Florence (Firenze)
How does your garden grow?
My new little terrace garden seems to love the sun and heat of Florence! It’s doing better than I am!!
A sign of good things to come.
Pretty much every morning, on my way to language school, I pass my favorite pasticceria in Florence: Rivoire. When they are open (which is mostly every day, but not always), I stop in for a pasta da portare via, a pastry to go. You pay at the cassa, about 1.5 Euro, and then walk over and choose your poison. The cameriera wraps the pasta in a napkin and places it in a pretty little bag, as here:
My favorite pasta, or pastry, is a ciambella. A ciambella is a doughnut, but at Rivoire “a doughnut” hardly does justice to the confection. At Rivoire a ciambella is a yeasty circle of fried dough, covered in a granular sugar that covers your lips and cheeks when you’ve finished. Trust me, it’s worth the trouble of wiping your face! It is very much vale la pena.
Today Rivoire had no more ciambelle, so I got an apple strudel. OMG. This picture comes no where near how good it tasted!
Buon appetito!
Pretty windows, pretty sweets.
Summer candies at Mignone. Always a delight!
A beggar and a man of god.
In the staggering heat of today (90+ degrees F.), two people are overdressed for the weather. One is a beggar and the other a Franciscan monk.
As I watched this encounter take place between the two of them, I wondered: will the man of god give money to the beggar? Or, is he as poor as she?
He did not give her money, but I caught the encouragement and gentleness he shared with her. A passing moment of beauty.
And P.S., neither of them seem bothered by today’s heat. :-))
It grows on you.
I love this approach to the Duomo. I walk this path every day. It never grows old.
I love this angle of the Duomo as well. The thousands of tourists gather everyday at the facade of the cathedral, which is clean and polished. I prefer the gritty side view. It seems more authentic.
The side view is actually more authentic, because the fancy facade of the church is a 19th-century confection. The side is the original building.
Gritty and real and I love it. How lucky I feel to see it daily!
Gilli’s windows, glowing with summertime colors and treats!
Sunset tonight in Florence
La mattina
Buongiorno, duomo e campanile! You’re looking fresh and energized!
Firenze dalla luce della luna
get back, lauretta! 
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