Pronto Soccorso

I got a phone call from a friend of mine on Friday evening, or should I say Saturday morning at 2 a.m. We were supposed to be going out on a date, but he was calling from the Emergency Room (Pronto Soccorso), to let me know that he had been injured at work.

Santa Maria Novella is the hospital directly across from my school, and so I got dressed and made my way over to wait with him there. When he called me, he had already been there for 2 hours. Two o’clock in the morning is no different than 10 p.m. on the streets. There are lots of people, and the streets are well lit. I am often out at this time of morning, and have not once been afraid.

When I arrived at the hospital, I follow the signs to the Pronto Soccorso, and had to ring a doorbell for someone to let me in. My friend had only explained to me over the phone that he was in the ER, but not what had happened, so I was not certain what I was walking into. He was sitting in a wheelchair in the triage area, with one young man who was bleeding from his hand and arm in front of him.

He was very upset with the length of time it was taking. He hurt his knee while working, and decided to come into Firenze, even though he works outside the city, because Santa Maria Novella has a good reputation. He told me that when he got there, there was no one, but people who were "more injured" than him had gone in front of him. Of course they have a triage system, but he was losing patience.

Long story short, we waited another 2 hours before he got in to see the doctor. During this time, a few overly drunken students were wheeled in unconscious, which nearly sent him over the edge. Once he was in, they did x-rays, released him, and told him to come back the next day to see an ortho.

The hospital is very old, with terra cotta tile floors, and large wooden medieval doors into the narrow corridors. When they were taking him to x-ray, the wheeled him in a hospital bed, through the waiting room, and down the open corridor to x-ray, and back again once they were through.

All in all, it wasn’t the best "date" that I have had, but yet another interesting experience in Firenze!

Mercato Centrale

In the middle of San Lorenzo street market, is the huge building that contains Mercato Centrale. This is Florence’s busiest food market, and a great tourist attraction also, even if you are not buying food. The building is a 2-story cast iron and glass and was built in 1874.

The first floor stalls sell meat, poultry, fish, hams, cheese, olive oils, pastas, deli items, sandwiches, and wine. You can buy a sandwich to go with some of the Fiorentina delicacies such as porchetta (roast suckling pig) lampredotto (pigs’ intestines) and trippa (cows’ stomach). I haven’t tried any of these things, and I don’t care if it makes me a bad Italian!

The second floor vendors sell fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Now, since it is Fall, the wild mushroom (Porcini) and truffles are starting to come in.

I visit the market regularly for produce, cheese, and chicken livers. The cases full of food are always interesting to look at. If you are interested in food items for souvenirs, this is the best place to go!

The Baptistry and the East Doors

In front of the Duomo, is the Baptistry, one of Florence’s oldest buildings. It dates back to the 4th century! In the 13th century, mosaics illustrating the Last Judgment were placed in the ceiling above the octagonal front, where many famous Florentines, including Dante, were baptized.

The east doors of the Baptistry are made of bronze and are very famous. The doors were commissioned in 1401 to mark the city’s deliverance from the plague and were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghiberti won a competition which involved seven leading artists, including Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, and Brunelleschi. These doors are often regarded as the first works of the Renaissance because they are so different from Florentine Gothic art of the time, particularly in perspective and the individual figures in the panels.

The actual doors on the Baptistry today are copies, and the originals are in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Michelangelo called the doors the, "Gate of Paradise", and the name is still used today.

Autumn "Blew" In

September came and Fall is here. I went to school on Monday morning, and realized that in the U.S. it was Labor Day. Italians celebrate Labor Day in May, and this Monday was no holiday. In fact, it seemed busier than usual, since most of the businesses that closed in August for vacation, reopened this day.

It was cloudy and warm when I went to school, but just as class started, a thunderstorm blew in. We had to turn on extra lights in the classroom, because the sky became so dark, and close the windows, because the wind was hard and cold. It rained for 2 hours, and when class was over, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and there was a "nip" in the air.

Summer was wonderful here, with only one week of high humidity and real heat. I used my air conditioner 5 days all together. The evenings never got above 70. Now it seems that Autumn is here, and the air in the morning and evenings is crisp and brisk. Walking to school is exhilarating for different reasons, and the chill in the air brings out even more public displays of affection in the evenings.

The "harvest moon" also made an appearance.

Age Is Just A Number

Gone are the days of my youth....thankfully so! It was a hard time for me with lots of lessons from the school of hard knocks. Now, taking what I’ve learned, I am enjoying life. In case you are feeling old, and need a boost, here are some of my favorite sayings about age:

1. You’re as young as you feel
2. Here’s to you Mrs. Robinson
3. Age is just a number
4. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.
5. Age is something that doesn’t matter; unless you are a cheese
6. A woman has the age she deserves.
7. Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
8. Wrinkles merely indicate were the smiles have been.
9. Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
10. You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.
11. A woman’s always younger than a man of equal years.

Assisi

Regine was in Assisi recently and I decided to join her. It is a 2 hour train ride South, and is in the Umbria region, very close to Tuscany. The train ride through the Tuscan country side was magnificent, even though I left at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. It was stunning enough to keep me awake.

Assisi is most famous for being the burial place of St. Francis (St. Francis of Assisi). The basilica, Basilica di San Francesco, was begun in 1228, two year’s after the saint’s death. There is an upper and lower church and over the next century, they were decorated by some of the foremost artists of the day. Among them, Cimabue, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and Giotto. Giotto’s frescoes on the Life of St. Francis are some of the most renowned in Italy. The basilica, dominates Assisi on top of the hill, and is one of the great Christian shrines and receives vast numbers of pilgrims throughout the year.

Can you even begin to imagine something being around for 800 years? In September of 1997, the town suffered serious damage during an earthquake, but it was quickly restored. I noticed nothing of the damage, and the views are spectacular.

Regine and I managed to have our usual fabulous time. Regine met Raffaele, a painter in Assisi, whom we had heard of from one of our classmates, who visited Assisi a few months ago. We found a wine bar, and walked up and down the steep hills.

I left at 6 a.m. on the train back to Florence. Regine has another 2 weeks on the road with her camper and then back to Berlin. I hope to see her their next!

Italian Rock

Friday evening I went to Sesto Fiorentina, a "suburb" outside of Florence to a rock concert. It was a part of the summer music program in this small town, and it was soooo much fun.
I met Simone and Ceaserai at the San Frediano Door. This door is on the west side of the city (the opposite side of town from where I live) and it part of the original city wall. It is an area that I have been to only a few times, but always enjoy it because it is an "italian" neighborhood. There are absolutely no tourists, and everyone speaks Italian. They always know I am a tourist though, because as I have said before, Florence is small, and particularly in these small neighborhoods, everyone knows everyone.

It was about a 40 minute walk from my house to the door where I was to meet Simone and Ceaserai, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I stopped at one of the neighborhood cafe’s for a piadino on focaccia, and filled with spinach, mushrooms and ricotta. Simone grew up in this neighborhood and he arrived at the door to meet me shortly after I arrived. He had been in a nearby pizzeria and saw the Florentine Calcio (soccer) coach, and was excited to get to shake his hand. The season starts soon, so everyone is excited about that.

Ceaserai arrived with his vehicle (a Ford by the way), and he parked and we went for coffee. There were a few people at the bar, and of course, Simone knew them all. They chatted and we had coffee (real Italian espresso, which I love and am addicted to) and then got in the car to head out for the concert.

It was about a 30 minute drive on the expressway outside of Florence. Italian expressways are very scary. Italians drive the way they do everything else.....emotionally. It is fun, exciting, and seemingly dangerous, but I have never seen an accident.

When we arrived and parked, we walked into the city center which was a beautiful, quaint piazza, with trees lining the side, and a bar inside. We had beers and waited for the music to start.

The concert started at 9:30 p.m. and wasn’t over until 12:30. The band, called Premiata Forneria Marconi, was very famous in Italy in the 70's, and had many best selling songs and albums. This is the first free concert that they have performed. There was a huge crowd, of all ages, although mostly around my age, and everyone knew all of the songs. The style was similar to Jethro Tull, Yes, and the Who. It was great!

It’s really fun to be included in events that are "real Italian" experiences. It’s taken me 6 months to get an "in", but some of the Florentines are starting to know me and include me in these types of things which is fabulous!