week six: tasting tuscany... greve in chianti

16 October 2009
Greve… Okay, what could be better than the Tuscan countryside? Enjoying a day in the Tuscan countryside with wine and food… obviously!So, as one of our excursions, F and L planned a trip into the heart of Chianti region… Greve… not far outside of Firenze, ma sembra che i mondi di distanza ... K and I were excited to spend a day tasting the food, and more importantly, the wine!!! K, however, had the chance to visit her best friend in Prague, so she left the day before… leaving me to my own devices… which means last night I went to rehearsal, came home, ate dinner, and went to an opera… I should mind my antisocial behavior, don’t you think??? Allora… with K off in Prague, I was left to travel to Greve with F and L… and honestly, how could the day go wrong?? It was beautiful outside, we were going to visit wine region, and spend the day eating and walking around the countryside… I’d do that on my own in Italy!!!
So, after sleeping off my post-opera euphoria (I saw Bohème, whaddya expect???) I woke up to the cold Florentine air, and got ready for my day… I don’t know when it happened (okay, that’s a lie, it happened on Monday… it rained all day and took away the heat…) but literally overnight it was as though someone turned off the heat… no more hot Tuscan sun… just solar glare and cold… not Boston cold, but really, I wasn’t expecting this much of a dip for another month… my wardrobe is prepared for neither the extreme heat nor the sudden cold… I wasn’t expecting New England weather in Italy!!! Wow, side tracked again… allora… I met up with F and L a little before noon and headed off to Greve… for those of you who haven’t read my earlier posts, any car ride with F is like an amusement ride, complete with bizarre music and flashing lights (though you can never be sure if that’s your life flashing before you or the lights from the other cars…) though we always make it there in one piece (well, almost… I have wondered if I left my stomach somewhere along the road at least once…)
So, we get out of the city, and all of a sudden see this: did I mention I love Italy??
Once in the town of Greve, we park, and begin to walk around… apparently, Greve is known not only for its Chianti wine, but its olive oil and meat… so we take a quick browse through the macelleria, Antica Macelleria Falorni… yes. It is totally what you’d expect: actually, I think I have a similar picture from the last time I was in Italy, but this store definitely trumps any preconceived notions about Italian macellerie… but, rather than go into detail about that now (as I wasn’t allowed to dally myself) we’ll talk about the real food of Tuscany… We went to Enotecca Fuoripiazza, a local haunt with authentic cuisine… so authentic, in fact, that I was convinced (or rather overexcited) to try rabbit… with green beans and a red bell pepper sauce… and pigeon… I know, that sounds freaky, but it’s not the pigeons that you see hanging around Boston Commons or perched on top of Lafayette… they’re raised and well fed… and taste incredible… plus homemade olive oil on unsalted focaccia… with unoxidized, real chianti classico? Honestly. Heaven.
After lunch, L and I decided we needed to walk… running was not really an option, so we decided to walk up into the old section of Greve, into the historic district that was everything you’d expect of a small Tuscan town… honeslty, it looked as tohugh someone had taken a snapshot out of an old movie or storybook, and placed it neatly in front of us… you could smell the bay leaves and olives, and the air was so clear I could feel my lungs filtering out years of city abuse (okay, I’m a concrete princess, but sometimes, the country has its allure…) I couldn’t stop snapping pictures, until finally we got to the top, and we just sat… I don’t know if it was the high altitude, the wine, or the combination of excitement and oxygen, but I felt dizzy with riposo…But, as all good things must come to an end, so too did our little venture up into the hills of Greve, so L and I walked back down (with F blasting the rolling stones in the car behind us…) to the main piazza to do more tasting!!
When we found ourselves back in the piazza, all eyes were immediately drawn to another famous Italian commodity… one which I have to mention for my brother… TT, this is for you :)Yes, this was literally just sitting the middle of the piazza, in broad daylight, to be envied and admired by all… I still don’t get it…
E poi, we went to the wine museum. Yes. There is a museo dedicated to wine. Obviously we had to go in!!! and this is what we found: from Verrazzano’s travels to the new world… please, for those of you reading at home, do google translate this, and see what it means… I couldn’t tell whether I should be offended, or if I should just laugh…
Allora… we moved on to something I understand, and appreciate, much better… food and wine :) we went back to L’Antica Macelleria Falorni, and tasted wine (these are for those of you who'd like to try to find real Tuscan wine in the states...), olive oil, and salami… madon’ assaggiare e piangere… as full as I was, I could not get enough… though I did manage to pick up a few goodies to pack in my suitcase (if they make it that long… for those of you waiting, keep your fingers crossed hehe)…
We ended the day as everyone should end the day, with homemade gelato… It’s still a wonder to me how so few Italians are overweight, never mind obese, with all of this amazing food and wine… I could get used to this life…

week five: sunset on san miniato <3

11 October 2009

Time for mass… I dragged my sore body out of bed in time to make my way across the river to mass at the English church where I sing… and I managed to drag K and M with me :) I love my friends!!! After mass, the three of us took a slow stroll back across the river and into the hubbub of the city… we picked up pastries, let M pick up some stuff from home, and headed back to our flat for brunch…

Having planned this in advance, K and I had all the fixings for omelets and mimosas… so the three of us sat, chatted about our own bucket lists, and tried to figure out how many places in M’s 1000 places to see before you die… not too shabby for 20 years old!!!

After completely gorging ourselves on omelets, pastries, and mimosas, the three of us decided to try to get some schoolwork done, and meet up again an hour or so before sunset… K and I got halfway through our art history assignment and decided to give in to the Sunday laze, and take a nap, Tuscan sun streaming in through the windows, Liszt wafting in from the flat downstairs, and, after-all, we were both so sore from our 5-hr wanderlust the day before…

17.30 came far too quickly… but K and I met up with M and headed back up into the hills to visit San Miniato and Piazza Michelangelo… to watch the sun set over Florence… It was incredible… seeing the sun change from warm yellow to deep orange and pinks to purple and finally the deep star-studded sapphire blue… it would have been incredibly romantic… the three of us giggled over the scene, but, it is truly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen… and while we were up there, eating our cheap touristy pizza, a couple actually got engaged with the setting of the sun… it was perfectly picturesque, and I felt like I was in some romantic movie… oh wait, no, it’s still just me, here, in Florence, with my friends… haha…

Allora… to get a better view of the twinkling lights over the Arno, M, K, and I climbed the billion stairs up to San Miniato to snatch a few last shots of the setting sun… but, we got distracted… by the church… San Miniato is the most breath-taking church in all of Florence… it is not the most elaborate, it’s actually nothing incredibly spectacular, save its incredible location atop a hill overlooking the city, but the outside is just a ‘normal’ (wow, I am becoming desensitized to this, aren’t I??) renaissance façade of green and white marble, attached to a brown stone building… and the inside is dark, and plain, quite large, with a few frescos, and remains of frescos lining the walls… but down in the old chapel, there is something magical… there is no other way to describe this place… I walk in, and every time, it takes my breath away, and I am completely overwhelmed with awe and wonder… I could spend hours in there and never know it… but tonight, no lights were lit, save the candles near the altar, and not a sound could be heard but our feet crossing the cold marble… it was cold and silent, but I felt so warm and full of light… this is how I will remember Florence… inside this church, in the soft, warm, darkness, with the faint glow of the night sky filtering in from the open doors…

week five: wanderlust :)

10 October 2009

Usually I would try to be all authentic and use only Italian to describe my adventures here in Firenze, but there is no better word than wanderlust to describe today… K and I woke up to grey skies and cool weather (honestly, the first I think I’ve seen since I’ve been here) but wanted to do some real exploring (spurned on by a conversation with L about the hills of Firenze)… so we just started wandering… we crossed L’Arno, and wandered up toward San Miniato, but rather than head straight there, we walked along the old wall, and up into the hills… we found ourselves in the real Florence, the Florence you think of when you think of little Tuscan towns and ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’… the quaint little hideaways, castles, and villas that have been in these families for longer than there’s been a united Italy… we even saw a garden through one of the gates that had a stupid ball… now for anyone who does not know what a stupid ball is – as defined by my mother and aunt, a stupid ball is one of those coloured glass spherical lawn ornaments placed on a pedestal in the front of someone’s house… they are, in fact, normally found in front of those houses belonging to Italian Americans, and are the subject of much ridicule in my family… despite the fact that both my mother, and my aunt have at one time almost purchased one themselves… therefore, upon seeing one alive and well in the hills of Tuscany, I was not only appalled and shocked, but slightly wounded by the fact that, indeed all of my fears were true, and that eventually there will be one sitting in my front lawn… damn genetics :-p

allora… we wandered every which way until we were both too tired to keep going… we wandered up into the hills past the city line, and into some town we don’t even know the name of… then we ran into this little Italian man who spoke no English and told us ‘Andate alla chiesa. E’ molto bella.’ So we kept going a little further, and found this beautiful little church with a little rose garden. It was so simple, and so beautiful, and there really was something just so calming about its presence… K and I both decided that we’d come back for mass before flying back state-side… that is if we can ever find this place again…

So, we stopped to sit on the wall, and eat some fruit that we had so knowledgeably packed (thanks, mum :-p)… this is what we saw… despite the ominous looking clouds, it was amazing… honestly, if I write the words ‘amazing, breathtaking, or awe-inspiring’ I’m going to get sick of me!! But, what am I supposed to do??? Everything really is amazing, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring… and this was no exception…

As we descended back into Firenze, not only did we start to come back to earth, but we were followed by darkness and rainclouds… we got a little lost, but found our way to San Miniato, probably my favourite spot in the whole city, and made it inside in time for evening vespers sung by the monks all in Latin…

After mass, K and I made our way back into the city to meet our friend M from the fashion institute for margheritas and a little dish session… M always has a story, and the three of us inevitable have a blast… we’ll have to take her up into the hills with us one day… who knows where else we can explore!

week five: cooking Sicilian, with a Tuscan twist...

9 October 2009
Cooking again :)
Really? What’s a better way to spend a venerdi notte in Tuscany than cooking Sicilian food? Haha… L’s family is from Sicilia, so K and I asked if we could cook some of her fav dishes (much to the utter disgust of F, the proud Florentine :p)…
So, K and I met L at the CONAD around 4.30 to pick up everything we’d need for the night… fresh food (free of all 800 of my allergens, lol) and wine… it was nice, a quiet girls’ evening (F wanted to have no part of it, so he stayed late at school… though did show up just in time to eat everything… hmmm… haha) of cooking and conversation…
The menu is as follows:
Fennel, carrot, and grapefruit salad (self explanatory, si?)Bucatini all’Amatricana ( hey, some things are worth the Benadryl… and wow, I could eat this every day!!)Chicken Marsala (with fresh mushrooms and porcini stock and real marsala wine straight from Sicilia?? Ummm… yes, heaven.)Zucotto (it’s Italian ice cream cake – for adults… no cooking required, but be careful with this one… that red isn’t a syrup… it’s Alchermes!!)Wow… we had so many leftovers K and I probably won’t need to cook til Monday… and we have bunches of leftover ingredients, which means I get to cook even more :)
Between this and the puccini playing in the background, i was basically in heaven...

week five: on top of the world... err... duomo???

6 October 2009

So K and I were supposed to meet F this morning to go to the Cascine Market… an open air market in the center of town… for whatever reason, however, neither K, nor I, nor L (his wife!!) could get a hold of him… so, K and I took the opportunity to go visit the Duomo… yes, we already went there for class with L, but, that was only to see the inside of the church… K and I wanted to climb to the top and see the city view and the frescos on the dome up close… so, we rushed over in hopes that our early rising would prove not to be in vain… lucky for us, there was no line (and I would say that we went straight up, but really, with over 450 winding stairs in an old medieval building, it was a trek…)

When we finally got to the top (honestly, I was getting a little motion sick with all of the turning!) the view was breathtaking… €8 to climb to the top of a building does not sound worth it until you see this view…

Being up there really made you feel as though you were on top of the world… from the ground, the top of the dome looks tiny… like you could fit maybe 6 people up there… try 60… it was huge (though it took some internal convincing to get me to the edge to look down… I don’t mind heights, but this building is how many centuries old??) and it was breathtaking. I still can’t believe that it was created in the 1400’s… to think that Brunelleschi created the means to make such a magnificent structure exist and last for so long is awe-inspiring…

You think looking out over NYC is amazing from the top of the Empire State Building? Try looking out over Florence in the soft glow of the morning sun… out over the city and into the Tuscan hills… I could see everything… Fiesole, San Miniato, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, the Gardens, the Arno, the hubbub of the Ponte Vecchio, and the twisted streets around Santa Croce (K and I even found our flat!) We must have stood up there just staring and taking random pictures for over an hour… It was the best last-minute-early-in-the-morning decision ever… I still can’t believe I’m here… looking out and seeing this: is overwhelming.