Firenze!

This weekend, some of my roommates and I traveled to Florence, which I had been itching to return to ever since my visit almost three years ago with my Res girls.  We chose the cheapest transportation option, a four hour slow train that passed through beautiful parts of Tuscany, but unfortunately the weather had no desire to cooperate, and our views consisted mostly of foggy hills.  Upon arriving at the charming hotel, we decided to trek to Piazza Michelangelo, perched on a hill to the southeast of the city, which overlooks the Arno river, Ponte Vecchio, and the entire city of Florence.  The views were wonderful, but again we were surrounded by dense fog in the hilltops, and our pictures from that day did not turn out so well so we descended the hill a little disappointed.  

For dinner that night, Natalie took us to her parents' favorite restaurant in Florence, Il Latini, which is frequented mostly by locals.  They had recommended that we get there early because there tended to be a line outside waiting for the restaurant to open, and sure enough a small crowd had gathered by the time the owners unlocked the doors.  The five of us sat down and a huge 2 liter bottle of their (delicious) house wine was uncorked, and we were off :).  We never saw a menu, the waiter just came by an told us what each course consisted of, which we were more than happy to accept.  The antipasto included Tuscan prosciutto, salami, caprese salad, and chicken crustini, and the primi was made up of three different kinds of soup pastes, spinach ravioli, and penne.  We chose to pass on the secondo (we were already full!) and skip right to the desert.  The waiter brought out four different types of cakes, and a "tuscan surprise" of traditional biscotti and two types of desert wines, as well as another bottle of the house wine to take home with us.  For those of you keeping score at home, we probably finished about 9 glasses of wine each (at least myself and Anne did, I'm not sure if the rest could keep up....kidding Mom....a little), which made for an absolutely wonderful night :).

On Saturday, we headed out in the rain to L'accademia, which houses Michelangelo's David.  Not being much of a museum person myself, I was completely caught off guard with how impressive and detailed the statue was, down to the veins in his legs and the curls of his hair.  In the afternoon, we headed to Florence's market, famous for its leather.  I emerged with a significantly lighter wallet, but a beautiful leather jacket and plenty of scarves.  For dinner, we met up with Anne's RA from our freshman year, who is currently a grad student in Florence...it's amazing all the places you can find ND connections.

After two days of rain, and a third one in the forecast, we woke up on Sunday to find nothing but blue skies and bright sun.  After mass in the Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) complete with Gregorian chants, I insisted on trekking back up to the Piazza Michelangelo for one last photoshoot, but neglected to realize that we would be carrying all of our bags this time around.  The hike to the top left us significantly more winded, but the views were beyond incredible and absolutely breathtaking (hopefully the pictures on here can do the view some justice).  The picture of me at the top of the blog is also from that lookout point!

I had such a great time in that beautiful city, and couldn't help but remember my wonderful trip in 2007 with my amazing friends and Mr. Mazzulla, who's had such a huge influence on my life.  I was thinking of you all this weekend!

gold shops on the Ponte Vecchio

The baptistry, duomo, and belltower.

Brunelleschi's duomo.  While designing the dome for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, Michelangelo allegedly said he would be able to make one bigger but not more beautiful than the dome in Florence.

in front of the Ponte Vecchio

Tuscan countryside from Piazza Michelangelo

Florence, under the Tuscan sun

The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), the only bridge not destroyed by German troops in WWII

the postcard companies should hire me...