As Venice is a city of pigeons, Florence is a city of swallows. I would assume their prevalence is due to the unlimited nooks and crannies available for their mud-constructed nests; nests that nicely/fortunately blend into the stone-work of the city. They are ever a visual and auditory presence. My apartment view is, shall we say, painted in the limited palate of terracotta rooftops and blue sky. One might imagine it to be static; uninteresting. However, the swallows are a constant interplay of movement and sound. I must confess that I have been rather unobservant in my live regarding these creatures. I didn’t remember that swallows have such voices. Yes, there is a lot of screeching that goes on but their register dips and swirls as much as their flight. They proclaim a low throaty tone that almost immediately can soar to a screech then dive again to lower tones. They are fun to watch and add life to the quietest of vicolo (alley). Today there were a couple new discoveries in store for me. There was the post office and it’s extremely efficient push a button (described in Italian, naturally) system to get a numbered and lettered voucher. Then wait for the LED screens to indicate your designation and assign you a window. Then there was the problem of finding paper for my printer in an area that is much more concerned with pushing gelato (and disgustingly hard, lard-consistency shave cream that is so redolent of perfume that I smell like a concubine even after dancing feverishly in the shower; a shower that is at the mercy of pressure fluctuations in Pisa). I digress…a bit! Moving along. I did find a place that sells the paper but it was closed by the time I got there. But this round-about-looking trip was providence. I found a shop run by a woman who arrived here 30 years ago from England. Hallelujah and a chorus of jubilation! She sold me an aerosol (how wonderful) can of Palmolive 400 ml whipping cream style shave cream for the amazingly low cost of just $3.00…US. Praise be to the saints of the toilet. We had a nice conversation about my trying to learn Italian without a coach. And now, I am looking forward to shaving in the morning.
I think I have mentioned the squeezebox music (an accordion to those of you who aren’t Polish, from Gowanda or didn’t watch Lawrence Welk). These guys move from restaurant to café offering up a little Italian color. Well, they stop at the restaurant in the vicolo below me. I thought it might be a problem at first but they never stay longer than an hour or so. I have gotten rather accustomed to hearing it. We will, of course, keep this just between us…I like it. It adds a lot of warmth to the apartment. Between the traveling squeezebox performers and the flute music that wafts over the Loggia della Signoria into my apartment, I haven’t needed or wanted to play any of my music.
I cooked today. Just pasta alla Bolognese with shards of P. Reggiano. I was afraid that boiling the pasta in the Frankenstein water would ruin the taste but it was rather good.
Went to the Duomo again today but this time went in. I was amazed how straightforward the interior is in comparison to the intricate stone carving and inlay on the exterior. Also went downstairs. Most of the other tourists just turned around when they got to the bottom of the stairs. To the left was the gift shop and to the right there was a one Euro entry fee for the area underneath the cathedral. I coughed up the one Euro…to my delight. There was a church on this spot in the 4th century that was in use even through the first 80 years of construction of the present Duomo, built on top of it. There were a lot of artifacts and crypts of knights. On the other side (where the gift shop was located) there was a fenced off area that housed the final resting place of Filippo Brunelleschi (who was responsible for the seemingly impossible completion of the dome for this cathedral). There was a wreath and beside his cover-stone two large white candles. I didn’t take the walk up to the top of the dome today as the line was long and it was starting to rain a little (which cleared up by 7:00 pm).
Pictures for tonight are: My favorite sculpture done in 1865 in marble. “Pirro che rapisce Polissena” by Pio Fedi (1816-1892). You have four shots of the same sculpture. It is housed in the Loggia della Signoria just a couple of buildings down from my apartment. The last photo is of another statue in the same area shot over the neighboring restaurant. The flute player or other performers (that I have mentioned before) are usually found to the left and just below the loggia, where my favorite sculpture is located. The proportions are so much more accurate than the David. The detailing of the fabric is astounding. Yes, the bold stance of David in “all his glory” is a great symbol of the power that was Florence. But the Fedi, I think is better.
Enough! It’s bedtime.
