Compleanno d'Italia

It was wonderful to hear from family and friends over my birthday on Friday--that made the day really special! I kicked it off with a variation to our normal early-morning run. Instead of trotting along the Arno River we headed up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo to enjoy the best view of Florence. I don't know why we don't do this more often--it takes as little as 15min to get to the top, has a beautiful view (even surpassing that of Prospect Hill, if you can believe it!), you beat the tourists so there is NO ONE there to push in front of you, and it feels great to swap flat road for a hill. However, this also means coming back down on a hard surface, either on paved road or steps, steps being much worse.

Our neighborhood is just behind and to the right of the big church near the front-right (Santa Croce). The library (Biblioteca Nazionale) where I had been studying is on the river, the dark building in the middle, and to the left of Santa Croce.

We took the road back down...

And found bread marking someone's parking spot.

Seth didn't have any orientation activities during the day so he stayed in with me for breakfast and lunch, then we went to indulge in the Medici Chapels at the Basilica of San Lorenzo. One of Seth's I Tatti perks is a pass to enter any of the 13 state museums in Florence, which include the heavy hitters like the Uffizi, Pitti Palace, Accademia, etc. The pass has his name on it and all it says is "Allow for free entrance. Priority.", and since these are quite rare, not many ticket takers know what to do with them. When we got the ticket window the guy looked at it and asked for how many. Two, of course! Saving about $22, we will have to make sure to visit lots of museums... whenever we want.

We had been dying to see the tombs since we learned so much about them in our Renaissance Art class--it houses the remains of several less popular Medicis (this was the powerful family that led Florence for several hundred years and basically launched the Renaissance), but the real attraction is the architecture and sculptures, left incomplete by Michelangelo. As the icing on the cake we saw the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the inspiration for our own Lorenzo's name. We really wanted to take the little guy with us to see his roots, but we had to catch a bus right after, so it didn't work out.

We rode the bus up to I Tatti for an evening concert in the old library. It was an impressive performance by four young Russian pianists, playing a newly restored 200 year old fortepiano (the precursor to the modern piano). This was the first time I had been to the Villa since all the fellows, visiting academics, and remaining staff arrived, so there were lots of people to meet. The group was composed of several dozen people, a good sampling of the best Renaissance scholars in the world, speaking a mix of English and Italian, so needless to say it was very intimidating at first. Surprisingly, everyone there was really nice and many people were warm and fun to talk to. For example, I met Harvard's Dean of Arts and Science. When she asked, I told her I was interested in nutrition, then she told me about her Coeliac disease. We were a match.

Everyone was treated to a buffet dinner out on a terrace after the performance. The food was typical 'rustic' Tuscan cuisine, so we got to sample some traditional favorites. In case you were wondering, none of the 7 or 8 dishes consisted of pasta, but they each were very heavy in olive oil. Oh my.

The best part of the evening: a ride home (in a Fiat), which saved us quite a bus ride and a long walk. Needless to say, it was a good birthday!