Hidden gems

This week we have been getting a closer look at yet more interesting little things around the city. Sunday we went to Claudia's apartment for lunch--she is my (one) friend from Conversation Exchange and she invited us over because her housemate had shown her how to make ragu' toscano (Tuscan-style meat sauce). Her housemate's boyfriend's brother, conveniently, works in a trattoria and provided a huge plate of homemade egg pasta (tagliatelle) to cover in the sauce. I would love to learn how to make this sauce, but I don't think I would be willing to spend three hours to make it. The same goes for the fresh pasta.

On the way out we took advantage of Claudia's apartment being in a different part of town and walked down Via il Prato, the road where they store the Brindellone. This is the cart they explode every year for Easter and they keep it in this massive yet shockingly narrow compartment. Even though we just saw the door, that was almost enough for me. It was like sneaking a peak at a celebrity's home.

I'm so content to be so close to the Brindellone! What is almost more impressive is its door (yup, that tall and skinny brown thing!).

We next visited the Basilica di Santa Trinita to have a look at the Cappella Sassetti, frescoed by Ghirlandaio around 1485.

This morning (I had the day off from school) we met with Giovanni, an art historian fellow at I Tatti who lives a couple blocks away. He took Seth and me to see the Chiostro dello Scalzo, a beautiful cloister elegantly frescoed in gray tones by Andrea del Sarto (1508-1526).

Who would have thought something so striking would be hidden within the walls of this modest little facade?

As a bonus Giovanni drove us just out of town to see Andrea del Sarto's Cenacolo (Last Supper) at San Salvi. Maybe not as elegant as the Scalzo, but just as impressive. The nice thing about all these frescoes is that they are rarely removed from their wall and you have to visit them on-site. This makes it hard for museums to plunder them and more fun to track down individually. With just over a month left in Florence, we still have many more to see!