Happy Birthday, Italy!

In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, Italy is instead celebrating the 150th anniversary of its unification. (Indeed, this is a young country!). The beloved womaniser Berlusconi even declared today a national holiday and last night celebrations erupted in all the piazzas. In addition to an orchestra concert in the Loggia, a Dante reading in Santa Croce, and flag throwers in the Piazza della Signoria, all the museums were free last night until 1am. Seth and I took the opportunity to visit the Palazzo Vecchio, which itself was decorated in Italian green and red. It was packed but quite a fun experience!

Happy Unification Day!

Just inside the Palazzo VecchioEleanora's Chapel frescoed by Bronzino

Salone dei Cinquecento. I vote in favor of removing some boring Vasari frescoes (those massive pannels on either side of the room) in favor of hopefully uncovering Leonardo's long-lost Battle of Anghiari!

Michelangelo's Genius of Victory watches the Viva l'Italia speech in the Salone.

Meanwhile, in Santa Croce

Last weekend we also had the chance to 'sneak' into the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.
Not much is left of the expansive sculputre garden in which Michelangelo grew up.
Nifty 'point and listen' style multimedia presentation.

Tomorrow we are leaving for our last big trip--Sardinia! Planning for this one has been more of a headache because we will be renting a car and driving all around the island, which means we had to book accommodation in advance and have an idea of what we want to do each day. This is not something we are very good at. However, we have everything ready, and now the only downside is that I don't think 7 days will be quite long enough and we might end up sitting in a car more than actually getting out and doing things. At least I am always game for a good road trip :o) If I can get past the usual pre-travel anxiety, we will be in for a great trip! Now off to bed for our 4:30am run.

Here is an ode to Lorenzo, who has new sitters this weekend. Seth already misses him... a lot...