Medici Palazzo

The other day we went out with our Italian school to one of the Medici Palaces, this one belonging to Lorenzo the Magnificent. We discovered it is, in fact, just across the road from where we live in our own Palazzo (apparently we're in the servant's quarters).

As it the tour was conducted in all-Italian I can't actually tell you much about the place, but I was greatly impressed in one room with a very dramatic fresco on the ceiling.

The fresco was actually commissioned by the Ricardi family who bought the Palace from the Medici's. However, since owning a Medici Palace was something of a coup socially, the Medici's were given pride of place in the fresco.

Bureaucracy and Bialleti

Well we've been here for a little over a week now, but the past several days have mostly been consumed by fighting back the tide of paperwork that has accompanied our arrival, as well as cramming in as much Italian as we can. We've both been taking private lessons for the past week and I will be starting another 4 weeks of Italian in a class next week, while Linda will be starting her classes again in a few weeks to give her a chance to get her work under control.

In between battles with public servants we've managed to take time out to see a few of the sites. We went for a big walk around the city the other day to take in Santa Croce and the Fiume Arno including, of course, Ponte Vecchio.

In the last couple of days we have also been out with our Italian school for a couple of their social events, once to an Osteria near Piazza Santa Spirito for dinner, and this morning for a tour of the interior of the Medici Chapel, Basilica di San Lorenze. Linda seemed to be following the commentary but I only managed to understand about one word in a hundred, which fills me with confidence. We've also managed to eat lots more pizza and pasta, although Linda has inexplicably lost her taste for both coffee and gelato, a cause for much consternation.

Lastly I have to announce, with much excitement, the purchase of a Bialleti Moka Express (2-cup size), one of our larger purchases so far, at 17 Euro. I have brewed many a cup of coffee on our stove-top, leading up to the caffiene-inspired (remembering it's a 2-cup percolator and Linda isn't drinking coffee) invention of the mochatine. Yes, a mocha made with ovaltine. I'm not sure if my recollections are accurate, but I thought it was pretty great at the time.

Buona Pasqua

By luck we have arrived in Florence just in time for Easter, which is a huge event in Italy.

We wandered down to the Piazza Duomo to watch the procession and subsequent lo scoppio del carro a Firenze, a cart with fireworks that goes off in spectacular fashion. This tradition dates back to 1099 when a Florentine raised the Crusader's standard on the walls of Jerusalem and was rewarded with three flints from the Holy Sepulchre.

In any case, the crowd was enormous with people obviously having traveled from far and wide (mostly from England and the US, unfortunately) so getting to the front proved impossible, but it was very exciting nonetheless.

Afterwards we celebrated with traditional Italian Easter food, Dove Cake and Dove biscuits and, of course, Easter eggs.

There are some more photos from the event here.