All posts for the month November, 2012

To Everything There is a Season

Ciao Readers! (and Happy [early] Birthday Pop!)

The title of this blog refers not to the 1965 hit by the Byrds (originally done by Pete Seeger in 1962 and taken almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes, later to be quoted by Kevin Bacon in “Footloose”), but to how everything here runs by the calender. And I mean everything – what you wear, what you eat, whether or not you’re allowed to turn on your radiator and whether or not you can find mosquito repellent in the stores. Let me explain…

I suppose before moving here I had the vague idea that people in Europe eat more seasonally than most folks in the U.S. But I don’t think I really appreciated the full extent of that idea. I always notice here that what I can buy at the market directly relates to what’s being harvested that week – which is actually pretty cool – this August/September was the first time ever I have bought nothing but sweet/ripe cantaloupes – not a dud in the bunch! However, I had no idea this principle even applied to the available sweets. When we first got here and would have our “breakfast” pastries in the park, they never seemed to have chocolate-filled ones, just marmalade. I was really missing the chocolate-filled ones I remembered from my “breakfasts” in Bologna in March. I have since learned that Italians think chocolate is bad for you in the summer as it is heavy and will make you hot and unhealthy; chocolate is reserved for the fall/winter (and lo and behold – more varieties of chocolate goodies are starting to appear – yay!).

Now, when it comes to food, I think this seasonal perspective makes sense. But I’m a little less convinced when it comes to other areas of life (less convinced = more spoiled). For instance, the calender dictates what home supplies you can buy in the stores. When we first got here in August we bought a trial screen for one of our windows (not knowing if it would fit and serve the purpose of keeping our cat from jumping 4 floors). We decided we wanted to buy more for the rest of our windows, so when we had the rental car for Greenday the first weekend of September, we drove back to the OBI (Home-Depot “light”). There were no screens to be found. As the employee explained to me, it was past August 31 and they were no longer on sale. Not fully understanding what he meant, I asked when there would be more in, to which he replied “next summer.” That was the dawning of the realization that you can only buy certain things here at certain times. I had also been meaning to buy a second oscillating fan for the guest bedroom (should we finally get some guests, hint hint)…

As I surmised at that point, there were no more fans to be had. It didn’t matter that the temperatures were still reaching into the 90’s – it was September and that was that! The same held true for mosquito repellent (fyi, mosquitoes are onomatopoeicaly called “zanzare” in Italian – love saying that word). While all of the mosquito repelling supplies were taken off the store shelves, no one bothered to tell the mosquitoes they don’t exist after October 1st (they’re really bad here, and their calenders are set for sometime in the future). And then there’s the way people are dressed – it went from mini skirts and 0pen-toed shoes to winter coats and scarves almost overnight – with no transition in between and (from my perspective) a disregard for the actual weather conditions outside. But I can tell the feeling is mutual – I can’t tell you how many weird looks I get when I go out for my morning run (still in short sleeves – crazy stranieri!).

Today the owners came over to show us how to turn on the gas/water radiator system (it’s amazing how idiot-like we are about some things here). Lucky for us we don’t really like heat or we may have wanted it turned on before November 1st (which we just learned is the official day the CITY will LET you turn on the heat!). Oh, no, I forgot to ask the exact date that we need to shut it off….

Until next time!

Someone is happy it’s radiator season:

2 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on November 10, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Culture Shock, Italy, here we come!

Tagged eating chocolate in Italy, food culture in italy, italian culture, mosquito repellent, seasonal dressing, seasonal eating

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on November 10, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/11/10/to-everything-there-is-a-season/

A Tour of…. less famous stuff

Ciao Readers!

Today is the final installment of semi-educational tours based on the more educational tours I went to with my school. Unfortunately, I’m done with school for now (but have heard that once I get through with the immigration process I qualify for free Italian lessons – yay!). So, today we will visit the oldest church in town (San Miniato) as well as the palace where the less-famous Medicis lived (Palazzo Medici Riccardi). As an added bonus I have thrown in the Bardini Gardens, which Steve and I toured solo.

San Miniato (row 1) sits on a prime location – at the top of a huge hill overlooking all of Florence. Since you’ve probably seen one-too-many shots of the Duomo from this vantage point, I won’t add another one here (just look at the main photo of my blog, above). I learned that it is not only the oldest church in town, but the only one that has never been restored in any way. It was built back around 1000 a.d. over the shrine of a beheaded martyr from 250 b.c., San Miniato (duh), who managed to carry his head to this spot after his execution (allegedly). There were additions made up until the 15th century, but everything you see is original from between those dates. Notice how the colors on the ceiling are still so vivid – never retouched – pretty cool! Okay, I have to admit that at about this point in the tour I started to lose focus – the group was large and our teacher was whispering since we were in a church and my mind (and eyes) started to wander…to the weird little inlaid serpent and demon beasts (pictured)….

Palazzo Medici Riccardi (row 2) was the semi-lavish home of some of the lesser-known Medici (the more famous ones were living at Palazzo Vecchio and then Palazzo Pitti) and built in the 1400’s. After a couple a hundred years, the Medici sold it to the Riccardi family, who made some additions, ruining its former perfect cube shape (now it is a museum and government offices). One thing that struck me in this museum was the amazing fresco “Procession of the Magi” (by Benozzo Gozzoli). Apparently every January 6th there was a huge procession through town recreating the procession of the 3 Kings – since the Medici were all rich and powerful, they got to play the 3 Kings in the procession and they are the folks pictured in the fresco. From what my teacher explained, the procession tradition persists to this day, with present-day highfaluting people getting to ride in it. Somewhere on the top floor of this museum they had a temporary exhibit of 20th century Japanese masks, which I found fascinating (pictured). My teacher didn’t find them fascinating at all (his interest stops with the 16th century) and I was left behind, missing the rest of the tour (me and my disobedient drummer).

The Bardini Gardens (row 3) are the lesser-known neighbor of the Boboli Gardens. Like the Boboli Gardens, our Uffizi card gets us free entrance (yay!); unlike the Boboli Gardens, they were not packed with tourists (double yay!). These gardens were private since they were developed, beginning in the 16th century, all the way up until the last century. After the death of the last owner in 1965 (Bardini) they were neglected until recently restored and made public. In addition to being pretty and relatively quiet, they also have an amazing view of Florence….

Thanks for coming on the tour!

4 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on November 8, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Art

Tagged Bardini Gardens, Gardens in Florence, Mueums in Florence, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, San Miniato

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on November 8, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/11/08/a-tour-of-less-famous-stuff/

Sure, Park There! (A photo anthology)

Ciao Readers!

In light of the upcoming election in the U.S., I had two choices – write about the surreal experience of voting and watching the election from abroad (for the second time; in 2008 we were in France), or post a total “fluff” piece. As any good party host knows, you should always stay away from politics and religion, so I chose the latter!

In Friday’s blog I made the following statement: “…we have learned that street signs, signals, barriers, etc. don’t mean much here (one day I’ll have to post a photo of the cars parked all over the street downstairs).” Right after I wrote that, I thought “good idea,” and leaned out a window with a camera. I also shot a few pictures of cars parked in and around Piazza Beccaria (the end of the main street in the neighborhood). The thing to keep in mind as you see the photos of cars literally parked in the street, behind other cars, and in front of clearly marked “no parking” signs is that it took NO effort to take these photos – I didn’t have to wait for the shots – this is how people park ALL THE TIME.

Happy Election!

7 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on November 5, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Culture Shock, Italy, here we come!

Tagged culture shock, italian culture, parking in Italy

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on November 5, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/11/05/sure-park-there-a-photo-anthology/

Lunch & “Spontaneous” Art

Ciao Readers!

So, when we first arrived here we had lunch at our local osteria – Cocotrippone; I mentioned that I didn’t take photos as it was the first time we were eating there and I knew we’d be back. This is a real “mom & pop” place – simple tuscan food (complete with tripe and rabbit if ya want it) at affordable prices, with a complete staff of 2 (the husband does the cooking while the wife does everything else). We decided to go back a couple of Sundays ago.

I love eating outside in Italy (and everywhere, really) – somehow it makes it even more of an “event” to me and I can spend all afternoon people watching and relaxing. The weird thing was, the entire street on which Cocotrippone sits was blocked off and deserted (notice the street behind Steve in the picture), as were several other streets in the neighborhood. We couldn’t figure out what was going on – maybe Sunday street cleaning? In any case, while it cut down on the people-watching factor, it was really nice to have some quiet for a change (neither of us has ever lived in the middle of a city and still haven’t adjusted to the constant level of noise). I ordered the same bruschetta with fagioli and lardo I described last time (but this time you get to see photos!). I had a simple but yummy salad with that and Steve had the fresh pasta with radicchio and bacon (pictured below).

While we were eating, someone moved the street barrier and drove their vehicle into the street and parked – at first we thought nothing of it as we have learned that street signs, signals, barriers, etc. don’t mean much here (one day I’ll have to post a photo of the cars parked all over the street downstairs). But it kept happening. Finally, we saw the reason – the folks who parked started taking out easels and tables and ART from their vehicles – they were setting up for an art festival! We hadn’t read anything about this and were totally surprised. By the time we finished our lunch, the deserted streets had turned into a HUGE crowd (pictured below). In addition to folks selling art, they had rolls of paper on the ground on which kids could draw – pretty cool! (A few photos, below). As I have mentioned before, at times (times you are not in line at a government office) Italy does feel like one ongoing festival… I wonder what will pop up this weekend…