My first two nights in Florence were spent in the Hotel Jolly with my Riomaggiore friends Ian, Kyle and Phil. When I woke up the first morning, I felt as if I were being pulled out of a tomb. My body was like stone and I could barely bring myself back to life, but I had to change rooms so I needed to pack and move my things. The signora helping us was so nice, with her reddish hair and dolphin tattoo on her chest. She directed us to the central market and suggested some things to do.
We walked down three flights of cool stone stairs and out onto the street. We wandered around the outdoor market where vendors sold leather purses, bracelets and journals impressed with the fleur de lis or the naked graces from Botticelli’s Primavera. I bought a beautiful green scarf, impressed with naturalist designs and looked for Italian sandals. We found a little restaurant called News Café near the market and I ate savory gnocci with pesto. We wandered toward the Uffizzi and then to Ponte Vecchio before going into the Palazza Pitti to see the gardens and enjoy the day. We found a beautiful fountain with statues of men riding horses emerging from the water. There was an enormous statue of a man’s visage, which was cracked and colored from exposure to the air. We climbed to the top of the palace gardens and saw our first view of Florence. The duomo towers over the rest of the city. It is quite amazing to see the spread of the city through the valley. The Arno cuts the city in half and across it is the Ponte Vecchio bridge, which holds such sweet memories for me.
After a lot of shuffling, we went to a bar called JJ Cathedral for drinks and waited for Travis. The bar was in the square by the duomo and packed with tourists and kids like us. We got a table outside and I sipped my Caipiroska, making small talk with the New York “artists” until Travis showed up. I was so excited to see him! He looked tanned and healthy, sipping his mojito. I introduced him to my friends, who were really impressed with his talent. He’s so intense with his artistic goals that when he tells people he’s good, but not great yet, they think he’s finger painting. Then they see his work and are shocked. Travis’ art is amazing. I’ve actually never known someone so talented and devoted as him, which is refreshing. I really hope he leads an artistic renaissance with my generation. I’m so tired of pseudo art.
He left us there to go meet Nancy and her mom for dinner and I went back to the hotel with the boys. I got my first phone call from Laura and freaked out. We got our deposit back in full, so I bought a bottle of wine and we continued our drinking. We went out to dinner at a place called the porcupine and had delicious cheeses and Tuscan T-Bone specialty. It is huge and was too much to feed all of us. Even though the waiter from Philly was trying to schmooze us up, we had a really nice time. We went to a place called the Red Garter, of Via de Benci, for drinks and karaoke.
Ian sang Sweet Caroline and I sang Journey, “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Rasberry Beret,” earning myself 2 free shots from the old owner, Vittorio. We drank and partied, meeting a couple really sweet Americans. The group talked and hung out, until we got kicked out of the bar and the bar next door. Since everything in Italy closes earlier, the kids have gotten into the habit of drinking on the steps of churches. Take away beers are cheaper and there’s plenty of room and you can smoke, so people congregate on the steps of old duomos and get wasted, oh the irony. So when we were “asked to leave” the second bar, we took our beers to the steps at Santa Croche and laughed the night away. Craig and Eddie are traveling from Connecticut, taking a break from studying accounting. Heather and her 10 girlfriends are studying Italian textiles over the summer, though they are all getting sick of each other. They were all very energetic and fun to hang out with, though there was definite competition with the girls. They were astounded that I was traveling alone and a little threatened that I was doing it. After an hour or so, I could tell the boys were ready to go home, so we meandered back to the hotel. I was tripping and laughing all over the place. In fact, I burst into a laughing fit on the way home. I felt so lucky to be there and to have had such good luck, to feel so comfortable with these new friends and our situations getting set up in Florence.
The next morning, I said my goodbyes to my new friends and walked through the city to Via de Benci. I crossed the river and headed left up Via de San Niccolo, where Travis lives. He met me there and led me into their apartment, which is the most adorable Italian apartment I could imagine. There are fantastic nude studies stacked everywhere, a still life set up next to an eisel, a little table littered with apple accessories, and a tiny guest bedroom with a black brass bed and a little Italian style window. Their kitchen walls are covered with blue and white checkered tile and they have a tiny round sink next to a quaint little two top range. Inside their kitchen is the bathroom with a toilet, tiny shower and bidet. I was so happy to be in this little place with its adorable fixtures and simple charm.
Travis and I went for lunch at Ebi’s, meeting Nancy, Jesper and Jay. We caught up over tasty wraps made of pulled chicken and Italian salad. After that, we went for gelato and dropped by the studio to check out what they were up to. The studio is like a room on another planet. It is covered with sketches and paintings, higher quality than photographs. They are not only technically accurate, but they do something that photographs lack. They capture and emotion and a depth that even good photography cannot. I was really excited to be invited into their world to see what they have been doing for the last 5 years. The technical skill, discipline and passion that they have is so inspiring.
Travis and I left Nancy to work on her portraits for the rest of the afternoon and walked back to San Niccolo. I spent the rest of the day on the internet, allowing me to respond to my family’s emails and research some of my travel options. Nancy came home and went for a run, then she and I went to the Florence Wine Gallery to meet some of their friends for Aperitivos. The place is owned by Nancy and Travis’ friend, Christian who is a jolly Italian with a magnetic smile. He suggested some wine for us and we sat down to enjoy some Italian delicacies while waiting for the others to arrive. We had olives, salami, cheese, some strange casseroles and liver pate, which I found really gritty and yucky. Their friends from Angel School of Art joined us. We ate and drank for a while and there was talk of a plan to go to a club called Montecarla, but we parted into two groups. Paulo, Travis, Nancy, and I went to Martinho’s apartment to drink wine and chill. Martinho rode a bike and I rode on the back through the cobberstoned streets of Florence, constantly having to pull to the curb to allow cars to get through the narrow passage way. I held onto his waist and took pictures of the others while they trailed behind us.
Martiho’s traditional Florentine apartment has white walls and dark wooden accents. He has a huge living room, connected to a kitchen. We drank Chianti and talked about the academy and how proud they are of their work. In Martinho’s second room, there were paintings, sketches, easels and props stored away neatly. There was no wasted paint or misplaced items. Everything was purposefully stored and organized, which is reflective of what I’ve seen for the Angel School in every facet. No wasted energy or misplaced strokes exist in their art. Everything has meaning and importance to the composition. It’s interesting to see most of the students live that way as well. Take Travis: nothing about him is superfluous or unimportant. There is no gristle in his character and you can see that through the sincerity of his actions. It’s impressive to be surrounded by people who have such talent and devotion to their art because it makes me believe that one day the art world will be restored to what it ought to be. Hopefully these people will get the fame and prestige that they deserve.
Martinho has really made Florence his home, so much that he has been selected for an elite group of Florentine flag twirlers, which is bizarre because outsiders are rarely ever invited to participate in this organization. He pulled out his flag and showed us his maneuvers and then made us all pesto, which tasted like fresh lemon zest. They told me stories John Angel’s villa on the mountain and all the celebrating they do when they finish a term. I could have stayed in that apartment all evening, but we had the others waiting for s at Montecarla, so we had to get going. We walked down to Travis’ bridge and then went to the club.
Montecarla is a members-only club that feels like a brothel the second you walk in. Everything is covered with fake leopard skin and dusted with a soft red light. As I walked up the stairs and into the next room, I was surprised to not see naked bodies intertwined through out the club. It felt like a brothel and the clientele followed suit in their demeanor. I will spare all parties involved from the gory details, but it was quite a sight and it did involve some nipple tassles.
I woke up stale and hung over from our night. Travis, Nancy and I managed to go get a coffee and look around for a sweet, but it was so late in the day that no one had brioche. Instead, we went to the Magi super market and bought eggs, sausage and blood orange juice, which was much better than any meal we could have bought. I had strong tea with milk, toast with raspberry jam and fresh butter, eggs and rich sausage. After breakfast, I walked to the Ufizzi and made a reservation for that Tuesday, when I ran into the Americans I met at the Red Garter: Eddie, Craig and Heather. I was so excited that I decided to go with them to the top of the hill to Michelangelo. We hiked across Ponte Vecchio and up the hill by Travis’ house. We saw a copy of the David, a beautiful monastery, a church and a killer view of Florence. I could sit up there for hours, it’s so beautiful and liberating to be on top of the world, looking down at the business and the commotion, realizing that there’s more than just that microcosm. There are three stopping points along the walk, each expanding the view of Florence in its valley.
There's much more to tell, but some of these things are only special to me. Having said that, I'm going to leave the rest of Florence to my own personal memories. It is an amazing city with so much beauty to offer and hopefully a new artistic renaissance.
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1 comment:
awesome. sounds like quite an adventure.
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