Visitors and daily life

We have been less than great bloggers of late. Just too many things to do here in Florence--too many cultural events, too many shop windows to gawk at, too much good food to eat, and many friends with whom we are always busy. And no, we don't expect much sympathy from our dear readers.

In the past weeks we have enjoyed a visit from our friends from Washington. Sue and Paul, after spending a week in Rome, came to Florence and stayed with us, and inspire some new fashion ideas. Our friend Dina arrived for a two week stay in Florence, living in an apartment just five minutes from here. Fall fashions have arrived in the shops, a number of new art exhibitions have opened, the Mondiale--a world cycling completion--was hosted by Florencetown, and the season of schiachiatta con l'uve, a pastry made with the now-harvested grapes, are in all the bakeries.

Sue & Lee preparing pasta alla chitarra

In the Tuscan kitchen...following a morning visit to the Mercato Centrale, we cooked ravioli al limone, and also a square form of spaghetti (pasta alla chitarra or "guitar", because of the shape of the instrument used to make the pasta) with a sausage and pecorino sauce.

Paul welcoming us to our Tuscan table

As you can see, our life is taken up with the million small joys of daily life here.












Culture

We recently enjoyed a visit to the Villa Bardini, a small museum with beautiful gardens overlooking Florence. The current exhibition is the return of a small number of exquisite works of Italian art from the 13th and 14th centuries from Paris where they are part of the permanent collection from the Musee Jaquemart-Andre. The exhibition title Andata e ritorno is a play on words as it means roundtrip in Italian. As the French carried off a great deal of Italian art over the centuries through pillaging and other questionable (and sometimes legitimate) means, there is a bit of irony in the exhibition title as well.



A view from the Bardini gardens

 
 
 
 

Serious shopping

 

In addition to high culture we also experience the more mundane aspects of life here which is always a great adventure. And so we decided to visit, with our friend Dina, the two outlet malls in the vicinity. Buses are provided to encourage potential shoppers. The Mall is located south of Florence near the town of Arezzo and the ride is a lovely tour of the Chianti hills.

 

Dina, Lee and I headed to the Mall to check out the designer shops. The Mall was clearly aimed at the high end of the shopping spectrum with all the big names, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Roberto Cavalli, etc. Fun to look but needless to say, Lee was the only one of us who found a bargain--a winter overcoat--stylish and at a reasonable price. After lunch at a pleasant café on site we returned to Florence along with other happy shoppers who had indeed bought out the place.

 

 

 

Our next shopping adventure was at the Barberino outlet north of Florence in an area called the Mugello (a region that was the original home of the Medicis). The drive was beautiful and the shopping center designed to look like a small village--very pretty and with shops less focused on high-end fashion, but rather with items for day-to-day wear and use. No clothes this time, but small purchases of prosecco glasses and a much-needed razor-sharp knife.