Walk after Santa Trinito

 June 17th

After lecture a lot of us are too tired to go exploring further. When I can, I try to go out anyhow and see the city by dusk. I especially love being by the river to feel a little bit closer to mother nature and away from the beehive of the center of Florence.

After having lunch and going to lecture, I walked with a friend to the Arno and did some exploring further down river and into the neighborhood beyond the Piazza Republica and near the Ponte Vecchio or Ponte Santa Trinita.

Going from lecture through the Piazza Republica, we happened upon some outdoor music in the square.

This Gypsy band was AWESOME! They played Djiango Rinehart and other swinging jazz and tangoes. Mama I got a video of it to show you!

It is also the month that High Fashion comes to Florence. Here is the display set up for Valentino.

Leaving the city we headed toward the river, stopping on the way to get gelato at Grom. The lady gave me a ridiculous amount of ice cream on a cone. I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of it. It was massive!

As we got to the river it was nearing dusk and we happened upon the church of Ognissanti (all saints) and heard the evening mass. This church is beautiful inside and is special in that it was the parish church of the Vespucci family, who's most famous member Amerigo (the navigator) gave his name to the New World (America!). The church is also the burial place of Sandro Boticelli!

Following the evening Mass and brief exploration of the church we walked along the river and took pictures from the Ponte Amerigo Vespucci. This is one of the bridges that you can see a river tier. The arno has been split into sections with dams, perhaps to prevent future flooding:

Nearing Sunset on the Arno

Me! This is one of two pictures I have! Sorry friends and family. I'll try and take more!

The river dam. A little further down people fish, picnic and hang out on the grassy patch and cement barrier.

View from across the Arno to Ognissanti where we heard Mass

 A pretty street on the other side of the Arno. I love this side of the river so much more. The colors and scents. The people. The scene generally, which is so much more Italian and so much less a tourist trap.

Sunset

Sunset. If you look closely you can see the people picnicking and hanging out beneath the bridge.

Heading back home to Santa Maria Novella

 

For dinner, I found the yummy restaurant again with the Truffle Ravioli and found out that "tira...baralla" is an old Florentine expression that means everything will be alright.

This time I ordered Gnocchi which I haven't had yet!

My gnocchi in four cheese sauce! They were delicious!

 After dinner the waitress served us some limoncello. It's a liquer that tastes like a lemon drop.

Finally, heading home which is very close by, we saw these four guys carrying someone. We tried to follow and find out who was in there but the guys stopped, turned around and wouldn't move until we left. Mystery...

Ciao for now!