Pre-session Summer 2018
(May 16-May 30) 
Florence another beautiful city in Italy. In this city I found art everywhere I looked. From lots of graffiti on the walls in alleys to the museums that hold the remarkable art by Michelangelo and many others. What caught my eye the most was walking around the streets venturing to find our way back to the apartment to sleep was this women. I mean to anyone else it is just a woman on a wall looking at you. To me I saw what was put into it. The time and effort. Drawing a portrait takes time and a lot of patience. A true portrait takes hours even days to complete depending on the scale of it. This one was rather small but had a lot of detail put into very line and shading aspect. I couldn’t even begin to explain how one had done this but I was truly captured by this artwork. Granted, it may considered to be just every other kind of graffiti but it was abstract art to me. Another thing that had caught my interest on the first few days of being in Florence is the sculpture of David. In all honesty I had knew nothing about the statue or the purpose of it. I had found out that Michelangelo had created the piece when he was only 26 years old and it had taken him 4 years to finish. The statue is placed in a museum with other unfitted statues due to starting the sculpture of David. David itself is huge, its placed in a dome with the top closed with glass so the sun can shine down on David and possibly make him look different.
...Category: Blog postings for Firenze
Being Rome was a hectic mess and I had a love hate relationship with in the city, but being in Florence made my eyes sparkle. The people in Florence are so nice and try to help you with speaking italian if you are trying. I was ordering a panini and I was struggling, I started out with Io posso ho une panini and i didn’t know how to finish and the waiter helped me. ever since he was polite and helping i’ve been going to different places ordering things in italian and the people in the stores have been giving me discounts on items just from ordering food in italian. Florence does have a lot and I mean a lot of fake gelato places and tourists fall for it. Especially at chained restaurants never get gelato there 10 times out of 10 it is fake. I mean the fake gelato is better than ice cream in america but it is definitely not better than the verdo gelato. Another funny story i have experienced in Florence is when citizens on the street sell you things and it seems like they can speak a lot of languages, so whatever you throw at them they can speak a little bit. I think from here on out I’m going to sign to them because they will come up to you when you are minding your business enjoying gelato and sell you something. All in all it has been a fun few days in Florence seeing a lot of the most famous statues in the world like David. I thought it was a medium size statue not really big but when I walked in and actually saw it in full scale I coud not beieve my eyes it was huge. A lot of the paintings J thought were miniscule are very huge in size. Pictures really don’t give the paintings justice. Pictures in books seem like crap compared to the real thing.
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With being in Florence for the past 5 days it is extremely different from being in Rome, and I love it. Florence is the kind of city where you can take a stroll and get lost, but eventually find your way back. That’s exactly what I did. Of course walking around in a small group for gelato is fun (the picture above is from my trip to The Nutty Witch), but I wanted the experience of wandering on my own to get lost and find weird new things. Some things to see on the streets are different types of graffiti, which was amazing to look at. Other things to see were the different variety of shops in town. The leather market was the only place I didn’t care for, but that’s because I don’t like crazy or crowded places. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to move to Italy for work, and if I do then I would definitely live in Florence because is a nice busy place that’s not too crazy.
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I have so far been to four gelato places in Italy. While in Rome, I thought I tried some unique flavor combinations, a scoop of Oreo, mango, melon at Giolitti’s, lemon and raspberry cheesecake at San Lorenzo the first time and blueberry, vanilla, and mango the second time. However, neither of these compare to the unique flavor I was offered at la Strega Nocciola, also known as the Nutty Witch. The Nutty Witch is a female ran gelato place. The flavor I found the most unique there was lavanda, or lavender. I mixed it with bignolosa, which was cream with Nutella and puffs added. The bignolosa was on top which offered a sweetness comparable to eating milk with Nutella and some cereal mixed in while the lavender offered a special taste. The taste was like how a bed of flowers smells, refreshing, beautiful, calming, basically the way lavender works but using a different sense. After walking by places that sold gelato with a lot of preservatives in them, it was like they were on every other corner with no prices or small portions for the price compared to a place that sells gelato that is made daily, I eventually ended up at Gelateria Edoardo and tried a flavor combination I never thought I would have the inclination to try, cinnamon and strawberry. The cinnamon gelato provided a spice while the strawberry gelato provided a coolness. The cinnamon was smooth while the strawberry was more like a Freezie, so they both balanced each other out in a way.
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When I first walked across the cobblestone streets, lugging a fully-packed suitcase behind me, I thought to myself, “I think I’m really going to like it here.” Thanks to the cobblestone streets and the old architecture, the city emulates a rustic charm that just can’t be found back home in Pittsburgh, and I just love that more than anythings. Florence is so unlike anything I have ever seen before—it is a city surrounded by art and history and culture that it makes it hard not to love. The pace of city is sure different that the fast-paced Rome, allowing for a more comfortable and relaxing experience. When I walk around the city, I don’t feel quite as rushed; Because the flow of people and traffic is a lot slower than Rome, I feel like I don’t have to rush to get where I’m going, that I can just take my time and enjoy the view. I have to say, though, it is quite cool living below a restaurant and being 5 seconds away from some of the best cafes in Italy, and I just feel myself being enriched by the feeling of being here everyday. I am so grateful to be on this trip, as most people don’t even get to experience Italy, not even once, and the culture and the art and the literature is just so fascinating to learn about while we are in the city where it all originated.
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In America we are accustomed to a certain degree of convenience. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the food industry where Americans expect to be able to eat 24/7 and especially late at night. However this is not the case in Europe, specifically Florence, Italy… We wandered the streets late at night, starved, drenched from the deluge of rain flooding the city streets. Every place we passed was closed, and those that looked open sternly said, “Chuiso” as we attempted to gain entry. Resigned to our growling stomachs we walked back to the apartment ready to go to sleep hungry. At this point it was at least 12:30 at night, but a pizzeria near the apartment had its lights on. We readied ourselves for more disappointment but surprisingly one of the workers beckoned us to come in and eat. He asked only that we try to eat as fast as possible since they were closing after all. We obliged, ordering two basic margerhita’s and anxiously awaited the pizzas, thanking all of the workers profusely for allowing us to come in and eat, a clear impediment on their closing. After devouring the pies we payed quickly and the waiter offered us some limoncello. After some coaxing he allowed us to give him a tip for all the trouble we had caused them. The next day we returned to eat there again, and to thank the workers once more for our inconveniencing them. This time I ordered a pizza with spicy salami, similar to a pepperoni pizza and it was just as remarkable as the one I had the previous night. As before we were offered some complimentary limoncello after our meals. Il Nutino’s in Florence is a great pizzeria, though one should try not to inconvenience the workers by showing up late at night, even though they were quite generous and accommodating nonetheless.
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When we arrived in Florence and were given our first taste of the city, of course we were going to find something to eat. First impressions are important, anyone will tell you that. Thankfully, to a little restaurant next to the train station, my first impression of Florence was a good one. The first thing I heard was the owner of the restaurant say “momma” to get his mothers attention to wait on us. I knew then it was a family owned restaurant. That to me was heart warming. The mother could barely speak English, but was so sweet and helpful. She knew we wanted pizza but did not understand much else. The owner however, was good at speaking English and very friendly. This was refreshing after experiencing a lot of people in Rome who were not so nice and willing to help. We got our pizza to go, and grabbed some cute fruity drinks to try. The drinks were full of sugar, but tasty! The pizza was also delicious. It was a perfect snack to go, from a perfect family owned restaurant. I like to remember that for my first impression of Florence, it was a homey comfortable feeling; which the rest of Florence has also proven to be too. So the story of this little restaurant in Italy continues because we decided to go back for lunch one day. The owner and his mother were so welcoming, and it was just what we needed after our struggle trying to buy train tickets to Venice (everything worked out in the end no worries). We got some ravioli and it was amazing, just like any pasta you get in Italy really. We found out though that they change the menu everyday and hand make the pasta of the day every morning; which just made this place officially my favorite place to eat in Florence. After lunch we went up to pay, and the owner thanked us for coming back a second time and gave us little cookies to say thank you. His mother also thanked us and walked us out the door. It’s places like these that will make my trip here in Italy so great and memorable. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. Just look for a little place on the corner near the train station with a friendly owner and his “momma.”
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There is something about Firenze that makes you feel like you stepped into your home and back in time. The city is rich with architectural beauty that sings a song of another era and welcomes you. Simply put, I love Florence. The pace of the city matches my own and it never ceases to impress me. This trip, I have revisited some sites (David, The Birth of Venus), new sites (Boboli Gardens, Pitti Palace), and even found new appreciation for works I had overlooked before. Boboli Gardens was a wonderful little break into some greenery and provided a nice view of the Duomo from the other side of the Arno River. In the Uffizi Galleria, Botticelli’s Primavera, though I had seen it before, affected me more than I had planned. I found it more appealing than The Birth of Venus and in 2016 it was the opposite. I wonder what that says about me. And, of course, I have enjoyed a lot of gelato so far in Italy and Florence is no exception. Eduardo’s offers both red and white wine flavors, which interested me, but I tried a dark chocolate and found my new favorite flavor choice for half of my cono. At La Strega Nocciolo, I paired dark chocolate with cheesecake and it was amazing. There is no end to the good things I could say about Florence Florence still has my heart.
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After only being in Florence for a little while, it didn’t take me long to realize that this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen and the city has exceeded all my expectations. Pictures truly don’t do it justice. I was absolutely in awe after seeing the massive size and intricate design of the Duomo. Even the little cobblestone alleyways and streets that aren’t necessarily supposed to be considered “pretty” have a rustic charm to them. Florence just has such a unique atmosphere that’s difficult to put into the right words. The first day, we arrived at our apartments, which are also amazing, and Brenna and I walked around the Duomo, just so elated to be there. We came across a gelato place, Eduardo’s, and stopped in to get a treat. We both loved it and for me, it was my favorite gelato so far. At night, we had dinner with the entire group and it was nice to spend time with everyone outside of class meetings. The pasta, meat, and dessert dishes were delicious. After our meal, a bunch of us walked down to the Ponte Vecchio, or Old Bridge, and made a quick stop at the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica. The area was gorgeous, so we decided that we had to take a ride on the carousel to take everything in. We finally arrived at our destination at the bridge and I really cannot put into words the feelings that I was experiencing because the scenery was that breathtaking. The only word I can use to describe that feeling is magical and it’s definitely a memory I’ll never forget. Every day since, I’ve continually been blown away by all Florence has to offer; I’m so happy we have three more days here to enjoy this incredible city.
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