Arezzo - Men in Tights!

David and I took a trip to the hilltop town of Arezzo on the first Sunday in September thinking that we would be seeing the Antique Fair that takes place the first Sunday of the month. And we did see that - but we saw so much more! It seems we rolled into town on the same day of the festive Giostra del Saracino (Joust of the Saracen) which celebrates the rout of the Saracens (or Muslims) from Arezzo during the Middle Ages.

Four quarters of the city put up two of their best jousters to compete in the festival, which for some reason is actually held twice a year. In June the jousting contest is held at night, and in September it's held during the day.

Everyone wears their colors, showing which quarter they support...

Porta Crucifera - red and green colors

Porta del Foro - yellow and crimson colors

Porta S. Andrea - white and green colors

Porta S. Spirito - yellow and blue colors

We saw a couple of parades while we were there - the first we watched from a wall above the street - all participants in medieval costume - the archers with crossbows, the lancers, drummers and trumpeters - a cannon blast that made me jump out of my skin, lots of banners and standards being held aloft, church bells ringing.

After it was over I turned to an older gentleman next to me and asked if he could suggest a restaurant with good food at a good price. He walked us through the antique market, talking about the fort (the antique fair was at the base of the fort instead of the main piazza because of the joust competition), and pointing to the area where he lived as we walked down the hill. We went so far that I was beginning to wonder just what I had asked him in my broken Italian, but finally we came to a small square, and he pointed to one restaurant on the level below us and another on the same level as the square - I felt he was trying to say that either restaurant would be a good choice.

David and I were enjoying a lovely lunch in Ristorante Il Pulcinella when a gang of young men wearing t-shirts, tights and some really cool boots broke the calm as they entered the restaurant, briskly taking their places at the large table set for their party.  They were Culcitrone - supporters of the Porta Crucifera quarter.  They sure could pack away some food!  I was too shy to take a photo of them, but here's a photo of one of their youngest supporters – waving the red and green. 

We walked and walked after lunch, looking at all the antiques - furniture, china, chandeliers, jewelry, lamps, silver, vintage clothes, tools - all sorts of things.  At one point I remember turning around and looking out over a low wall on which some men were sitting and seeing a landscape so lovely, so beautiful, so perfectly Tuscan that I thought it wasn't real.  No photograph would have done the view justice.

Lanzi (lancers) of the Porto del Foro Quarter

At that point another cannon blast awoke me from my reverie and the church bells started ringing wildly.  Then we heard the drums - another parade.  I rushed over but there was no good vantage point - the crowds had really grown.  This parade had a lot of horsemen - knights and their valets, some carrying items that I suppose had significance to the festival . . . and of course, the lancers, the archers, the banners, the musicians.  It was a quite a spectacle.  In the South we have Civil War re-enactments, and in Italy they have these Medieval Festivals.  Everybody gets to dress up and symbolically kill somebody.

 

Heading towards Chaos near Santa Maria del Pieve



After the parade we started heading towards the train station.  The crowds were getting bigger and bigger – like Game Day in Auburn, but maybe worse.  A big hubbub broke out at the intersection, and (I think) the jousting competitors on horseback rode through the crowds on their way to the main piazza - Piazza Grande - where the joust takes place.  As the different colors came through, spectators in the crowd would cheer or jeer based on their loyalties.  David was getting quite nervous as the policemen joined hands and pushed the crowds back.  He is crowd-phobic.  But we managed to slip through sideways and get clear of the main crush.  We almost missed our train because of that little crowd incident, but since I survived, I thought it was exciting!  I definitely want to go back to Arezzo.

If you would like to read more about the traditions of this old festival, check out this link
Horse Jousting in Arezzo

Happy Birthday, Duomo!!!

Last Wednesday, September 8th, Florence's main cathedral - the Duomo - celebrated its 714th birthday. The cornerstone of this over-the-top beautiful church was laid on September 8th, 1296.

The roof terrace is open to the public every year to celebrate this event - at our favorite price - FREE!!!! This allows a 270 degree view of the city of Florence.

The Baptistry

San Lorenzo

(see post about Festa di San Lorenzo)

At about 125 degrees around the terrace, the lowering clouds starting dropping rain on us - the wind was fierce and the lightning was frightening! It was single file as we made our way across the balcony on the front of the cathedral, looking down upon the piazza and the Baptistry.

As we turned the corner, I ran like a chicken (BOK!!!) - something about being fried by lightning is not to my taste!

Looking towards the Arno River -

from left; Bargello Tower, Badia Florentine Bell Tower, and Palazzo Vecchio Bell Tower

One of the last photos I took before ducking back into the safety of the cathedral.....

p.s. we stood in line with a young couple who recently graduated from Auburn University and now live in Colorado - it is a small world......

"Benissimo..."

... proclaimed the doctor as he held my Xray against the light box.

About an hour earlier I'd had the third set of shoulder Xrays taken to see the progress of healing. It's been exactly a month since the accident, which happened on the last day of July.

Photos taken almost two weeks after the accident

Now, I don't mean to get too personal, so skip the next four or five paragraphs if you don't want to hear about the kinda funny incident regarding undergarments.....

Knowing that I cannot wear a bra when getting Xrays (metal parts intefere), I'd gone to the hospital wearing my oversize T-shirt and brace and no bra. I've had two T-shirts big enough to fit over the lump of my right arm strapped to my body - my wardrobe has been severely limited the past month. Tuesday was the lovely blue T-shirt.....

But figuring that I might be examined by the doctors, I'd put a reggiseno (bra) in my handbag and asked if I could put it on after the Xrays were taken. A half hour later David, Gabriele (to translate) and I were called into the doctor's office for the verdict. As stated above, he declared my bone healing "very well" and motioned for me to hop up on the examination table.

As the doctor and his assistant began pulling my shirt off, I noticed the look on Gabriele's face change. Now I'm quite sure he's seen a bra before, but I don't think he'd bargained for seeing one that morning. As they continued to unwind me from the torture brace (which has to be over 6 feet long), I saw Garbriele turn his back to me - very much a gentleman. But I needed him to participate in the examination because the doctor was telling me all sorts of things in Italian, and I needed to know what they were.

I really saw the humor in this since I'd been in the same sort of situation three years ago when we were last here. We had guests in the apartment, and for some reason the man was a mosquito magnet. He said himself that he had "...the honeyblood" (his wife had no bites). He had so many bites that he was having an allergic reaction and running a fever. He told David and me that he needed to go to the hospital and wanted me to go as the "interpreter". WHAT?!?!?!?

I went, carrying my Italian-English dictionary, and stayed with him during the entire process - including the part when the doctor asked to see the bites on his legs, and he complied by standing up, unzipping his pants and dropping them to the floor. I'm sure I had the same surprised look on my face as Gabriele did.

So I laughed and told Gabriele that it was "....OK - sorry for the shock, but I knew that it would probably be like this and was totally comfortable with it. Just please keep translating...."

By this time the doctor had grabbed my arm and was moving it every which-a-way, and even though I thought "Ow! Ow! Ow!" was in the universal language vocabulary, the doctor apparently didn't know or care. He said I could quit wearing the brace and needed to start moving my arm naturally and using it as much as possible.

Wonderful!!! I was trying to ask him if he would write a prescription for a muscle relaxer because I've been having some very painful spasms at the top of my arm where it joins the shoulder. He was writing something (in Italian and in very sloppy handwriting) on my patient sheet, so I assumed he understood.

Next, I thought I would get a run-through on some rehab exercises or something like that . . . . but no, nothing! I was scooted out of the office with a pleasant "Arrivederci" and the next patient was ushered in. Well - what can you expect for €12.90 ($16.77)?

So we went to the farmacia (pharmacy) and I presented my patient sheet, thinking I would be getting a prescription for something to alleviate these spasms. But no - surprise again! The writing was only the doctor's orders to return in another month for a follow-up exam.

So, the bone has healed well - but the tendons where my arm joins the shoulder are in constant pain. I'm not exactly sure what to do for that, but I am thankful to have a good progress report AND to be free of that hot, bulky, restrictive brace of torture.

And I'm extra thankful to be able to wear my clothes normally again. For a month, I'd had some strange looks every where I went because I looked like a one-armed pregnant lady with my shirt half on and my arm strapped to my belly. At least the pan-handlers in the city left me alone - they took one look at me and must have thought that I had more problems than they did :)

Festa di San Lorenzo

I know that I've bounced all over the place chronologically during this blog - sorry for the confusion.

Let's go back to August 10th - the Festa di San Lorenzo (Feast Day of St. Lawrence).......

When Sixtus became Bishop of Rome in 257, Lawrence was ordained a deacon and was placed in charge of the administration of Church goods and care for the poor. For this duty, he is regarded as one of the first archivists and treasurers of the Church and was made the patron of librarians..........

Lawrence is said to have been martyred on a gridiron as a part of Roman Emperor Valerian's persecution in 258. Tradition holds that Lawrence was burned or "grilled" to death, hence his association with the gridiron. Tradition also holds that Lawrence joked about their cooking him enough to eat while he was burning on the gridiron, hence his patronage of cooks and chefs, stating something along the lines of, "turn me over ... I'm done on this side". One of the early sources for the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence was the description by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in his Peristephanon, Hymn II. (from Wikipedia)

Since Florence has a basilica dedicated to San Lorenzo, there is a special tradition held every year on the 10th of August ...... according to the "Visit Florence" website:

For the feast day of San Lorenzo, Piazza San Lorenzo hosts an outdoor celebration with live music and free lasagna and watermelon for all visitors. The event begins around 7 p.m. (after a celebratory Mass inside the San Lorenzo at 6 p.m.) when the market stalls that line the streets of the square during the daytime are finally rolled away, making room for the festivities. The food is served at 9 p.m.

David with his new buds

Well - we love FREE things, so David and I went into the city to celebrate the festa. The mass began at 6 pm - the bells rang wildly and we waited patiently on the steps outside the church.

The concert began about 8:30 pm (maybe a little later)

The concert was wonderful, but we were tired of waiting for the free food. Apparently Italians love music as much as they love food. Meno male (thank goodness) we'd decided to have a slice of pizza around 8:00 pm.

When we finally left to catch our bus home at around 10:30 pm the orchestra was still playing, and the lines for free lasagna and watermelon rivaled those at Disneyworld. Guess we're not the only ones who LOVE free things!!!

Cool Town Lucca

The Wednesday before I broke my shoulder-arm, we took a half-day-trip to Lucca. If you're ever in Tuscany, this lovely city is a "must see" and is an easy day trip from Florence via the train.

One of the unique features about Lucca is the rampart fortifications around the historic city center. Around 1500, when military technology advanced to the point that the old city walls weren't good protection, the city built a very impressive fortification system. The walls are so thick that there is a system of tunnels and passageways inside them, but they also have dirt against one side and on the top so that trees are growing along the top of the wall.



Since the rampart walls never had to be used to defend the city, they are now used as a public park - wonderful walking and bike paths along the top, huge trees that shade park benches and large areas where tables allow families to picnic and old men to play games. Lucca is a huge city, but the oldest part is contained within the ramparts - a peaceful, pleasant city perfect for exploring on foot.

We walked around the whole top, with short detours to see the oval-shaped Piazza del Mercato (which used to be the site of the Roman amphitheater), gaze up at the Torre dei Guinigi (which has oak trees growing on TOP of it) and smack down gelato at Gelato Veneto (you know - the important things :)

click here for the Gelateria Veneta website - yummmm

There are many beautiful sites to see from the wall without leaving it - such as the gardens of Palazzo Pfanner and San Martino, Lucca's cathedral. To make Lucca even prettier, the Apuan Alps are nearby - some people call this area "Little Switzerland" because of the views. Due to a run-in with the automatic ticket vending machine at the train station in Florence, we missed the early train to Lucca - but we hope to return again before we leave and see more of Lucca, the "city within a city".....

Podere del Colle

A few posts ago I had a comment requesting the link to the website that la padrona di casa (the lady of the house) has made advertising their guest apartment.

Here is the link if any of you are interested in seeing the many photos they've posted of their property, etc. There's also some great information about the history of the area . . . and of course information about the guest apartment:

click here for link to Podere del Colle website

I'm including a few of the MANY photos we've taken of the Podere del Colle - most of these are from three years ago....and here are the reasons why:

* Some of you know that I'm using a Mac computer - I'm a Windows girl and don't know hardly a hoot about Mac. So strike #1.

* On top of that, most of the commands in the tool bars, links, websites that are displayed, yadda yadda yadda are in Italian. So I'm always terrified that I'll pick an option that looks like something that sounds familiar in English and blow away the whole hard drive!!!

* And the final straw of fear is that I actually deleted every photo on my camera about a week or so ago. Thank God I had downloaded many of the photos I'd taken up to that point with Gabriele's help, but I tried to download a week's worth of photos by myself and nuked 'em!

waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

Welcome to the podere.......

Pisa Posin'

While "Holly and Zack" were here we also took a day trip to Pisa to see one of the world's icons - the famous Leaning Tower.

Pisa used to have great significance as a port city - its naval power ensured dominance in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea back in the day.

Alas - Pisa's port silted up (see what happens when you don't control erosion?), and Pisa eventually lost its port, as well as its trading power.

But in its heyday, Pisa's riches financed the construction of a beautiful Cathedral (construction begun in 1064), Baptistry (begun in 1152) and the famous Tower (which was begun in 1173 and was intended to be the Cathedral's bell tower).

The tower had already started to lean in 1274 when the third story was added. The bell tower is currently over 17 feet off vertical, but was stabilized enough in the 1990's that people can once again tour the structure.

As we approached the Piazza dei Miracoli (the Miracle Square), I was reminded of the Tower of Babel described in Genesis - all sorts of languages being spoken, the constant babble of humanity surrounding me.

Even in the Baptistry, where a large sign demanded "SILENCE", people could not stop talking. However every 30 minutes, the guards close the doors, shush the visitors in the Baptistry and demonstrate the incredible acoustics of the building. No microphones needed here as ONE person vocalizes pitches - the tones amplified, spinning and forming chords as they reverberate inside the circle of marble.

Click to hear a sample of the remarkable acoustics

As prevalent as the babble are people assuming all kinds of weird poses as their friends or family take photos of them, using perspective to create the illusion that they are holding up the tower, pushing the tower, pulling the tower ..... not to mention handstands, cartwheels and other assorted contortions ....... the people-watching here is as entertaining as the monuments.

Pisa is an easy day-trip from Florence via train, and you can walk to the Cathedral complex from the train station. If you want to climb the tower, you'll need to plan on getting there early because they allow a fixed number of people in the tower at a time for 30-minute tours . . . the cost is €15.00 (almost $20).

This photo was taken the day that Holly and Zack took off to visit Cinque Terre on the coast of northwest Italy.

Zack, far left

Gabriele, next to Zack

Holly, in the middle

and the Untourists......

Bafinna, the kitty, is the little blob in the lower left corner