11 posts tagged “firenze”

Mobile broadband is cool...! I think it does not work properly yet...I think it can be improved, but I think in the future it will be better and better. At the moment does the job though. And this is what it is using now. I was online on the train, even though on and off, I am connected full speed now at Gatwick Airport. I like also the O2 offer...a kind af daily pay as you go. £2 for 24 hours connection. Just what suits for me, the possibility of using it una tantum, i.e. when I travel in the UK. I know the iPhone, but not only, gives the possibility to be online anytime, but yet it is not the same. Despite their pocket-size.
I am seated at Sturbucks now, with a latte and a muffin. Flight is in two hours. Destination Florence. I have wisdom teeth to operation tomorrow morning, which I am a bit scared of. I will survive. Then on Sunday is my grandfather 90th birthday, and we organized a little party to celebrate. Few more days to recover in Italy and make sure that everything is going how it should, and then next Thursday morning I will make my way back to the UK.

I am writing from my bedroom in Grassina. The light is on, the window is closed. It is too hot to open it. The heat outside is unbelievable. The car thermometer said 40˚C, the official one stopped at 38.5˚C in Florence today. One of the hottest day I ever remember here. It’s not long since I tried the emotions of 50˚C in the death valley...that was another story...but I can tell you...being out at 4pm this afternoon was simply mad...!! Just now 2000 km from here is heavy raining with 15˚C. Bristol, I am talking about Bristol...Which ever I prefer I am not gonna tell you now...!

Not sure how many of my friends tried nonna’s food...but I am pretty sure all of them who tried it still remember it very well. I have always been a bit naughty on the matter...never asking nonna before inviting friends for dinner at her place... But the reason for this is because she is always happy when I bring my friends around. Once I took all my class from high school...20 ish in total... :))
Last in order of time were Antonio, Gabriele, Cecile, Jena and Sascha (Franco tried it already, so it was a  déjà vu for him!). Seeing how much we ate I am temped to say that they appreciated it a lot. After lunch, a digestive walk in the marvelous Florence to complete a great Sunday. Can’t remember when’s last time I saw the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo. I was staring at the panorama. Speechless.

I am writing while flying back from Italy. We are due in Bristol in about 50 min. I am quite tired. It has been a long bank-holiday weekend, spent between Liguria and Tuscany. Rapallo, Chiavari, Portofino and then Florence, Pisa. I wish I had more time for all of that. I wanted to swim...but I was forbidden to do so... it was not actually very very hot, but enough to get an idea of tan of the face. Rapallo is nice, the city centre, the waterfront, the harbor... it is all there...it is quite small but there is everything you need (except car parks!), and the mountains...just there, by the sea. Picturesque. We wanted to visit Montallegro Sanctuary, as well as we wanted to go the the “cinque terre” but didn’t have time to do all of it. We had to go to Florence for Ale’s baptism on Saturday, and then rush to Pisa for dinner with friends...! The same old story...every time I am back is almost impossible to find time to rest and relax. But in the end this is a bit what I want...so no complains. Soon we will land in Bristol, and tomorrow morning is already time to go to work. I have an interesting week ahead, interesting cos there are few things I want to do by the end of it. If everything works it will be a good progress and a good satisfaction. If it does not it will be a progress anyway...cos there is to understand where the problem lies and fix it...and I will eventually. But let’s thing about that after a good sleep.

PS. I am at home now...but it is just funny to say that we landed in Bristol in a wind and drizzle storm, the kind of rain that make you wet in less than a minute... No need to say the drop in temperature, from the 22 Celsius of Milan to the 9 here tonight...

It is the first time in 30 years that I saw the Scoppio del Carro, one of the most important and traditional event of Florence. It takes place on Easter Sunday, every year. Thanks to my uncle, lo zio Ezio, I could walk in the middle of the procession, together with the city officials, and it was a great emotion indeed. It does not happen everyday, it does not happen to everybody...! I think I will be in tonnes on pictures, especially in Japan...since there were thousands people in the street to see the event...! Traditions are fantastic everywhere...when they are tradition of your city they have always a special taste though...!

 

Back to normality after 2 special days. I had fun preparing the little things to make the blog look nicer and that is what it is all about really. Everything is nice when you enjoy it.
144 visitors in two days (98+44) and 412 page views (270+142), big numbers.
Now 18 Hughenden Road is back to normality, the song is no longer in auto-play, color have gone back to standard as well as the background picture. Just in case someone missed the beautiful Florence Edition here is a little screen-shot. The blog as it used to be...

24th of June, St. John the Baptist, Saint Patron of Florence. It is a feast day in Florence. The day of the final of the Calcio Storico, the day of the fireworks, dei fohi. Thus I took this occasion to make something a bit more special. A way to say thanks to my city, a way to feel closer to it. I bring it always with me but at the same time I miss it lot. It is eight years by now that I left, first in Pisa, then in the UK. It is eight years that I don't live my the city anymore, but every time I come back I try to find sometime for a walk in the city centre, or on the surrounding hills.
You can't describe Florence, you can't explain what it is that makes it so special, that move you, deeply, every single time you see the places you have seen a hundred time. Every corner, every street, every place has its own story, in a city which is full of history, every where you go. This is what makes it so beautiful, what makes its people so proud of it. I apologize for the English readers, but I would like to paste something that my friend Tommy wrote (some time ago, in Italian) about Santa Maria Novella, one of the most beautiful Church in Florence. For everyone instead I made a little slideshow with some terrific pictures I have found on the web (actually some are mine as well :) ).

I titoli a volte si scelgono per catturare l’attenzione di lettori distratti o pigri che selezionano così le poche righe sulle quali spendere il loro poco tempo di webnauti.In questa italica riscoperta di miti un po’ impolverati e forse per questo ciclicamente riproponibili, il titolo del cavallo di battaglia di quello che sembra essere rinato come l’idolo delle ragazzine di mezz’età, mi è sembrato un ottimo catalizzatore per gli assonnati occhi dei miei due o tre lettori di poetica memoria.E’ sabato a Firenze; stranieri con improbabili magliette corte e cartina in mano, i banchi di S. Lorenzo che aprono i battenti e le urla becere e condite di fiorentina “sacralità” dei garzoni del mercato centrale. C’è già un po’ di viola nell’aria con le civette quotidiani che già ammiccano ad una partita teoricamente abbordabile. E’ sabato a Firenze e nonostante il lavoro chiami, ho deciso di passare per un attimo in piazza S. Maria Novella.Per il viaggiatore che giunge a Firenze ed esce dalle austere e razionaliste forme della stazione, di lei vede solo l’imponente e cupo tergo. Finestroni enormi e paramenti di pietra forte. Dovrebbe incuriosire trovarsi davanti l’unica chiesa che invece del suo volto bello ti mostra le spalle, come una donna civettuola d’altri tempi. Fai via degli Avelli e cerchi di guardarle i fianchi, capire se val la pena fare altri 50 metri e farle svelare il viso. Entri in piazza e capisci che Leon Battista Alberti era uno che, primo, voleva bene a Firenze e secondo, era innamorato della bellezza della geometria. Qualche raggio di sole esce dalle nuvole e rende immacolato ciò che molti direbbero “bianco”, meraviglioso qualcosa che gli stessi direbbero banalmente “bello” e l’occhio innamorato di un fiorentino qualunque si riempie di orgogliosa commozione.Mancano pochi minuti all’appuntamento ma cedo alla tentazione di entrare nella pancia di questa meraviglia dove, solitario ed unico, Giotto ha appeso la sua eterna preghiera a Dio: l’immagine di un uomo affisso mani e piedi ad una rigida croce, morente e misteriosamente trionfante. Il capolavoro di Masaccio e Masolino, lì accanto sembrano quasi una lieve appendice a tale bellezza.La nostra città è così, è un luogo dove capita di camminare distrattamente accanto ad un pezzo di muro dipinto per il quale a New York, solo per quello, costruirebbero un immenso museo. Firenze è così, è lo scrigno più grande riempito delle più belle gemme e pietre preziose che attende sempre l’occhio di un fiorentino qualunque che lo guardi non con bramosia ed interesse ma con amore e desiderio