’s “friend since we were bambini.” He called and made reservations for us right in the store. That Gianni is a very good salesman – Mamma Mia!

Epilogue: We did go to the restaurant – Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco (Restaurant of the White Boar). It was fabulous and one of our best experiences so far. It is on the Oltrarno (other side of Arno River) and had a line out the door. But our reservations said “Gianni, 2 Ameicano VIP” so we had a prime table waiting. Their specialty is boar – I had a grilled boar steak and Frank had pasta with boar. They even brought us grappa at the end – and we merrily made our way back home.

Well, if you are living temporarily in Italy, eventually you have to do regular, everyday things like go to the doctor. I’ve had a cold, which isn’t so bad, but I have to be a more careful since my breast cancer treatment. Colds can be more serious and also wipe me out faster. So we decided to go to the doctor. Now, this normally would not be a highlight that I’d record on the blog – but it was such a pleasant experience and so different from back home – that I thought you might find interesting.

Our apartment guide listed an English speaking doctor who is from the UK and is now an expat in Florence, treating tourists and students. I called one morning, and he answered himself and said he could see me in a couple of hours.

Frank and I know our way around by now so easily located his building a few blocks from our apartment. The sign on the door said “STUDIO MEDICO DEL CINGHIALE,” which means “Medical Studio of the Wild Boar.” OK – I hoped that this was named because there is a pig statue in the square across from the office (the one whose nose we rubbed the other night that is supposed to mean you will come back to Florence). Maybe this doctor just had a funny sense of humor.

We opened the door to a tunnel-like hallway (kind of like the Vassari Corridor) and then had to go up, up, up 5 flights of winding staircases. I thought it was good that I just had a cold and not heart problems!

We got buzzed into his office and were the only people there. After filling out a short form, I was escorted back. The doctor examined me, said my lungs sounded clear (a relief since radiation can impact your lungs), and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and signs of what to look for if I need to return. I thanked him, went to the reception desk, and paid 50 Euro cash for the visit.

We climbed back down the stairs to the street, where there was a farmacia (pharmacy) in the same block. I handed the lady at the counter my prescription, she opened a drawer, and voila – I had my prescription for just 10 Euro. No lines, no phone calls, no insurance cards.

So the whole experience – doctor’s visit plus prescription – took less than 30 minutes and only cost 60 Euro. Amazing!

PS- I am now taking my medicine.  I cannot tell you what it is since all in Italian, but feeling much better.  : )

We are settling into Florentine life. I’ve been working a little more than I had intended and poor Frank has been super patient waiting for me to finish up each night so we can finally go to dinner (in the meantime, he has joined a gym and seen a variety of museums on his solo jaunts around town). But we took a well-deserved day off together and went sightseeing. What a day!

Monastery of Painters

We started at the Museo di San Marco, which is a former monastery full of painting monks. They painted frescoes everywhere – including in their individual cells (43 of them!).  We could walk all around from cell to cell and see an original 15th century fresco in each. The monastery also housed Savonarola, a radical figure of the day who drove out the Medici Family and then was turned over to a mob (right in the courtyard) and later hung and burned at the stake at the Piazza della Signoria, in the center of town.

Lunch on the Piazza

All of tht led us to the Piazza itself, where there is a plaque commemorating Savonarola’s fateful demise. It was a beautiful day so we sat outside at a cafe that has been there for over a hundred years watching the world go by – and having a much better time than the controversial monk.

Vasari Corridor

Then it was time for a tour. We like being on our own, but sometimes it’s good to have a guide, too. And we needed one for this tour – it was to a secret passageway, the Vasari Corridor, which runs across the top of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge from the Palazzo Vecchio (Medici Family offices) to the Pitti Palace (where they lived) so that their subjects wouldn’t see them. It is locked and closed to the public, unless you have a guide. We were lucky to snag a spot with about 15 other people.

Our guide led us through some of the highlights of the Uffizi Gallery first (more on that in another blog) and then – opened an unobtrusive wooden door to reveal a stone staircase descending down into the secret passageway. The door closed loudly behind us as guards watched our every move. And so we began our walk on the same path as the Medicis.

There were iron-barred windows every now and then so we could see the tourists on the bridge below who had no idea we were up in the secret tunnel. The tunnel even runs by a church with a window where the Medici Family could watch worship services sight unseen.

The corridor also houses the world’s largest collection of self portraits. One of the Medicis started this collection of self-portraits of the important Renaissance artists of the day. The collection evolved so that later artists, including those of today, donate their self-portraits to the museum hoping to be included.

Finally, the guards opened a locked gate, shepherded us through a final passageway, and out a small wooden door into the outside. We had made it across the Arno River and were in the gardens of the Pitti Palace. The door closed and locked behind us, and when I looked back, I just saw a little blue door with no name, which cannot be opened from the outside. To the rest of the world, it looks like a garden shed. But we know it is the opening to the famed secret tunnel.

The Grapes of Volpi

Before crossing back across the river – on the regular tourist path this time – we ducked into a local wine bar we had heard about – Le Volpi e l’uva (The Fox & the Grapes). We loved this since Frank’s last name is Volpe, and Volpi is the Italian spelling (means “fox”).  It had 10 seats so filled up quickly. They offered Tuscan wines by the glass and small plates of cheese and salami.  Yum!

A perfect ending to a perfect day.

We had our first visitor in Italy – our friend, Janet, from Annapolis! Janet flew in on Wednesday and stayed in a hotel nearby (since we only have one bedroom). It worked our great. We would meet up with her part-way through the day – since we had our work and chores to do – and then go sightseeing. It was a wonderful few days to just be tourists.

Our highlights:

Steak Florentine

We kicked off Janet’s visit to a local trattoria to try this specialty of Florence – thinly cut beef steak cooked rare. Delicious!

David

Probably the most spectacular highlight – a visit to the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David. It is awe-inspiring every time you see it. And January is a perfect time to visit because no lines. (We took a selfie – along with everyone else. Some people even had these cool gadgets that extended their phones out so their selfies could catch more background. Ours is old school.)

Farmacia di Santa Maria Novella

A little off the beaten path – this perfumerie dates back to 1612, when monks created herbal remedies for various ailments. It is still housed in their old cloisters, complete with hundreds of year old frescoes. Over the years, the monks moved into fancy perfumes, which are still made today according to the same strict standards and recipes. Janet bought the perfume based on the scent created for Catherine Medici. I bought one of my own favorites – essence of magnolia.

The Piglet!

The old straw market is filled with stalls during the day, with sellers hawking purses and leather jackets. But it’s empty at night, except for this sculpture of a boar, affectionally called “The Piglet.” If you rub his nose, supposedly you will return to Florence. Of course we all did!

Fiesole

We got out of town – by way of city bus – to the hills above Florence to the charming town of Fiesole (pronounced Fee-eh-SOLE-aay). We climbed, climbed, climbed and were rewarded with an amazing view of the city, as well as La Reggia degli Etruschi, an inventive restaurant at the top that served homemade pasta with a gourmet flair – mine had pear, roquefort cheese, and poppy seeds.

We bid Janet farewell with a toast of Tuscan red wine at the fabulous rooftop bar at her hotel, overlooking all of the sights we had been admiring. Since it is January, they have heated floors, fur seat cushions, and white blankets to wrap up in. Very chic. What a fun time we have had!

 Well, enough of being tourist. We came here to live like locals – which means going to work, doing laundry, and taking out the trash. All which seem much more exotic (and a little harder) in a foreign country.

All In A Day’s Work

I arranged with my office that I would work a reduced schedule – mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I work until 8 pm on those days so that I can have some regular office hours that overlap with Eastern Standard Time. Tuesday was my first day.

I set up my desk, got logged onto WIFI, and even was able to log into Citrix (our network). I sent emails, worked on some open questions, and re-connected with clients after my medical leave. A great first day! I posted a picture of my new office.

I was all ready to start again today (Thursday). I got my regulations and “to do” list set up and logged on – only to discover no WIFI. We called Lorenzo, who owns our apartment. He explained that the German Chancellor is in town, and her motorcade is scheduled to go right by our apartment. So the security people shut down the WIFI. I’m not sure if this is true, but eventually I gave up and decided to look for an Internet cafe. They were all mobbed (maybe Lorenzo was right), until I finally stumbled upon a Chinese take-out place with a few tables and no one in sight. Perfect. So I spent the afternoon happily having tea and working at probably the only Chinese take-out in Florence. I liked it so much, I may even go back tomorrow.

Laundry Day

My other chore today was laundry. We have been a little intimidated by this because the washer is under a tarp on the balcony – and after all, it is January. Plus it has been rainy, so not ideal outdoor washing weather. But since I was going to stay home this morning to work, I decided this was a good time. I took the tarp off, put in an experimental load of mainly underwear (just in case), and hit the only button allowed (the others are taped up). Things seemed fine. Nothing to it.

Four hours later – the laundry STILL wasn’t finished! I thought we may just have to sacrifice this load and never get it back. So I handwashed the rest. Finally, the washer clicked off, and I strung everything on the racks to dry (there are no dryers in Europe). We may look for a laundromat for next time.

Taking Out the Trash

I am happy to report that we were more successful with the trash. We had been searching for the trashcans for 3 days. Florence has a system where residents must separate their trash into 3 categories: Organic (old food), Residual Rubbish (where the picture shows old soccer balls), and Multi-Use. We’re not sure what Residual Rubbish is, so we mainly just use Organic and Mutli-Use.

You have to carry your sorted trash to a community site with very small garbage cans that look kind of like parking meters. Oddly, we have not seen anyone else walking around with garbage except us, so we don’t know if we are the only ones who comply. But we gathered up our bags, marched to our local trash bin, and did our duty. I took a picture to document the occasion.

So we are settling in and learning the ropes of living in Italy.

Buona Notte! (Good Night!)

Christy & Frank

Well, our goal for Sunday had been to provision the apartment with the basics – milk, paper towels, laundry soap, etc. Being savvy travelers, we smugly packed our shopping bags (you bring your own here), wrote out our list, and set out.

Sunday Marketing

The first place we found was Eataly – which is like a very expensive Italian Whole Foods (they have one in New York, too). We were in awe of the amazing looking food but realized that, while this may be a good place for special items, it wasn’t for everyday shopping, at least not on OUR budget.

Next we stumbled upon an inviting place that had cheese and promised samples. That sounded good. They were so charming that they served us truffle salami, aged pecorino cheese, tuscan red wine, and even limoncello. It was even more expensive that Eataly, but we got caught up in the moment and bought some stuff anyway. Then we forgot all about our list and decided to just walk around. So much for toilet paper and butter.

Monday Marketing

So today – we had to face the music and actually buy groceries. We again packed our shopping bags and this time stuck to our mission, not even walking by the tempting gourmet shops. This time, we were going to the Mercato Centrale, which is a huge farmer’s market selling everything from fresh fish and meats from parts of animals you don’t want to know to vegetables and pasta. Stall after stall. We walked around even more dazed than in Eataly. Finally, we found a place that served coffee and tea and decided to take a break and build up the courage to actually buy something. I am proud to say we bought a mezza kilo of pasta fresca (a half kilo of fresh pasta) for dinner tonight and something green that looked good for dessert – we’re not sure what it is (I am assuming pistachio).

But we still had our big list. So on the way home, we found a real market that was quite big and seemed to have all we needed. We happily filled up our basket with vegetables, eggs, and staples. They even had wine for as little as 3 Euro – awesome. We felt ready for the check-out, armed with our bags and knowing we had to fill them ourselves. We were ready. Only to find out that we were supposed to weigh our vegetables and put the sticker on ourselves back where they were sold. Oh no. The line behind us was long and a little grumbly, so we bought the groceries we had, and Frank stood by with our bags as I waded back into the store to find the vegetable scale. Whew – with that done, we successfully were able to buy our lettuce and tomatoes. A shaky start, but ok. We said “Arriverderci” and headed out – only to set off the store alarms. Goodness. The flustered cashier didn’t know what to do so called the store policeman, who came and very seriously upended all of our carefully loaded bags, inspecting each item one by one while the crowd looked on. (They were kind of big-eyed, so this must not happen a lot.) Finally, the policeman determined that something we had bought at the other market set it off, so we were cleared.

So we are back home and decided we’ll just stay in for the rest of the day. We have provisions for our pasta dinner tonight and our bottle of 3 Euro wine, so we are happy.

PS – We STILL have not figured out where to take the trash. That will be Frank’s job tomorrow while I have my first day of work in Italy.

We have made it to beautiful Florence, Italy (or Firenze in Italian). We got a taxi and gave him our address – 1 Ricasoli blue (very important because residences have a blue address and businesses have a red address). He looked puzzled and had to call his friend. Oh no. I was a little nervous because we rented directly from the owner via TripAdvisor and got a pretty good deal since we did a monthly rental in January/February. And we were to bring all cash for payment. So this could either be a wonderful find or a bust. But we proceeded on and finally came to a roadblock. He called again and, to my surprise, the barriers were lowered, and he moved on to directly in front of the Duomo, which is where our front door is. Wow.

Lorenzo & the Apartment “Paradiso”

We met with our greeter, Lorenzo, who guided us up a teeny tiny elevator to the 5th floor, opened an iron gate, and into our new home for the month. Amazing. We have one bedroom, living room, foyer, kitchen, and bathroom, with one side directly facing the Duomo and the other with a litte terrace that looks out over the rooftops to the hills of Fiesole. I’ve posted a few pictures.

“Very Important”

Lorenzo showed us around. He warned us that there are many thieves and pickpockets in this area, so we have to keep our iron gate locked at all times, even when we are inside (and this is on the 5th floor of a locked building). He said this is “very important” and wagged his finger at us. He also showed us the washer, which is outside on the terrace under a tarp (I guess we will only wash on sunny days!). He showed us how to turn on the water and advised only to use liquid soap. Again, he said, “This is very important,” while wagging his finger. Finally, he showed us a stash of Chianti Riserva in sort of a mini-bar, available for 6 Euro. He said, very seriously, that it is required that we open these bottles at least 2-3 hours before drinking and, wagging his finger again, said “This is very, VERY important.” I loved that this last instruction got two “very-s”!

So we are settling in. Our goal today is to explore, find a market, and figure out how to empty the trash. Apparently there is a community trash/recycling place a few blocks over, so we have to haul all of our sorted trash there. I’m sure that will be a story for another day . . . .