Museo Galileo

I know it would not be everyone's choice for a trip to Italy, but other than the climb to the top of the Duomo in Florence and the search for Brian's extended family, I have not been inside a church while here.  It is not something that is interesting to me.  I know I'm 'supposed to' want to and there's a lot of 'important' art, but it's not for me.  

World Map 1457-1459

What is for me and what we were all very inspired to see was the Museo Galileo in Florence.  And, it's a little poorly named, as far as I'm concerned because it has so much more than the scientific offerings and discoveries of Galileo Galilei.  The museum has exhibit areas in the subjects of astronomy (of course), time, globes, maps, navigation, the biological world, electricity and chemistry to name more then a few but certainly not all.  Having been to a few 'hands on' science-based museums in California, Pennsylvania and New York, it was awesome to see the actual models, representations and tools used by scientists, some times hundreds of years ago to explore, discover and teach.

In addition to the cordoned-off and behind glass items of historical significance, there was a section much like the Exploratorium in San Francisco where scientific principals were demonstrated through hands-on displays.    This allowed the boys an opportunity to really interact with at least some of the ideas they saw but could not touch.  And, finally, they have a fantastic gift shop and library with many books about science for kids of all ages and in multiple languages.  

Brian and I left inspired to create, teach and raise our kids to question and explore.

Etna - The Young Volcano

We were staying on the northwest part of the island and this island is BIG.  So, the fact that I wanted to see Etna, both for myself and the boys, was rather inconvenient.  It's a 3 hour drive each way.  We had discussed getting a hotel for one night, but decided the logistics just weren't worth it.  But, how many times in a lifetime do you get to see an active volcano?  Not many - or any for some.  So, bright and early one morning, we loaded the car with fully-charged iPads, headphones and snacks, stopped at the awesome neighborhood panetteria, got cornetti (like croissants but typically filled with cream or jam) and hit the road.  It's mostly autostrada driving so no confusing diversions and a pretty straight shot to Catania on the southern side of the volcano.  

We had arranged for a 1/2 day 4WD tour of the volcano through Etna Adventure so we were met by our guide, Francesco.  Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, but is considered a relatively young volcano at only a half a million years old.  It sits atop the African and Eurasian continental plates which makes for some serious drama when those plates shift.  For the kids benefit, I asked Francesco to tell us his "credentials" and how he became a volcano tour guide.  He had grown up in the area, learned English and German in school and, because the economy made it so difficult to find work, especially in Sicily, a friend and he started this business.  They taught themselves about the volcano, its history and environs.  He was a great guide, very patient with the boys and took time to explain more than just the volcano, but how plants recover from eruptions, which grow first and how long it takes a flow area to reforest after an eruption.  

Etna has six distinct craters at the top and also more than 300 vents on its flanks or lateral craters.  While the eruptions from the top are more dramatic, the lateral craters create more threat to the population of the surrounding towns as they can occur quite low on the volcano.  We saw evidence of one of the most recent major eruptions in 2002-2003 which destroyed a small hotel and numerous other structures.  We were able to stand atop this flow and view the remains of the hotel. Most of the other structures were made of wood and were completely destroyed.  

The boys were a little disappointed not to see any red-hot lava. (!)  While we usually do a good job preparing them for new experiences, apparently they had a different idea of what to expect...  For me, I was awed by the volcano itself and glad to have the experience.  And I, for one, was GLAD to not see any red-hot lava!

Thanks Chiara! Recommendations From a Native

I am lucky enough to have been studying Italian in Philadelphia at the America-Italy Society of Philadelphia with a great teacher, Chiara Montera. Chiara grew up in Florence, went to Liceo Classico (the most 'hard core' of Italian high school types) then university and now teaches Italian at Temple University but also makes time for the likes of me.  As it happens, in a major strike of fortune and coincidence, Chiara was scheduled to be in Florence (Firenze) at the same time we were, so we were able to meet for caffè one of the first afternoons we were there. It was great to be able to chat with her in her own town and catch up on my learning process.  We have plans for how to proceed when we are all back.

But the other amazing thing that happened is that Chiara sent me a long and wonderful email list of recommendations: breakfast, lunch and dinner places, stores, sights, and of course, gelato. Here are a few of her recommendations which we experienced:

Breakfast: Scudieri in Piazza S. Giovanni. I went here once to pick up pastries and coffee to bring back to the apartment and another time we all went and sat outside.  The pastries and coffee were fabulous, but the cost to sit was a bit highway robbery so I don't recommend that (and neither did Chiara, to be fair!)  Next time, if we are on the way somewhere, we will simply find a place in the shade of the Duomo to sit and eat.

 Lunch: Del Fagioli on corso Tintori a few minutes from the Uffizi.  We went here twice and we'd go again tonight if it was possible!  The first time we arrived, we were hot and grouchy from a crowded experience at the Uffizi and this restaurant doesn't have the typical tables spilling out into the street.  But we went in anyway.  The staff was not only friendly, but clearly loved what they did and loved the food they served.  To us and to others they responded to questions about the dishes with more than cursory answers - they oozed from their person the reasons why each dish was on the menu.  We ate gnocchi, ravioli, a slow-cooked beef filet and polpette (meatballs).  The second time was with Ale (she had stayed at the museum the first time) and we shared this place with her.  Together, the 5 of us shared a giant and beautiful grilled steak which was perhaps one of the best we have had.

Dinner: we had three dinners on Chiara's recommendations...
Trattoria Nella on via delle Terme near piazza della Signoria.  We went here twice also (noticing a trend about Chiara's recommendations?  The two guys running the place are clearly brothers and were very warm and friendly, especially to the kids.  The food was fantastic and we tried a couple of their specials each time we were there.  Fabulous.  Coquinarius on via delle Oche is a wine bar with great food.  Chiara had told us to ask for Nico who, if I understood her correctly, had been the best man at her and her husband's wedding.  Nico was not there but the young woman serving us went from polite to over-the-top and effusively happy/enthusiastic/excited to know that we knew Chiara and Chris!  We ordered a mixed antipasti platter which was outstanding and a variety of other pastas and dishes.  We drank a delicious white wine which they had recommended and generally felt so happy to have been to there!  

Gelato: Gelateria de' Neri on via de' Neri was delicious.  We have certainly become gelato snobs here in Italy but I would certainly put this toward the top of the list.  Boys had stracciatella and cioccolato (almost 'the usual') and I had mint and chocolate.

We will most certainly keep her email and hope to use it again for more experiences in Florence!  Grazie, Chiara!  Un giorno se tu e Chris andremo in California, spero a darvi una lista similare!

Firenze - How Do We Love Thee?

Let us count the ways....!

Brian and I have been to Florence two times before.  And, to be extra clear, we have been to Italy two times before.  Once, in 1994 when my parents took all four of us on a trip to Italy as a grad-school graduation gift (we went to Rome, Florence, Parma and Milan) and once in 2000 when Brian took me to Europe for a month for my birthday (Amsterdam, Paris, Montreux, Florence and Positano).  After the second time, we both had developed a feeling of "meh" toward Florence.  Looking back now, I really can't explain why.  Perhaps it wasn't new to us like the other cities on the second tour.  Perhaps we were just idiots.

The boys sitting on the window of our apartment

In addition to this predisposition to Florence, I had a new view of Florence, the view of my Italian teacher, a Sarde who had lived in Rome nearly her whole life, she often joked about how Florence wasn't a "città", it was a "cittina" (Italians put "ina/ino" at the end of words to make them diminutive).  She admitted that she was a big snob (her own words) about Florence, and I definitely took it all with a grain of salt because I have seen how truly territorial Italians can be about their towns and regions, but I'm sure it influenced my anticipation of going back to Florence.

It all started on the right foot when we checked in to our apartment.  We had a pretty good experience with our Rome apartment but had just come from a relatively negative experience with our Sicily house.  The idea of dealing with another apartment that was not as it seemed from the photos had caused me angst.  After a long day of travel - by car from house to Palermo airport, fly to Rome, train to Florence - we were greeted in Piazza S. Lorenzo right outside the apartment by "Mr. Filippo".  The apartment was great: charming, nicely decorated, comfy beds, air conditioning in every room (including living room) and small kitchen and two bathrooms.  Whew!  I love you again Florence, I'm sorry I ever doubted you!!

The San Lorenzo market - yummmmmm

The food was really what turned us all around for good!  Partially it was an issue of what we were used to but truly it was also just empirically delicious food.  We had developed a way of eating "family style" which really worked well.  I will probably write a separate post on this.  Morning beverages were caffè macchiato for Brian and me, lattè macchiato for Ale and succo d'arancia or water for the boys.  Pastries of one sort or another for everyone but Brian who did well finding some savory breakfast options.  Lunch and dinner were usually similar to each other with prosciutto and melon, mozarella and tomatoes, salumi plates, risotto and pasta dishes and cutlets, meatballs and steaks.  And, one thread of consistency throughout our trip: gelato!

View from the top of the Duomo

Something else that really fit well with us in Florence is the smallness of it.  Yes, exactly what my Italian teacher complained about!  But, its smallness allowed us to explore, especially with kids, and see much of the city.  We walked everywhere and took transit never.  We saw Boboli Gardens, the Uffizi Gallery, climbed to the top of the Duomo, visited the Leonardo Da Vinci museum and the Galileo Museum.  We walked to restaurants and gelaterias all over town.  We walked across the Ponte Vecchio and to the grocery store. I walked to go shopping and to get my hair cut.

So, Brian and I have been to Florence 3 times now.  We no longer think "meh" - and I know we will be back.  Someday.

A Day in Bologna

Almost immediately after we arrived in Florence, we left Florence to take a day trip to Bologna.  We called it our "giorno di gusto" and the primary purpose of our trip was to enjoy food famous in the region of Emilia-Romagna, and, in fact, the world.

The day was scorchingly hot so we were lucky and happy that Bologna is a town of porticoes.  After purchasing a little map of the historic center, we made our way to Gelateria Stefino on via Galliera relatively close to the train station.  It is just a tiny storefront but we were glad we didn't miss it.  The boys had strawberry and chocolate granita, one on top of the other in their cups, Brian had salted caramel and I had grapefruit granita.  Amazing!  We continued to walk to the center of town and proceeded to look for Eataly Bologna. 

Eataly was founded on the principals of the slow food movement and there are now store-restaurants in Italy, the United States and Japan.  Eataly Bologna would be our third Eataly (after New York and Rome) and we were excited to see another.  While the Eatalys in New York and Rome are gigantic, sprawling, jaw-dropping affairs, the Eataly in Bologna seems to be paired with a wonderful book store.  The first level was primarily books, the second level still contained many books, but among them books about food, recipe books, food items for sale and a couple of small eating areas.  The third level was even more food and more places to eat.  We sat down in and eating area which had only cold foods: salads, cheeses, meats and beverages.  We ate well!  

After lunch, we saw Piazza Maggiore and the statue of Neptune (yes, a statue of Neptune in a land-locked town).  The story of this statue goes like this: a french sculptor created the statue and in its original form Neptune was rather, ahem, well-endowed.  The pope at the time did not approve of such proportions (jealous, I guess) and demanded it be adjusted.  The sculptor did as commanded, but made sure that, when viewed from a certain angle the outstretched hand of Neptune (and, in particular, his index finger) told us that Neptune is "a grower not a shower".  The fountain was not completely operational on this day.  Unfortunately, the water that is supposed to spray out of the nipples of the maidens around the base of the sculpure were dry...

Nate with his NOT fidanzata

The day was so hot and I was miserable, but Brian encouraged us to try to stay until our originally planned 9pm train back to Florence.  So, we found a taxi which took us to Giardini Margherita which I had read had a hot-air balloon you could ride straight up for a view of the city.  When we arrived, we did not find it and a brief internet search explained that the hot air balloon was removed (for unknown reasons) in 2008.  But, we paid for our taxi and went into the garden, instead finding a playground for the kids, some water and a little patch of shade.  There was an italian girl of 10 years who took a liking to Nate.  She asked me in Italian if he had a "fidanzata" which means a very serious girlfriend (like fiancée) and I told her no, he didn't.  She told Ale and I that her "fidanzato" was Japanese and too bad that Nate didn't have a girlfriend...  In spite of a slightly boy-crazy girl dominating conversations and inventing new games for everyone to play, they boys had a great if extremely sweaty time.  

We had successfully managed to fight through the heat and remain in Bologna long enough to enjoy one more meal on our "giorno di gusto" so we made our way to our dinner reservations.  We had another delicious meal and the boys were treated like royalty, as usual.  Afterwards, we waddled our way back to the train station and back to Florence.  We had been to Bologna before, but had not relished it like we did this time.  And if living in Philly has taught us something, it has taught us how to "lean into" the heat.  Thanks, Brian, for encouraging us!

The road less traveled

Everyone has a different travel philosophy.  And, what might work for one person, at one particular time in their life, might not work for that same person at a different time.  Certainly, Brian and I notice the differences between this trip to Italy and the two previous times we came here.  So, the following is not to say that our way is right, I am merely taking a moment to appreciate a couple of cool experiences we have had because of our approach on this trip.  While in Sicily, we had two distinct experiences which rewarded us for our flexibility and spontaneity.

Altofonte
We were renting a house near the town of Castellammare del Golfo which is approximately 40 minutes west of Palermo, one of Sicily's largest cities.  Palermo is a big, crowded and, at times dirty city.  But, it also has some unique open-air markets and is known for it's marionettes (museum and shows).  So, one day, we got a fairly early start to our day and hopped into the car to brave Palermo.  We made it into the city and it became clear pretty quickly that parking was going to be extremely difficult in this city.  Further, the roads were twisting and complicated enough that several times we could not drive the direction we had set out to go.  So.... before long, we decided that Palermo wasn't in the cards for us and we set to redirect generally back to our little house.  Well, easier said than done!

With Brian at the wheel and me navigating (and boys and Ale in back), we tried to get back to the main road to our house.  I saw what looked like an interesting smaller road where, perhaps we would see a few pretty sights on our way back and maybe stop somewhere for breakfast.  The map clearly showed that the roads were narrow and twisting, but we weren't prepared for the steep climb and that these narrow roads would have lots of CARS parked on both sides!  Yikes!  These conditions meant that turning around wasn't an option, either!  So, there we were in little Altofonte (means tall spring) Italy.  We hadn't planned it, but there we were.  There was even a point where Brian had turned  toward "Centro" and found himself not sure he could physically navigate the car (a 4-door sedan, but not a huge car) around some buidlings and between other cars.  There were one or two cars behind us in close quarters, so turning around wasn't an option either.  So, I got out and carefully guided him through the maze that is Altofonte.  (We wish we could have stopped to take a photo!) We all remained calm and had a good laugh when I was able to get back into the car.  We decided to not follow any more signs toward "Centro"!  We were finally able to get our car pointed back down and away from the town but still hadn't had breakfast.  As we were driving, Ale hollered from the back seat, "Caffetteria!  Stop the car!"  This time, it was her eagle eye that saved us.  Luckily, there was a place to park and we all hauled out for something to eat.

The caffetteria or pasticceria we found was truly amazing.  It is called Love Story and we tried a little bit of everything.  You can find and "like" them on Facebook.  :-)  We had two types of arancini (the filled and fried rice balls) that were the best we had in Sicily, amazingly beautiful ice cream on-a-stick creations, pastries and coffee.  The staff was extremely friendly and patient - we could not have been more ecstatic to find this place!

Baida
The other discovery came a few days later when we decided to investigate the little coastal town of Scopello.  It is smaller than the small Castellammare del Golfo, but closer to our rental house and so we planned to head over and give it a try for dinner.  We arrived at what we thought was Scopello and didn't find much appealing for dinner but saw an orange sign for Ristorante Baida which we decided to follow.  We drove the direction the sign had pointed us until we were sure we had gone too far, but then we saw another orange sign, saying "Ristorante Baida".  Then, it happened again, and again, and again.  There were probably 10-12 orange signs and between each a period of time that made us think, "what the heck"?  We had wound and climbed into the hills above Scopello and could see the town far below us.  Brian even started making Deliverance jokes and wondered when someone was going to step into the road and say, "Where you going, city boy?"  Eventually, he used the mapping app on his Italian phone, saw where we were and where Ristorante Baida might be.  At this point, we were very worried about what this dinner would be like and how long it might take us to redirect to something else.  But, we soldiered on and eventually arrived at what was clearly a large family piece of land with some farm spaces, a little restaurant and a few other buildings.  We were welcomed in warmly and seated with a lovely view of the coast below us.

The waitress (and owner, for all we know) was extremely helpful.  The menu was large, but we figured with a place like this that there were certainly specialties of the house that we should try.  She kindly offered suggestions for all courses which turned out to be wonderful, fresh and tasty.  The weather high up was mild with a nice breeze.  All-in-all, we were rewarded with a wonderful dinner and an experience we won't forget.  And, in the end, Brian was able to find a different route back to our house that didn't involve retracing our steps.

So, in the moments when I am frustrated by aspects of this "slow travel", I remind myself of what opportunities this approach offers.  

The Repeat Customer

Before we even left for Italy, Brian and I wondered, in each location, will we find some places (restaurants, bars, shops) that we like a lot and frequent and re-frequent them or will we try different places all the time?  Certainly the latter is a tempting approach since it's human nature to think that there might be something better if we just keep trying to find it.  But, we didn't really know how it would turn out.  This "slow travel" concept is new to us and we just couldn't predict what we'd do.

It has turned out that we have had some places we repeat, either because of the convenience of the location or the greatness of the place itself.  There was a pizzeria, for example, in Rome that was very near a stop along our tram, "l'otto".  The service was sometimes brusque but the pizza was awesome and inexpensive.  The boys liked it AND, there was a good gelateria nearby.  Similarly, there was a pasticceria and a supermarket along the same tram line which we frequented a number of times.

special caffe marocchino - for "regulars" only?

Similarly, near Scuola Leonardo DaVinci, my Italian language school, there was a bar, Bar Gio which I frequented nearly every one of the 15 days I had school.  Some days it was just for a bottle of cold sparkling water but many times it was also for a cup of espresso or caffe marocchino standing at the bar between classes.  A caffe marocchino is an espresso with cocoa syrup on the bottom of the glass, a tiny bit of steamed milk inside and a sprinkle of cocoa powder on top.  Usually this was presented unceremoniously as Bar Gio, while a perfectly nice place, is not one of those famous places which makes designs in your milk foam or some such frivolity.  But, on my last day of classes, when I arrived outside of the normal school break schedule to sit and study for my final-day test, I ordered a bottle of water, a marocchino and a small pastry.  I cannot help but feel that what I got was not just due to the boredom of the barista but because he recognized me and hopefully even saw my Italian and my accent improve over the 3 weeks that I had been ordering from him.

Anyway, I'm curious, does this experience extend to the rest of Italy?  And, can it be seen in America? Relationships are important - more important than we credit, I imagine...