Here’s a Florentine scene from today. I think it’s safe to say that this scene would be essentially unchanged (with the exception of the fabric covering the scaffolding) for the last millennium. Kind of mind boggling, non e vero?
Author: get back, laurettadimmick
Florentine Christmas windows, parte due (part 2)
Are you ready to see some more window displays? Andiamo!
You’ll have visions of Pucci, Armani, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu, and many other designers dancing in your head, so get ready!
Hundreds of gold bows drift at the mannequin’s feet.
A flock of caribinieri (Italian police)
Yesterday about 8:30 a.m. I was walking to my school for Italian lessons and happened upon this scene of about 200 mostly men but some women dressed to kill in these uniforms with gorgeous capes. I snapped these pictures with my iphone and showed them to my conversational Italian professoressa and she told me they are police officers. I wondered if they were having a graduation ceremony or something, because they just kept pouring down the street.
The amazing backdrop for all these pictures is the venerable Santa Croce. I live a five minute walk from this important church. It pretty much blows my mind every day when I walk by it.
I maneuvered myself across the way from the swarm of uniformed people, and captured these scenes with the Borgo Santa Croce, the street on which my school is located. Another pretty amazing background! Some of these uniformed persons carried long swords!
Don’t know how safe they keep me, but they sure are pretty to look at! And that counts for a lot in this beautiful country!
Back to school! Italian lessons 101.
So, two days ago I became a student again. To learn to speak Italian. Ayyyyyyyy! Madonna!
My school is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I go for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for two weeks. Then I see if I think it is worthwhile and can either enroll in another two week course or wing it in Florence and hope for the best. In any case, I’ll be hoping for the best!
I think it would be fun to enroll in a course on how to speak like an Italian with your hands. Lord knows Italians have very verbal hands! It is such fun to surreptitiously watch them talk to one another. Even if I don’t understand what all the words are, I can usually pick up the drift of the conversation from a few words and all the gestures.
Why do I do all this, expend all this energy, for Italy? It’s simple really. I drew you a picture.
Luigi Gilli Confetteria, Florence
A couple of days ago I stopped at the oldest cafe (opened in 1733) in Florence, the Gilli Cafe. Located right on the Piazza della Republica, this is a not-to-be-missed Florentine standard.
I had a cappucino e pasta (pastry) while standing at the bar and snapped this picture of the luxurious interior.
Calling Gilli’s a bar (which is what you call coffee shops in Italy), is like calling the White House a house. It’s a bit of an understatement.
Here are some shots of Gilli’s beautiful window displays, filled with candies and other confectioneries for the holiday season.
Marron glaces, as pretty as you please.
Oh Christmas tree, in Florence
Here’s how the tree looked yesterday, very pretty with red fleur-de-lis.
And let there be lights (today), millions of tiny white LED lights:
Not so easy to capture in daylight as above.
But check out this beautiful sight at night!
It’s a stunner!
Better luck at the supermarket in Florence today!
Well, for better or worse, a girl’s gotta eat.
And for me, that meant facing my nemesis from last week, the grocery store!
So today I put on my suit of armor and headed back down the via, across the viale, into the neighborhood, and entered “my” grocery store. And today I did not have a panic attack like I did last week! Woo hoo! I am making progress!
And I will have to take my camera and take some pictures of some of the incredible produce, salami products, and the fresh mozzarella falling off the shelves so plentiful is it. This is my idea of heaven!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Buon natale!
Here is how the tree in the piazza in front of Duomo looked last week
And now, just look at it! Gorgeously bedecked with red Florentine fleur-de-lis.
Christmas windows in Florence, the luxury market is alive and well!
The Miu Miu shoes took my breath away. I must have the silver ones. Hear that, Santa Claus?
You must be logged in to post a comment.