Last Day

So today is my last day in Florence, which appeared very suddenly. This past week, the day after Aunt Dee and Eileen left, we left for a four day trip to Mantua and Verona. When we returned from Verona at 3:30pm, Seth's brother, Tory, and his partner, Melissa, arrived at our doorstep at 4:00pm. They spent a long weekend with us and they departed yesterday at noon. Last night was the I Tatti farewell dinner, and I leave for the US tomorrow at 7:50am. I am spending my precious day packing, doing last-minute sightseeing (we had a 12:00 reservation at the Brancacci Chapel this afternoon), fighting off the heatwave, petting Lorenzo, and I am just about to head out to see Claudia one last time. I wish I had another day (or week!) to enjoy the city and relax, but I suppose I can relax when I arrive in Raleigh (after my cousin's wedding in Colorado) next week.

For now, I must figure out how to pare down my luggage as much as possible (down to 30kg, including carry-on baggage) and come up with a game plan in case I miss any of my connecting flights tomorrow (I am on three separate itineraries!!!). Wish me luck!

Images from Chianti

Thursday afternoon last week I took the bus to meet Aunt Dee and Eileen in the grand Campo of Siena.

Inside the extravagant Duomo

I love how even though you pay to enter the church you still have to pay 0.50 euro to use the bathroom. This one even had a cash register and issued receipts!

Our hostel in the town of Tavarnelle, located 'in the heart of Chianti'.

Dinner that night was at one of the few restaurants in town. Luckily it was actually really good!

Friday morning, out running early to the nearby village of Barberino
By 10am we were out the door for a wine tour and tasting at a farm down the road. Our drinking started early :o)
After a rather long tour in the hot sun we were finally treated to some nice wines (Chianti, of course).
Dipping our Cantucci in Vin Santo, the Tuscan way
Eileen playing in the vineyardsWe tried to get Aunt Dee to do a high-kick but I think she felt embarrassed because a car was coming. I guess she didn't have enough to drink.After walking off the wine we hit the road

A quick lunch of cheese, crackers and tomato sauce in the cramped Medieval village of Greve

More wine (and afternoon coffee) in Volpaia

Continuing on our drive, we spotted a really beautiful bee-eater on a wire

Photos from around town

A visit to Santa Felicita on the other side of the river to see the Capponi Chapel. Architecture a typical design by Brunelleschi and drunken Mannerist paintings by Pontormo.

Through the window in the back of the church you can see the Vasari Corridor where the Medici Grand Dukes could observe mass without mingling with 'the people'.

I have been trying to get rid of odds-and-ends ingredients in the cupboards before leaving. The result: chicken pot pie and a sfogliatelle pastry I had frozen months ago and forgot about in the back of the freezer.

Seth in his office at I Tatti. Out the window we are treated to a lovely view of a real Tuscan bush.

We climbed through a little window in our apartment and sat on the roof, four stories above the city. A little terrifying, but there was a great view! I imagine if we were here for San Giovanni Day last Friday (the feast day for Florence's patron saint, St. John the Baptist), we would have had excellent vantage point to watch the fireworks.

A great view of the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and the setting sun. Ironically, this was just an hour or two before the full lunar eclipse... which we basically missed...I love seeing the antennas and the rooftops. So interesting!

The Donnelly girls, coming back around

Last week I met up with Aunt Dee and Eileen in Siena as they were closing up their Italy tour. After spending the day at the Duomo and checking out the Campo, we headed for the heart of Chianti (the region roughly between Florence and Siena). We stayed two nights at a hostel in the small town of Tavarnelle and spent our time cruising the beautiful cypress-dotted hills, drinking wine (Aunt Dee and Eileen swapped being the responsible DD), having our afternoon caffè (epresso), shopping, and wandering through the tiny little medieval villages. Eileen drove that little rental car like a champ--cautiously aggressive and confident, just like a true Italian! Back in Florence, they spent three more days with us sightseeing, getting hair cuts, making tiramisu, and relaxing. What a great trip for all of us! I hated seeing them leave on Tuesday, but at least I will see them in about a week in Colorado!

I don't have pictures ready yet, but here are some from Claudia's carbonara night at our place a couple weeks ago (it seems like such a long time ago already!).

Counting down

With only 15 days left before leaving Italy, Seth and I have been trying to cram in as much as we can before it is too late. For Seth, this is a combination of sightseeing and gathering material from the libraries. For me, I only have one day before the rest of my time will be spent with guests, so I have been trying to organize and sort all my notes, papers, and trip itineraries, as well as visit as many obscure artworks as possible before it is too late!

Here are a few things from around town the past couple weeks:

A party hosted by Gerardo, a fellow who lives in one of the apartments up at I Tatti. The apartments are actually attached to a church and during the pre-Berenson years were part of a convent.

After the party we headed to a theater near the Arno to see Claudia's Modern Jazz dance performance.

Last week I made for the first time in Italy a lasagna. Pretty ugly, but it tasted great!

The lasagna sheets here are typically a very thin, flat rectangle and come in egg (yellow) or spinach (green)

A typical way we start lunch: giant salads, tuscan bread (with garlic, oil, and salt), tea, and Pinocchio!

I wanted to show off a few things at the large grocery store, Coop, where I shop once or twice a week. Here are just mozzarella balls and fresh pastas!

The pasta aisle is just that: a pasta aisle

Rows of olive oil... and ketchup

I thought this was kinda neat: baby food of bunny

Also interesting is that a lot of the baby food is not fortified. I wonder what would happen, then, if a baby ate only bunny?

Excuse the side-ways picture, but here is tuna frozen pizza, actually very popular. Tuna is also a favorite in tomato sauce, though I have not yet tried these. I do, however, really love the store-brand Capricciosa frozen pizza to the right ... well, bottom (ham, olives, artichoke, and mushrooms).

The isle of bizzare canned and jarred meat and fishy-things. Note the very Italian jarred tuna fillets (which I got for Seth for his birthday and were very good) and pop-top tripe.

This Saturday was the last day of the art exhibit at the Palazzo Vecchio--Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a human skull, encrusted in diamonds, including a gigantic pink diamond in the forehead. In total, over 1000 carats. Since it was the last day, it was open for free until 2am, but when Seth and I went at 9:30pm there was nearly no line, so we went through three times (3min allotted per visit). Twice would have been enough but Seth really liked the waiting room (Francesco de Medici's Studiolo), so we went one more time. By this point the guards started to recognize us. As a piece of art it wasn't very original, but as a whole (and being a girl) I was impressed to see so many diamonds packed together so nicely.

(Internet photo)

Sunday we finally made it out to the Pitti Palace, though we only had time to wander through the Palatine Galley. It was much bigger than we had anticipated! We spent about 3 1/2 hours wandering its magnificent rooms. Here is the view of the Boboli Gardens, which we will have to cover the next time around.

Yesterday we went to Santo Spirito (though it closed early, before we had a chance to see anything, so the visit doesn't count), then wandered through Palazzo Davanzati, and finally the Museum of Orsanmichele. We were in luck because we thought the museum was still closed for restoration, but when we poked our heads into the church there was a sign saying the museum was open one day a week now, and today was the day ... and also a special free day!

The museum consisted of the original statues that sit in the niches surrounding the exterior of the church (except for Donatello's St. George, which is housed in the Bargello). These three here (along with Donatello's St. George) are the most famous: Ghiberti's St. John the Baptist (left), Verrocchio's Doubting Thomas, and Gianbologna's St. Luke.

View from the top floor of the building

I love looking at the rooftops!

The Orsanmichele tower and lamby

The view from the bridge connecting the church to some other building.

Here are our (fake) boys, guarding one of our favorite Florentine buildings! (That is, a view of the exterior of Orsanmichele.)