Florence Dawn to Dusk and by Night

Annamaria on Monday

Here are some sights I've seen over the past week, which began with the celebration, last Sunday with the Feast of the Epiphany, which in Florence is called La Befana, after the Italian equivalent of Santa Claus.  This gift-giver is a woman and comes on the day commemorating those legendary gift-givers, the Magi.

La Befana in a chocolate shop

Over the past few years, it has become my tradition to invite the family that so generously includes me in their Christmas celebration to enjoy a special lunch with me on La Befana.  This year, we gathered to taste the delights of Chef Eduardo Tilli at his Agriturismo Podere Belvedere near Pontassieve in the Tuscan countryside.

Tilli is a kitchen magician.  I don't want to risk pins of envy being stuck in dolls meant to resemble me, so I won't describe all the six courses.  I offer only one example: my dessert.  It was described as orange cheese cake - a totally inadequate moniker for this:

It looked like a fresh orange balanced on some chocolate bits.

Inside, it was ambrosia!  Sweet creamy cheese filling between
two layers of the subtlest bright orange sugar glaze,
with an intensely-orange filling.  The chocolate bits only
added to the fun!  I wanted another one, IMMEDIATELY!
I want another one RIGHT NOW!

Our fast-developing chef Lorenzo Brandini with Chef Tilli

That evening, we took one last look at the view from Chef Tilli's front door and drove back to Florence for one last look at the holiday projections.

I spent the intervening week enjoying the gorgeous atmosphere of my home away from home.

Dawn

Dusk

Dome of the historic synagog.

Dome of the duomo

Nightime

"Speranza" means hope.  May hope light up our lives!

In the intervening hours between dawn and dusk, I have been hard at my work in progress.  Writing a book is an act of hope.  I hope that one day, I will have a lot more to say about the story that is forming in my imagination now.

Firenze 2015: First Days

If what you see here makes you envious, I would not be surprised.

I have recently revealed some ups and downs of my recent times.  Today, I take you to a purely pleasurable a couple of days.

I have the enormous good luck of owning an apartment in the historic center of Florence.  The chain of random events that had to have happened to bring me to this reality boggles my mind.  The odds were all against me.  But here I am.  Let me show you what my first day and a half here have been like.

It is my habit, immediately on arriving, to have a meal at my favorite restaurant in the entire world: La Buca dell'Orafo, five minutes from home.  After being served inedible airplane dreck for my previous two meals, I was too hungry to photograph the first and second courses.  Here are the desserts from Saturday's lunch.  The pears have an impossibly thin but crunchy sugar glaze.

Just at dawn Sunday, from the window in my room:

Snapshots of a stroll on a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning:

The Arno, taken from the Ponte Vecchio

Rowing machine, Florentine style.

Ponte alle Grazie.  The 1397 bridge, along with several medieval palazzi along the shoreline were blown up by the Nazis in August of 1944.  The original bridge had no strategic value.  As far as I know, it was destroyed out of spite.

The church of San Frediano

Ognisanti

A lovely place for a coffee, a January Sunday morning warm enough to enjoy it outside.

Santa Maria Novella

Piazza Santa Maria Novella looking across from the church.

Piazza del Duomo

Piazza dell Signoria

Sunday lunch at La Cantinetta da Verazzano:

A souvenir of a memorable day gone by, with Leighton, without whom there would be no Murder is Everywhere:

Annamaria - In her element on Monday