I love a pretty garden, even in the winter.  I was in Arezzo recently and paid a visit to the Vasari Casa museum.  If you know Vasari’s monumental book on Italian artists (the first of its kind, published in the 16th century), you know how important he is for more or less beginning the field of art history.  As such, he is sort of my patron saint, with lower case letters.

So I was delighted to visit Vasari’s home in Arezzo, and ponder how it was his refuge from the busy life he led in Florence. But, as often happens for me, while I found his modest palazzo to be interesting for it’s structure and fresco decorations (much of it Vasari himself), it was the garden that drew me like a magnet.

And in his garden I spied this beautiful, ancient persimmon tree.  I love how the tree looks without any leaves: only brown bark, branches, and the fruit that look like Christmas decorations.