From inside out

So much happens in a few days that it is impossible for me to share everything I would like to. I have to let it all sift down to figure out what is important for me to share with you, but also what will settle are pieces of information, or images, or smells that will stick to me and reveal themselves later.
I will go back a few days to tell you about last Friday. The museums and churches in Firenze are sometimes disguised in plain clothes. Right around the corner from the place where I use email, and go the market, is San Lorenzo and the Capelli Medici, both buildings disguised in plain stone, boasting very little if nothing at all...but inside the Capelli Medici were 4 of Michelangelo's great sculptures (which I stood and examined for some time) and in San Lorenzo is a beautiful escape in the middle of the market place. On my way home, happy with the day's suprises, I came upon a group of happy old men sitting on a bench, 2 playing cards, in Piazza Republica. Within seconds of asking if I could take their picture, we were in conversation about card games, good resturants, and Frank Sinatra. Impressed that I was able to talk a little, they were happy to engage and I was happy to talk to some natives. Knowing that the pair on the left were playing a form of Scopa helped me enter their social circle. I am now invited to a round of cards Thursday in that same piazza.

That night, Sofia and I went to the resturant where an acquaintance works/cooks. Again-facades are just that-facades. Unassuming doors, plain walls, but such grand presentation and incredibly delicious food. We started out with Spumante, then an insalata of mixed greens with pesce spada (raw, but smoked, sword fish). For dinner, we had a trio of tastings-gnocchi with salmon sauce, a risotto with fiori di zucchi and saffron, a creamy fettucini with prosciutto and sausage. Sofia and I giggled with every bite, knowing fully well that THIS was incredible. Such full flavor!!! We ended dinner with a complimentary glass of Limoncello, on the house (it helps to be a woman around here...or at least talk your way into or out of things.)

This past weekend, I went to Rome to visit family. Zia Chiara is an amazing cook, and I am actually learning to find my way around the house! On Saturday Cecilia and I went to a beach with her boyfriend and a few friends-heaven's playground for American boys-as in Italy the women are topless on beaches, and even worse, they are bronze goddesses with perfect figures...I asked Gioia why this was-her answer: money, time, complete and full attention to the way one looks. So THAT's the answer! Anyway, a less noticeable, but lovely difference from American beaches is that everyone loves icecream. There is a bar where everyone goes to get an icecream cone...and later to sit and have a beer, mojito, or a panini. All is calm, happy, social-but not exactly flirtacious! Funny, eh?!
Onto Saturday night-Zia Chiara offered to talk me on a midnight tour of Rome...which is full of buildings that make skyscrapers look like mushrooms...monuments, churches on every corner, towers and obelisks, fountains and government buildings...all unmistakably fashioned with passion, vigor, precision to present a sense of power, wealth, godliness! The bits of ancient Roman architecture remind you that although Via Veneto is famous for its wealth, Rome has such layers of antiquity, stories, knowledge, energy that eminate from the cracks in its ancient skeleton, standing in pieces next to apartments, shops, highways. On Sunday, Gioia and I visited a few more churches, as well as San Paolo, which is a huge, gorgeous basilica NOT in the center of Rome-but the second most important to San Pietro which is well-known. Saint Peter and Paul are most often depicted together-and from what I know from Gioia's stories is that Saint Peter is shown on the cross, but inverted (head down) and Saint Paul (both apostles, martyrs) was decapitated, voluntarily, and where the head bounced is where water springs began to flow. (Thus a tri of churches, one being called something like Chiesa delle Tre Fontane). In the basilica, I found a new style in stainted glass windows-for here they were like slices of marble, layed upon to be symmetrical upon reflection of eachother-like an inkblot and a folded piece of paper...but this is amazing because these are not depicted saints-these windows are abstract, just color, forms, shapes. Amazingly different. Another quick curious observation: many churches and this basilica in particular, are a mix of styles as over the years there are fires, or other disasters that require a reconstruction. New construction doesn't always mean reconstructing original work-sometimes and often it means adjusting the building to the style of that time period...thus sometimes mixtures of Byzantine, pre-Renaissance and medieval mosaic all in one place.
We visited the church where Alessia will be married, surrounded by a luscious garden! And speaking of weddings-Gioia and I happened upon 4 in one day on our travels. One church had 20 something glass chandeliers hanging from the aisles, with white roses and velvet chairs. At each wedding, we noticed differences in taste, tradition, wealth. All beautiful just the same.

Onto my reality at the moment:
-Looking for an apartment. I have seen a couple, but they are incredibly expensive. Some apartments do not have actual shower stalls.
-Italian beds are very hard and stiff. I have finally gotten used to mine-and am now sleeping quite well.
-The thing next to the toilet is to wash yourself after using the toilet. I had been using this ceramic contraption to wash my aching feet or soak them in warm, soapy water every night. Oops.
-Don't make eye contact at night, if you don't want to risk being harrassed. Don't be nice to people by engaging in conversation if you don't want to be caught into their web of questions and compliments. I'm finally learning this after a few incidents with Sofia and a stranger had to tell the harrasser to get away-vai via...not always working.
-They don't always let you draw in the museums-you have to get special permission if the guard is not a happy person. I often buy postcards and try drawing at my apartment-spending hours looking at shadows, lines, highlights to recreate what I see-forming relationships with these sculptures and paintings through a middle party-second best to have the "conversation" live.

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