Happy San Giovanni Day!

San Giovanni, the Patron Saint of Florence, is celebrated on June 24th and it is a Florence-wide holiday which means no work, no school, no stress.

In celebration, Florence holds its annual Calcio in Costume, an ancient game held in the Piazza Santa Croce which had been transformed into a sand pit where a traditional yet violent game that is part soccer, part rugby, and part boxing is played in medieval attire. The four participating teams are from different parts of Florence: white is the team from Santo Spirito, green is the team from San Giovanne, red is the team from Santa Maria Novella, and blue is the team from Santa Croce.

At night the city celebrates in an hour-long display of fireworks set off from Piazzele Michelangelo. The city is almost entirely shut down to vehicles and the streets flood with people crowding to get the best view, wine in hand.

Happy Holidays!

My Florence Bucket List

Now that time is winding down and I have about three weeks left here in Florence, it is time I make a list of all the things I want to make sure I do before I leave this wonderful city. 

1. Go to the Uffizi
2. Hear the Gregorian Chants at San Minato
3. Go to an Italian mass one Sunday morning, or whenever they hold mass
4. Go to Fiesole for an afternoon
5. See the duomo in Siena
6. Go to the vintage market in Lucca
7. Go to the beach at Viareggio
8. See the diamond skull and the Medici rooms at Palazzo Vechio Museum
9. Get cheesecake from Tre Panche
10. Go to the Ferragamo Museum
11. Buy one piece of street art
12. Go to the Galileo Museum
13. Go back to Cinque Terre and hike the entire five towns

Pisa eh?

Now this is very unusual of me to say, but if you haven't been to Pisa, this picture is enough, there is no need to go. The leaning tower of Pisa is a bunch of tourists posing in the strangest positions to make it look like they are holding up the tower in various ways with their hands, their back, and their feet, it gets pretty crazy. Take your day trip somewhere else like the ancient walled city of Lucca which has an extravagant market on Saturdays including produce, clothes, chotckies, and vintage items or go to Siena and see the most beautiful, breathtaking church in Italy. 

If you're really dying to see the leaning tower, plan to get on an earlier train to the airport or some other destination so that you can stop for an hour or so to see it, no more time is needed, but be warned if you're tight on time: the walk from the train station to the tower is about 20 minutes.

Astonishing Voter Turn out in Italy's 2011 Referendum

On Sunday June 12^th until Monday June 13^th, polls opened in local schools across Italy for its citizens to vote on the 2011 referendum. A referendum of its type, abrogative, had not been passed since 1995 and any referendum had not passed here since 2006, because of lack of participation on the voter’s part. 

The votes will not be counted unless 50% + one of the citizens who have the right to vote go to the poll and vote, and if more than half the population votes then they will look at their votes.  More than 57% of the population voted and about 95% of them all voted to abolish the laws that had recently been set in place by the government and go back to the older, more traditional laws. The issues were privatization of water, use of nuclear energy, and the necessity of politician’s presence in court. 

Water, once a public commodity, but now about half and half owned by private owners and the nation, was voted to be only publicly owned because Italians believe that water is not a good, it is a basic human need and therefore everyone should receive it for the same cost, which does not always under private ownership. 

Nuclear energy in Italy was abolished by a referendum in 1987 after Chernobyl happened in 1986 but recently, as a way to revive the economy, Berlusconi (Italians Prime Minister) re-introduced nuclear energy. Those who voted in the referendum said that they had already voted no and had never decided that it was ok again, especially right after the crisis in Japan, and wanted Italy to take no part in nuclear energy. 

Finally, voters refuted the loosening of requirements for the necessity of politician’s presence in court during their trial and a return to the more strict rules. Opposers of Berlusconi made a strong point that they believed the loopholes in the attendance policy for politicians in court was working in his favor since he has had many court trials that he has not been present for. 

The best news is that with 57% of the population voting, this historical moment is the revival of social and political participation and pride for Italians at home and abroad!

"Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between [wo]man and the universe."

                                                 - Anatole France

A Trip to the San Ambrigio Market

With Florence’s ever shifty climate the way one knows when the warm weather has come to stay is when the markets fill themselves with the freshest fruit and vegetables of summertime.  Italian cuisine is known for its simple preparation and quality of flavor. This balance is achieved by letting the produce used in each dish speak for itself without masking the natural flavor of the ingredients with unnecessary amounts of butter, cream, and salt.  The key to having the natural flavor of the dish be more than enough to satisfy a palate is to cook with produce that is in season, and therefore at its most succulent, flavorful, and thankfully inexpensive state. A trip through the market was filled with dark red cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, watermelons, cantaloupe, white melon, lemons, oranges, tomatoes in all shapes and sizes, eggplant, and zucchini. In these early summer months, the market also had produce that was in its prime in the springtime but is still available in the markets like all sorts of beans, asparagus, leeks, artichokes, and strawberries.  Italian Chef’s swear by only using the ingredients that are in season to achieve the finest quality dishes. The grocery stores may have more variety of choices but the fresh air markets, like San Ambrosio and Mercato Centrale, have the highest quality of produce. 

Back in Florence

I arrived back in Florence late last night after a layover in Paris and one of the things that I am quickly reminded of as I put away my freshly-cleaned-by-mom laundry into my new cedar drawers is the absence of dryers and the acting up of washing machines. The washing machine in my old apartment was located under the sink in the kitchen...I suppose that's convenient if you spill something on yourself while your cooking?

The dryer makes a little more sense being located in a closet but the great thing is that this new apartment has drying ropes hanging outside the windows. In my old apartment my roommates and I would scramble to find a flat/clean space to dry our clothes and would usually have to leave our clothes hanging on all sorts of furniture inside for days until the clothes started to smell a bit like mildew. So the good news is that not only do my clothes get to smell like fresh air but I'll get to participate in the quaintness of the laundry-hanging-out-of-the-window look.

Paris, Biarritz, Nice, Paris, Home...but not for long.

After two weeks of traveling in France, I am back in my tiny hometown by the sea. After exams I flew to Paris to meet my traveling companion and stayed there for five days, wandering around the Louvre, eating nutella crepes, and drinking wine in Tuileries. From Paris, we flew to Nice in the south of France and enjoyed three days on the white stone beaches, in the flower, fruit, vegetable, and spice market in the heart of old Nice and some truly amazing boeuf bourguignon. We took an overnight train to Biarritz which is on the rocky coast of Bordeaux and celebrated his 22nd birthday by getting a terrible night of sleep on the compact train seats but made up for it later that day by going surfing at Côte des Basques. We spent our days in Biarritz surfing, eating Paella, exploring the ancient rock formations that stretched out into the open ocean, and tapas hopping along the seafront. We took the train back to Paris for one last night and I said my goodbye to the city from the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre, baguette and wine in hand. 

It is very nice to be home for the week, spending lazy days on the beach, enjoying long showers, my parents gourmet cooking, snuggling with my animals, and catching up with family and friends. I leave to go back to Florence on Monday where I will be interning for the summer working with communications and book publishing, so that's certainly something I am very excited about but for now I am thoroughly enjoying the simple life by the sea.

Ryanair

The cheapest way to fly in Europe but be warned:

1. It will drop you at the most inconveniently located airports so plan ahead of time how you're actually going to get to the city you thought you were going to.
2. bring earplugs or a good playlist unless you want to listen to them advertise scratch cards and smokeless cigarettes every five minutes
3. bring a sleeping mask/blindfold if you'd like to stand a chance of sleeping because the seats really are as bright as they look folks.

http://www.ryanair.com/en

http://www.skyscanner.it/  - a great fight/price comparison website