Home Again to Florence - September 2014

Here we are again back in Florence. After a smooth flight to Rome and an easy train trip to Florence, we are established in our Italian life once more. It is always interesting to see what has changed over the past three months and to reconnect with friends and our favorite local merchants (Marcello and family, the fruit and vegetable people, Massimilliano and Leonardo the butchers, the cheese shop and, of course, the Mercato Centrale). As always a great joy is to return to our favorite bar, the Pittimingoli, on the Piazza Santo Spirito, to meet up with Nikki, Charles, Connie and other friends for coffee and discussions ranging from shoes to local gossip to the state of the world in general, and that of Italy in particular.

We were barely back when our friends from Greve, Francesca and Uli, insisted we meet them for dinner at Eataly, which opened last spring in Florence (http://www.eataly.com/global/ ). It is fair to say that we would never have selected Eataly, an Italian and New York chain of sorts, for dinner. And so, expecting a rather casual evening, we joined them in front of the shop. 

We were whisked up to the top floor of the palazzo to a beautiful, intimate dining room with frescoed ceilings and soft music to enjoy a dinner worthy of a Michelin star. Two of the pre-appetizers are shown below. Then followed the appetizer, two other courses, and pre-desert and then desert. All creative, bursting with flavor, and yet somehow light.  And so we left several hours later, with wallets a bit lighter, but very happy with the amazing time spent with our friends. The food alone always makes us happy to be back in Italy!

Our next adventure was to go to an outdoor sculpture exhibit in the newly opened Forte di Belvedere (yes, the very same location that was the site of Kim and Kanye's wedding which was all the buzz in June) with our friend Kate. Built in 1590 to strengthen the city's defenses on the south side of the Arno, it sits above the Boboli gardens, and is incorporated into the city walls. The Forte now hosts major exhibitions, and presents amazing views of the city looking to the north and of the hills of Tuscany looking to the south south.

The sculptor, Giuseppe Penone, presents his works under the title "Prospettiva Vegetale" and the translation is difficult to explain. He has created work in marble and bronze and all are quite intriguing. 

Lee and our friend Kate

Our first week came to a lovely close on Saturday evening, when we went to the Festa de l'Unità - a month-long local festival along the banks of the Arno celebrating the end of summer, dined on home-made Tuscan pasta, and then stopped by for some intensely fruit-flavored granita from Carabé, a gelato artisan from Sicily with shops and a school in Tuscany.     


Che la vita è bella a Firenze!