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Published: November 16th 2010
Orsanmichele Church
This building was originally used as a grain market, in the early 1300's, then was converted to a church around the turn of that century that was used by the powerful craft and trade guilds.We spent our final day in Florence with Chris, starting with one of the most enjoyable tourist activities in the city--drinking hot chocolate at the Cafe Rivoire in the Piazza della Signoria. Feeling fortified, we headed along the Arno River to the location one of the pedestrian walkways up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. I was stunned to find the Piazzale filled with cars, tour buses, souvenir stands, and hordes of people! Not how I remembered it from my student days, where it was a quiet refuge overlooking the city. We headed a bit further up the hill to San Miniato al Monte Church, which was beautiful inside, but with Mass going on, we only took a quick look. We enjoyed some more great views of Florence, then headed back down to the river and across town to the San Lorenzo Market for a bit of souvenir shopping at the endless rows of booths. About this time my cold had depleted most of my energy, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner with Chris' host family.
We took the bus to the neighborhood north east of the Centro, where Chris is living with the Nannetti family
St. Matthew by Ghiberti
The guilds each commissioned statues of their patron saints to decorate the church's facades. St. Matthew, patron saint of bankers, was cast in bronze by Ghiberti (of Baptistry door fame) in 1420. in a spacious apartment. "Mom" Lucia, works as an administrator for the court of appeals, "sister" Benedetta is 27 and a philosophy student at the University of Florence. We were also joined by "brother" Federico (30), an attorney, who no longer lives at home. Sunday is traditionally "pizza night" in the family, so we gathered in the kitchen and enjoyed pies from the neighborhood pizzeria. Although, I was far from feeling my best that night, I struggled to converse in Italian with Lucia, who speaks no English and Benedetta, who speaks a little. Federico is very fluent, and he and Dave talked law. Chris impressed us with the strides he's made with his Italian, and the conversation flowed pretty well. During the evening, Dave and I grew to feel confident about Chris being in the care of this warm and intelligent family. And Lucia and I found we have something in common besides Chris--we both love reading mysteries and Harry Potter!
PS Since I forgot to take photos of Chris' host family, due to my cold-induced brain fuzziness, Chris has promised to take some and email them, at which time I will add them to this blog entry.
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