Festa dell'Unità d'Italia

There's a milestone blog entry appearing in the very very near future and I am a bit awestruck by how quickly it is making an appearance. When I do the math, of course--which I don't want to do but have had to check and recheck over 5 times--it makes sense to me. And I'm not trying to heighten anyone's expectations since that's the opposite of my mantra (spes humilium). I'm just letting you know it's happening soon...

Today marks the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification. Buon compleanno, Italia! Festivities started last night around Italy in the form of decorations, concerts, and fireworks. Firenze had la notte tricolore (=the tricoloured night) with events in three of the main piazze: Piazza della Signoria, Santa Croce, and Piazza della Repubblica. Entrance to the state museums (including the Uffizi and Accademia, among others) was free from yesterday evening to 1:00am, as well as the entire day of the 17th.

I would like to say that I participated in some or all of these events, but then I would be lying. Instead, yesterday I headed to the Mercato di San Lorenzo with Rob and Kyra to buy a University of Firenze hoodie and then Posh and I stayed home to watch L'ultimo bacio and Io sono leggenda (I am Legend)--we've had a busy week, it's been raining for the past few days, and we wanted to take it easy. It also meant I had no excuse for not doing my homework, but alas, I ended up leaving it undone.

Fresh graffiti on Corso

L'ultimo bacio (The Last Kiss) makes me very weary of ever dating an Italian, and kind of fearful of Italian women. It's a movie about a group of guy friends and their complicated love lives. The main character is expecting a baby with his long-term girlfriend but meets a pretty blonde 18 year-old (he's 27) at his friend's wedding and is tempted to meet with her because he fears settling down. I won't give much of it away, but of course he sees her and his girlfriend finds out. And then the crazy Italian hot-headed/passionate-angry scene ensues. You know how they say art imitates life!

Back to Italy's birthday now. Yes we had school today followed by a "party" that consisted of snacks and beverages. At one point a teacher announced that we would have one minute of silence for Japan, which I greatly appreciated, but I also couldn't help but think that if some other students walked into the room during that minute, they would have thought it was the weirdest party ever since everyone was just standing quietly.

Rob, Posh, and I did eventually venture out into the streets. I wanted to get some pictures of the decorations around the city and see what was going on. The streets leading to the main piazze were packed; normally full of tourists, I instead heard the chiacchierate (chatting) of Italians.

[Pictured above right: a copy of Michelangelo's David outside the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria.]

Then we headed to Il Pizzaiuolo with Kyra for a premature farewell dinner in Rob's honour. It was my second time there and this time I brought my camera Uzi! I had to make sure to keep him on the table so that I would take pictures, and even then I forgot to get a picture of the appetizers before we dug in. Oops.

Our appetizers. They don't look that appetizing (and some arancini and croquettes are "missing"), but that burrata cheese in the middle is the stuff of dreams. Imagine mozzarella but lighter and milkier. For a milk-lover such as myself, it is solid dairy-ambrosia.

I was already full after the appetizers. Then our humungous pizze came (che pizze!)--in true Italian style, we had one each--and I could not even finish half of mine.

My capricciosa pizza. Can someone please tell me why I ordered this? I don't like artichokes or olives and prosciutto cotto is not high on my list of preferred hams. To be fair, I was trying something new.

Rob's parmigiana pizza with eggplant, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. She's a vegetarian.

Rob fared much better. She was the only one who finished her pizza. Posh and I finished with dessert (she had tiramisu, I had pastiera napoletana, a kind of ricotta cake) and Kyra and I had espressi. 

In true Giosian observational form (because I only notice random things), we were seated in the following manner:

Kyra (blonde, tall) - Rob (blonde, short)

water - coke

TABLE

coke - water

Posh (brunette, tall) - Giosy (brunette, short)

The symmetry of it all!

Today's expression of the day is mi sento a mio agio, or "I feel comfortable/at ease". Our teacher asked each of us how we felt in Florence and we all responded as such.