June 30-Monday
I took an early morning train to Florence so left Nauvoo's with my ever-increasing backpack strapped to my back to head to the train station. No great stories about the trip...but train rides through Tuscany are pretty! Oh and if you're riding a train through Italy, be sure to validate your tickets. I witnessed five girls from France all get fined because they didn't validate their tickets.
I arrived at Firenze Campo di Marti station and was greeted by Marina, my host for the next 10-ish days. We go back to her Florence apartment, eat lunch and settle in...kind of. We were only staying there the one night, then heading to her farm about 30 minutes outside of Florence. The apartment in Florence is actually more of a house. It has a big yard in the back and the ceilings are incredibly high. We had tomatoes and mozzarella for lunch (oh the mozzarella!) and Marina and her son Lorenzo tutored me in the proper pronunciation of the word "grazie". I then had the afternoon to wander around Florence. I didn't really have anything in particular in mind, I literally just wandered. I knew I'd be back for a day or so at the end of my time with Marina so I wasn't too worried. I saw the Florence Cathedral, checked out a few little shops, watched some football (I forget who was playing now) and ate some gelato (obviously). Then it was back to Marina's for dinner. Lorenzo had invited me to go out salsa dancing that night but I had only slept for like 4 hours the night before so by the time 9:30 rolled around I was more inclined towards sleeping than I was towards dancing! So it was early to bed for me.
We woke up the next morning, packed up the car, and headed for the hills. I spent the next 7 days in the hills of Tuscany, on a farm called Baronci outside the little village of Santa Brigida.
The tower on Baronci was built in the 14th century, and the rest of the house was added to the tower in 1696 (if I remember correctly). Marina's grandparents owned the house and land, then her parents, and now her and her two brothers and they have divided the house into three separate apartments with some common areas. They've done a lot of renovations to it and it's a really beautiful place, with a great view!
Marina says Santa Brigida looks like a harbor at night...
The first day there we went for a walk around the land. Marina bush whacked her way through, demolishing anything that stood in her way.
She also told me to beware of vipers. Ahh! But said as long as we stomp our feet they'll quickly get out of the way. There are also bees...lots of bees. They aren't so bad (like I said after Prabstorf, I'm not so afraid of bees anymore) except for the wasps. They are HUGE. We trapped one in the window...
My schedule at Baronci was a little different than it was in Prabstorf. We worked for a few hours in the morning then took a few hours off, then another few hours of work later in the afternoon before dinner.
We focused on three main jobs for the rest of the week I was there and they were:
1) Yard work...Like weed-whacking picking fruit
2) Cleaning out the common room on the first floor and painting the fireplace...
3) Reupholstering a couch...getting my crafty on! Anything that means I can use fabric and a glue gun makes me happy!
The best part of staying in Florence and Baronci was Marina herself.
She is a wealth of information and is full of fascinating stories. Her parents were Italian diplomats and growing up she lived in South Africa, Lebanon, and I think Somalia...(I'm not 100% sure I remember that correctly so don't judge me Marina!) Between her parents work and her work as an agronomist, she and/or her family has been to a multitude of countries in the world (most of Africa) and has the most wonderful collection of unique items from other countries.
Big fruit shell
Weaving birds nests. These are built in this particular shape so that snakes can't make the turn and get to the eggs.
My favorite story of hers was about the time that her family drove from Florence to Beirut. They had a car with father, mother, grandmother, three kids, and all their belongings. Driving through Turkey their car got a flat tire, and her dad started to walk for help. He instructed his wife to keep the doors locked and not let anybody in. Shortly after a taxi with two(?) men pulled up to the car and Marina's mother used a form of sign language to indicate that her husband had gone to look for help. The taxi left and returned a short while later with her father. They proceeded to empty out the entire contents of the car, people, luggage, and everything from the car, right down to the radio antenna. Then they piled everybody and everything into the taxi, which drove them to their hotel. She said she could only imagine what the hotel staff was thinking as 9 people, luggage, and car parts pulled up in one taxi. What a sight to behold!
We went on a few outings during my time at Baronci. We went to the nearby town where we met with some of her friends for lunch at a little cafe...
And she took me to a monastery which had a beautiful view of the valley. This monastery is called della Madonna del Sasso and was built in 1490 because in 1484 there were three kids playing on a rock and Mary appeared to them and told them to go back to the village and tell everybody that she wanted it built right there.
We spent the last day in Florence before I left for Pescia for another help exchange. I spent Monday night with Lorenzo and his roommate Sofie. We went for dinner and then watched football and witnessed Brazil get demolished by Germany. The next day I just wandered around again. It poured for a little while so everybody took refuge from the rain wherever they could.
I went to Saint Lorenzo's Market
Florence Cathedral (Duomo)
Ponte Vecchio
(The view from Ponte Vecchio)
Piazzale Michaelangelo (great view of Florence)
And this little art studio owned by an artist named Clet. His stuff is pretty unique, and slightly controversial. He adds his own little twist to traffic signs around the city, mostly without permission, so most of his early stuff was removed.
He also added a statue to Ponte... again, without license. It was removed after two days, but the citizens of Florence put up a fight and insisted that it be allowed to stay, so back on the bridge it went. It looks like he's about to jump into the river, but this actually represents everybody as we come to a crossroads in our lives. There comes a time when we need to make a decision, and sometimes that decision can be scary and even look quite stupid. But we need to go forward and take a leap of faith.
That night we all went out for dinner...me, Marina, Lorenzo and Sofie. We went to a restaurant a little outside the main area of Florence, so of course there were no tourists there. Marina wanted to take me there for "real" pizza, and it was delicious! We had a fabulous dinner, and I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I had tears streaming down my face and my sides ached. It was a wonderful feeling! I also learned about the history of pizza. The first pizza was just tomatoes, garlic, and basil OR oregano. When the king and queen of Italy visited Naples (where pizza originated) the people made them pizza and added mozzarella to make the pizza red, green and white, like the colors of the Italian flag. And they called it Margherita, which was the name of the queen.
The next morning it was pack up and train to Pescia for my next Tuscan adventure! I will miss Marina, she's a bit of a spit-fire and reminds me a lot of my mom. It's been a wonderful adventure with her! Ciao, Marina!
No comments:
Post a Comment