This photo above is pretty dark, but so was the day.
I like it!
I’d be extremely happy to call this rustic little beauty la mia casa! How about you? You left your bike out front. Better bring it inside.
Ciao!
Florence (Firenze)
Exit Enter spotted today
Vedute fiorentine (Florentine views)
And found my way to the top floor where they have a terrace with incredible panoramic views of la citta.
See what I mean?!
That Duomo hovers over the city of Florence, reminding me of a very large and very Renaissancey looking space ship. A visitor from the past.
But, at any rate, I just wish Florence were more picturesque. It is such a shame that she is not. Ha ha.
Here are some more shots from the terrace. It is quite a place to view the city.
The sky seemed to be feeling all operatic, just like the singer in the Piazza.
The Rinascente is notable for a couple of other reasons as well. It’s a decent department store, though quite small. But, it has the most amazing Christmas lights.
While strolling through the city on my way back to my hood, the Santa Croce neighborhood, I passed this ambitious and talented street artist at work.
And when I came near to Santa Croce, the church was highlighted by the late afternoon sun in a very agreeable fashion.
Looking good, Santa Croce!
(Note to self: nothing is making me pay attention to the ending of Italian words and matching adjectives and nouns like trying to write these posts. La mia professoressa will be mighty happy when I show her how hard I worked this weekend! Such a teacher pleaser, am I! It has always be thus. It’s always been the one place I respect authority!)
Guarda tutta la frutta! Look at all the fruit!
Some of the citrus from Sicily comes wrapped in little papers as you see above. I plan to get some of those!
Guarda la dimensione dell’ uve! Look at the size of the grapes!
Fresh raspberries and currants are available for a hefty price.
Little strawberries from Sicily.
Do you see those dabs of red sealing wax on the pear stems above and below? Those seals are added when the fruit is cut from the tree to keep the fruit from ripening too soon and spoiling, I believe.
Limone: la genuinita del bel paese. The genuine lemons from the beautiful country. If ya got it, flaunt it!
And finalmente we arrive at apples, above and below.
Finito per addesso. Grazie e arrividerci!
Che belle sono le verdure! How beautiful the vegetables are!
I saved the most tempting photos for this post.
Anyone would like kale that looks like this!
And my everlovin’ favorite food on planet earth: olives!
Mangia le tue verdure! (Eat your vegetables!)
Today I was at the divine farmer’s market, known as Sant’ Ambrogio, before the sun came up. I snapped a bunch of photos as the merchants were setting up their offerings for the day. Yowsa! What a market! Che mercato, per favore! My Italian lessons are starting to kick in.
It won’t be hard to follow your mother’s command to eat your vegetables with this amazing collection of offerings, in December no less. Can you imagine the September produce? Mamma mia!
Guardiamo (let’s look)!
Ignore the oranges below because I am planning an entire post on them, so lovely are they and so much do I love to eat citrus. But do check out the Jerusalem artichokes which are plentifully in season adesso (now).
The artichokes are spectacular fare in a local trattoria. Believe me, I have been eating them all week!
Mangiamo! Let’s eat!
Florence through the ages
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?
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!
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.
get back, lauretta! 
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