Italy

Italy, Italy, Italy. This is where I spent the summer of my 19th year learning Italian. I always remember it as being a vaguely uncomfortable trip. The heat and humidity meant that my skin was horrible and I was constantly getting sick, I never had enough sleep and I must have gained 15 pounds in a matter of weeks. It was glorious! I love going back, so when my father took me with him a couple weeks ago I was a pretty happy camper. Work and travel? What could be better!?

Well. As it turns out wearing a suit and heels in the train is uncomfortable, especially when you have heavy bags to carry. And of course I left my jeans in Switzerland, and had to go shopping (I hate doing this in Italy, it's impossible!). It was uncomfortable, and yet I relished the feeling because it was so very Italian to me. Vaguely uncomfortable and completely wonderful. So what did we do?? I've already told you about the food, so let's talk about the touring!

My father has been staying in the same hotel in Florence for thirty years. It's called the Hotel Villani, run by one Erminio Villani, and it's a single floor in a building about a block from the Dome. In fact, the Cathedrale (di Santa Maria in Fiore) is so close that you can't take a picture of it out the window. It's just too big! Here is an example of my attempt:

 Pretty pathetic, no? Here is a better picture, taken down the block the night before:

I think it might be one of the nicest pictures I've ever taken.

While wandering around the city this time I stumbled across a little museum I didn't even know existed, the artifacts of which left me breathless for an entire day! Can you guess what it might have been? Probably not. It was the Salvatore Ferragamo shoe museum! As it turns out, you can order recreations of famous shoes worn by movie stars! Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, among many others, wore his beautiful shoes in their movies. Even Marilyn Monroe! They are so beautiful in person that words cannot describe. And since photos are verboten in the museum I can't show you either. Just be sure you get yourself over to the website and have a look. It really has to be seen to be believed. (http://www.museoferragamo.it/en/scopri-cinema.php)

We took a trip outside of Florence one day to see Tuscany a bit. We went to San Geminiano, a little walled medieval city that has been beautifully restored and is now a world heritage site. Here is a photo:

We also saw Siena, which is worth a look although not as beautiful to me as many other Italian cities, and to a little town I had never heard of before called Monte Reggiano, where we ate incredibly tasty proscuitto on traditional tuscan bread (unsalted) and very fresh pecorino. Yum! Here is my father and our friends enjoying our wine in the rain. At the end of the day we headed to a farm that produces its own wine and olive oil, and which has a lovely restaurant. A truly Italian dinner followed, by which I mean pasta, meat, contorno of beans and a little dessert, all with plenty of wine!

The volcanic ash lengthened our stay in Tuscany by a couple of days, although we ended up getting quite a bit of work done while we were there. We had a ton of wonderful Tuscan food and got to spend more time wandering the city than we anticipated. But now I'm running out of more things to say about the trip, so I will leave you with some more photos (including a couple of the Ferrari museum in Modena). Enjoy!

 

Oh my beloved Dino. I want a car just like you!