Happy Birthday, Mom!

To celebrate the glorious occasion of my mother's 61st birthday we had a very indulgent lunch at Cantinetta Antinori, a famous restaurant located in a palazzo in the western part of the city. The Antinori family has been making wine, olive products and cheeses for 500 years and the restaurant prominently features these delicious products. We started with a lovely bottle of Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, a delicious and robust red, and a selection of Tuscan meats and crostini. The crostini came with four different toppings - liver paste, tomatoes, a kind of ham salad and mozzarella with anchovy. So amazing! For the entree, my Mom and I had fillet of beef in an outrageous bordelaise-style sauce and a compound butter with herbs and my Dad had a scaloppine of veal with zucchini and zucchini flowers. Mom also sampled a glass of Tignanello, a famous wine from the Antinori vineyard. Dessert was a delicious strawberry tart and a selection of the Antinori goat cheeses, paired, of course, with a lovely glass to white dessert wine! A delicious meal, filled with flavor and history, a lovely way to spend the afternoon!

After a meal like that...you need a nap! Good thing everyone here takes a nap in the afternoon!

To rejuvenate after a long day of eating a drinking, we took a walk up the hill behind our flat and encountered some beautiful views! There is a lovely rose garden just five minutes away and the views down in the city of Florence cannot be beat. I finally got all of the Duomo into one shot! Yessss! You can also see the ancient wall that protected Florence from invasion for centuries.






The roses were spectacular and there were even some lemon trees with beautiful, ripe lemons - it took all my self control not to steal one!!





We definitely weren't the only ones enjoying the warm sun and beautiful view... : )

Pictures from the trip Bologna through Venice

I decided to use a new photo sharing website after Photobucket DELETED a picture of a fountain in Bologna which featured breasts. Ridiculous. This new site is way better anyway!

Bologna

Ravenna

Venice

Enjoy!

Art Overload

To visit the art museums in Florence one must attain a ticket in advance or wait in horrendously long lines in the blistering heat. Luckily, we reserved our tickets from the states so we were good to go for our museum day!

The Galleria dell'Accademia was our first stop and it is located in the northern section of the city about thirty minutes walk from our flat. It was not as crowded as I expected it to be given the line outside so we were able to view Michelangelo's David, the most famous piece of art in the collection, with relative ease. The statue is quite large (especially because its on top of a large pedestal) and strikingly beautiful even from a distance. You are permitted to walk all the way around and fairly close up, allowing a fantastic view of of the Master's attention to detail. Every muscle is perfectly chiseled and highlights the youth's physical beauty and athleticism. No pictures allowed, of course, but the image is so iconic that I hardly need to post one; it wouldn't do it justice, anyway. Gorgeous.

Another highlight were the Quattro Prigioni (The Four Prisoners) named because they were unfinished and the figures look like they are struggling to free themselves from the marble. They are both horrifying (they look like they're trapped in there!!!) and magnificent simultaneously.

The Accademia was built as a school for young artists to come and study the master's work and there is a large collection of the more notable students to study there. It's fascinating to see how these sculptures were constructed and see them in each state of completion.

We attempted to see the Fra Angelico frescoes at the San Marco but unfortunately they were closing the church down for the siesta.

San Lorenzo is the shopping district of Florence, a it's a lively and colorful street filled with vendors selling leather goods, scarves, notebooks and other Florentine products. I found a lovely leather belt (at a discount - I don't know if they guy liked me or what but I got 10 euro off the price!) among the various stalls and my mom found a funny apron that has the body of Venus from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus on it! Ha!

After a lovely siesta back at the flat it was time to visit the Uffizi, located just across the river near the Ponte Vecchio. The collection is enormous and contains, in chronological order, great works from Florentine artists from the Gothic period through the High Renaissance and some works beyond. Botticelli's masterpieces The Birth of Venus (naked lady on the half shell for those not familiar with the title) and Primavera or Spring. Both works are on huge canvases and are striking not only for the beauty of the composition but also for the disparity between more typically religious subjects of the time and showed Botticelli's fascination with classical mythology and pagan ritual. The Venus, unfortunately, has lost some of her brilliant color, perhaps from millions upon millions of people breathing on her for centuries. Sad.

Cooked dinner - well, part of it - in the flat again.  It's really fun to have some counter space to work (I have to use my kitchen table when I'm in the City - very annoying) and it makes it a lot easier to chop tomatoes, garlic, etc.  We picked up some Florentine meatloaf (hahahahahaha!  I don't know why that's funny...), Mom made sauteed spinach and I made linguini with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and basil.  Yummmm....

Firenze

Today was our first full day in Florence and we lucked out with sunny, warm weather! Since we're staying in a flat, we were able to make our own breakfast and take the morning at our own pace. Mom went out shopping early to the stores to get all sorts of goodies - fresh bread, butter, pastries, yogurt, strawberries - the perfect breakfast! We tried out the American coffee make/coffee that was already in the flat but it's...not great. So tomorrow we'll go for the more traditional espresso - when in Rome...er...Florence!

From our flat we made our way along the Arno River to the Ponte Vecchio, the most well-known bridge that crosses the water. The bridge is lined with shops - not unlike its sister bridge, the Rialto in Venice - but instead of cheap, tourist shops the PV has top quality jewelry stores with everything from traditional engagement rings to antique brooches and earrings. It's a dazzling display and well worth fighting through the crowds to see!




Across the bridge begins the Centro Storico of Florence. We made our way through the hordes to the Piazza della Signoria which holds the Palazzo Vecchio. We didn't go inside the palazzo but looked around at the various statues outside. There is a copy of Michelangelo's David, which is quite impressive even for a duplicate. Another standout is Cellini's statue of Perseus beheading Medusa. My only complaint were the insane crowds of people, most of them in large tour groups, taking up all the space. They couldn't possibly appreciate these things as much as I do - get out of my way!!!! ;-)





There is a fountain of Neptune (surrounded by sexy ladies again, as he was in Bologna - pimp!) in the piazza and a furry doggie decided that he was done with the heat and needed a dip!




From the P.d. Signoria we traveled north to the Duomo - Santa Maria del Fiore. Pardon my language but that is the biggest f*ing church I've seen in my entire life!! I mean seriously it's gigantic! I couldn't even get a picture of the whole thing! I got an okay shot of the facade and part of the campanile but that's all. Unbelievable. The church is made out of beautiful green and gray marble with an ornate facade (finished later in 1800) and huge dome. The dome is so large, in fact, that no building in the city stands taller (God comes first, after all). The dome was designed by Brunelleschi and was completed in 1436; the architect built the dome entirely without scaffolding - a remarkable achievement given the dome's size!



We attempted to enter the Baptistry, a small - you guessed it - baptistry set apart from the main cathedral. Unfortunately, there were the hordes again, getting in my way. I did manage to snap a photo of the east doors, which are the most famous part anyway. The doors were commissioned in 1401 after the city was saved from plague (makes you realllly glad you didn't live back in the day, what with all those plagues...though I guess Swine Flu counts?). Lorenzo Ghiberti won the job (literally) after a competition was held to see who would design the doors. The doors feature ten gold panels depicting biblical stories such as the sacrifice of Isaac and the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. The doors are beautiful but, alas, copies. The originals are in a Museum where I am sure they will charge me 8 Euro to get in to. : ) I kid, I kid...



Feeling statuesque (ho HO!) we went to The Bargello, the city's museum dedicated to Renaissance sculpture and other decorative arts. The most famous statue is David by Donatello...but it was in Milan for a special show so we didn't get to see it. Bummer. Not to worry, though, there were plenty of fabulous statues like Bacchus by Michelangelo - a work famous for the god's drunken pose (he was the god of wine, after all). There was also a special exhibit of Bernini busts that was quite exceptional. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the gallery but the courtyard was quite lovely. The building was originall the city's town hall and executions used to take place in the center! The stone-carved coats of arms, called stemmae, belong to citizens who served the courts and can be seen here as well as other buildings across the city.






It looks like John Bonham must have been a magistrate in Renaissance Florence...(geek points if you even understand what the heck I'm talking about)




After a brief sojurn at the Post Office (don't even get me started on how confusing that is for someone who doesn't speak Italian...) we crossed over the river at the Ponte Santa Trinita to gather supplies to make dinner. We went into a small but very upscale "deli" called Olio e Convivium and picked up specialty items like fresh spinach and ricotta tortelloni, fresh sage, sliced-off-the-hock-right-in-front-of-you prosciutto di parma, a delicious mozzarella cheese mixed with cream (sounds crazy but it's AMAZING) and liver paste (sounds disgusting but it is AMAZING!). When we got home we cracked open a bottle of wine and got to cooking. While my Mom prepared a lovely mixed salad I made the antipasti - rosemary crackers with the mozzarella cream, cured olives and homemade bruschetta topped with liver paste. We ate on our fabulous patio.




For the entree I made a brown butter and sage sauce to top our tortelloni (my Dad had his with a few slices of prosciutto) and we had salad with rocket, leafy lettuce, tomatoes and carrots.





Maybe it's just because I'm on vacation or maybe it's because I'm on vacation in Italy, but everything just seems to taste better here.

Our Fabulous Flat in Florence! (like the alliteration??)

We arrived in Florence yesterday and instead of a hotel we opted to stay in a flat! It's a charming little place with two bedrooms (opposite ends of the apartment so I can stay up later than 10pm...thank god), two bathrooms, a cute kitchen, living room/dinning room and MOST IMPORTANTLY an adorable patio with a table and chairs. We were given a bottle of wine as a welcome gift and immediately sat down to relax and settle in!




Here's a tour to make you jealous...err...show your around... ; )



The living room looking into the dinning area and kitchen



Living room



Cute kitchen - notice our laundry on the left - we wasted no time using the washing machine!



My "ante-chamber" as I like to call it - with a couch and some closets to the right



My bedroom (the window looks out to the church across the street and when the doors are open I can see all the way in!)



View into my bathroom from the outer room

It is incredible to be staying in this apartment - I don't even care that nobody makes my bed every day. We can come and go as we please, make our own meals, do whatever we want. It's like we're living in Florence...only we're on vacation! We're located in the Oltrarno (across the Arno River from the Centro Storico); the neighborhood is quiet but very close to the Ponte alla Grazie which takes you into the many part of the city. We have a local bar that we tried out the first night - downstairs is a lively nightspot while upstairs is this amazing outdoor garden with lots of candlelit tables and AMAZING food. Even the simplest meal - fillet of beef, for example - is well-seasoned with clean flavors. We have a bakery, a meat/fish market and a grocery store all within a block so we can go out to get materials to make our own dinners. This is bound to be the most restful part of our trip!!!

Cannaregio and our last night

My parents and I parted ways in the morning to explore our own parts of the city. I wanted to explore the one neighborhood I hadn’t been to yet – the Cannaregio.

The Cannaregio district is one of the most residential in all of Venice. Quiet, tourist-free streets and canals with only a few small osteria and bars. Walking around the empty street its easy to see why locals love living here.

The busy Strada Nova is the main drag in the eastern part of the neighborhood and it is as crowded with tourists as the Piazza San Marco. Leaving this street and crossing over the Fondamenta dell Misericordia (the largest canal that runs through the center of the area) it immediately becomes calm; people stroll with their children or walk to their errands. Here you see more laundry hung across the canals, a sure sign of a residential community.

My goals of the day were to see the Campo dei Mori (named for the three statues of Moors on the walls) and the The Ghetto (not what you think!). My first stop was the Campo, a small, mostly empty square with a few locals finding shade under an umbrella. The statues along the walls are small and would be missed if you weren’t looking for them! The Campo has some notoriety because the famous painter Tintoretto lived there.




Moving west along the Fondamenta della Misericordia you find the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, the oldest part of the Ghetto. This neighborhood was the home to all Venetian Jews who were forced to live here from 1516 until 1797 and then again during the Austrian occupation; it was not until 1866 that Jewish families were allowed to live anywhere in the city. The Campo is one of the prettiest in the area; a few large trees offer shade and a quiet bench to reflect the scene. Several holocause memorials adorn the walls, a somber reminder of the horror endured by European Jews. There is a small school where students are taught in both Hebrew and English (I’m not sure what type of school it is but most of the students were in their mid-twenties) and even a kosher restaurant!






This was the hottest day of our visit to Venice and walking around in the mid-day sun for several hours definitely took the wind out of my sails. I went back to the hotel room for what should have been a short siesta…and woke up two hours later. Oops! Good thing there was a small bar around the corner from the hotel so I could bang down some espresso and be ready for the second part of the day.

Like I said before – it’s hard to get lost in Venice and equally hard to find what it is you’re looking for. We attempted to find our dinner location without bringing a map…okay, in reality we just forgot the map at the hotel but still we thought we could handle it! Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as we thought it would be. Especially since our two first choices were closed (it was Sunday) and we needed to find somewhere else to go without a guide to tell us how to get anywhere! We finally found Le Chat qui Rit, a self-service kind of place with salads, pastas and various meat dishes. Feeling somewhat disappointed by our dinner we went out in search of a place for gelato!! Ice cream solves every problem!!!

San Polo and Santa Croce

Well it seems the weatherman is always wrong in Italy too! All week we had been expecting nasty weather Friday and Saturday. We didn't get much sun yesterday and were gearing up for pouring rain all day today. Boy, were we in for a lovely surprise! The morning started out a little cloudy but by 11am the clouds had parted and the rest of the day was sunny and warm!

To celebrate this glorious weather we decided to go to the outdoor markets in the San Polo district. We walked from our hotel over the Rialto bridge to the Pescheria (fish) and the Erberie (fruits & veggies) markets along the Grand Canal. The selection of fish and vegetables and fruits and meats was truly overwhelming! Without the American-style grocery stores, many Italian cities rely on these markets for their fresh produce, meats and fish. If only we were so lucky to have these markets around every corner in the US!





The highlights for me (and my Dad!) were this strange looking fish with big eyes and this awesome lobster that was on the attack! At first the lobster looked calm but the fish monger, looking to have some fun with the tourists, agitated the lobster and made him angry! It was awesome.





We met up with my Mom at the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a huge Gothic church in the eastern part of San Polo. The chuch is rather plain on the outside but the inside holds several wonderful works of art and monuments to famous Venetians. Titian's glorious Assumption of the Virgin dominates and main altar with it's vivid colors and beautiful use of light, while the monument to Titian dominates the back half of the church. The monument is a great stone piece with a statue of Titan on it; behind him is a stone version of his Assumption in the front of the church.

Next was a visit to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. The Scuola was set up as a charitable institution for the sick and was founded in honor of Saint Roch, the patron saint of contagious diseases (not one of the more glamorous, is it?) to protect the city from plague. In 1564 Tintoretto was comissioned to decorate the walls and ceilings and the building stands as one of his great masterpieces. All the paintings follow a path about the life of Jesus Christ and other biblical subjects. Tintoretto's use of light and color were revolutionary for the time and the paintings are truly striking in their majesty. Most moving are his Crucifixion of 1565 and The Temptation of Christ - the first for its use of light to illuminate Christ on the Cross and the frenetic scene below him; the second again for the stunning light and the posture of the young Satan.



I was particularly fascinated by the carvings done by Francesco Pianta in the 17th century. Along each wall under the paintings in the Upper Hall are carvings of people - including a caricature of Tintoretto with his painting tools - as allegories to different media (such as painting, with Tintoretto) and vices/virtues. They are absolutely beautiful and impressive in their realistic features. Pianta also designed a bookcase or rather a carving of a bookcase, that was place in the hall and has details such as reading glasses and open books - it is magnificent. I would have taken pictures but many institutions don't allow photography (perhaps because they want you to buy the postcard...)!

The Ca'Pesaro was our next stop, a small building (and impossible to find) with a modest collection of modern art containing mostly artists of Venetian descent. In addition to its collection of Italian works, the museum has a small collection of works by some of the most famous modern names - Klee, Bonnard, Klimt and Miro to name a few. I fell in love with two small still-life works by Matisse, done all in black paint without his typically bold colors; their simplicity was stunning!

To get back to our hotel we decided to take a vapporetto down the Grand Canal to get a better look at some of the building palazzi built along the water. Most of the buildings are well-maintained and are home to artistic or religious institutions; some buildings seem to be just barely kept together, not surprising considering their age and proximity to vast amounts of sea water.




Instead of getting off at our hotel stop we realized we could take the boat all the way out to the Lido (one of the Lagoon Islands) and get a lovely view of the Lagoon and the main island of Venice on our way back. This turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip! It was so lovely to sit on the bow of the boat and speed through the water, feel the breeze and see many of the smaller islands not always visited by tourists. I would recommend this to anyone planning to visit Venice - it's an inexpensive way to get out on the water and see Venice from afar.