They are everywhere! This one is much better cared for than most of them. I love the random nature of this picture; I shot it through a windshield of a motorcycle, not even realizing it at the time!


They are everywhere! This one is much better cared for than most of them. I love the random nature of this picture; I shot it through a windshield of a motorcycle, not even realizing it at the time!


An occasional window shopping expedition along Florence’s “Rodeo Drive” is fun from time to time.
Valentino objets below:


Ferragamo next:





The Ferragamo shop is housed inside a Renaissance palazzo. The building itself is more interesting to me than the goods for sale.
In this episode of the quite good PBS series “Dream of Italy,” you will shop in food markets, cook with a professional, admire some of Rome’s many architectural masterpieces, learn to create mosaics, appreciate gelato, meet a renowned street artist and dance in a quadrille. Whew, that’s a lot! But it’s an enjoyable video.

Bittersweet moments seen in Florence yesterday:
A temporarily abandoned Curious George:


And a poor, little evergreen tree, still dressed up for Christmas, but with no place to go!

Walking through the well-worn streets in Florence, I am often entertained by the signs I encounter. I like to walk slowly and take in all the wonderful messages all around me.
For example, the following sign below is very, very clear about their products. It is outside the butcher shop and says, “Fresh meats, cattle, sheep, pork, poultry and game.” Wow, that’s a wide ranging offering!

The lower sign (in picture above) expands the offerings slightly. It reads “Meats for sale, fresh meats, cattle, sheep, pork, poultry and rabbits.”
The bicycle shop below caught my eye for the colors and fonts. I sometimes think of buying a biciclette here, but fear it would be stolen and so I doubt I will buy one.

Temperatures are set to plummet with the risk of several centimetres of snow in Rome on the night between Sunday 25 February and Monday 26 February.

https://www.wantedinrome.com/image-wall/rome-snow-warning-on-25-february.html
The same cold front from Russia (with love?) will smack down the U.K. It even has a name: the east beast!
It seems like in every season, something wonderful is in bloom in Italy. Right now it is mimosa.



Also beginning to bloom are the camellias



I walked down a wide avenue in western Florence yesterday, where I noticed a long line of street trees that have been severely pruned in the Pollarding method, a pruning system involving the cutting of long branches of a tree, done to promotes a dense head of foliage and branches.



Pollarded trees look brutal against gray winter skies.

The Italian Alps and the Dolomites will experience some of the lowest temperatures of the winter in the next week and many domains will also see significant fresh snowfall. The heaviest snowfall will be above the Aosta Valley where Cervinia (1,520m) can expect up to 45cm of fresh powder. The resort already holds close to 4 metres of snow base beneath top station at 3,480m and when the visibility is decent the skiing is epic. However next week the daytime temperatures here will be far below 0ºC, -7ºC the average high at resort level, so skiers will need to bulk up thermal layers. Today in Cervinia all 15 lifts are open and skiing is on fresh and dry groomed snow at all elevations.
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