i-florence

The sounds of church bells are what awakens me on Sunday morning. Not at all a bad way to wake up and thankfully the first ones don’t strike until 8:45am, so I am not forced out of bed too early.If I stay in bed for another 15 minutes, the second reminder of Sunday sounds as the bells attempt to call me to church.I’m living in the Santo Spirito area of Firenze, so happy to have moved away from my first apartment by the Ponte Vecchio.My new place is only 25 Euros more a week and it’s more than worth it for its tranquility (one of the few places in Firenze where I’ve not heard the constant noise of Vespas, talking and metal rolling doors being lowered and raised).

In addition, it has two items which make it a goldmine: a washing machine and a courtyard. It’s on two floors, has security and is wonderfully un-Florentine in its renovated bathroom and kitchen.Every towel I use and plate I turn over says Ikea, but I’m perfectly happy with living in an Ikea showroom as it is clean and light yellow and white and very livable.I’m slowly making my way through the pastries at the local pasticceria near school, but I have a big job ahead of me, as there are so many ricotta, semolina, con panna, frutta (fragole o lamponi) to choose from.I’ve lost count of how many cappuccini, espresso macchiati e pasta I’m consuming each day, after all the coffees are piccolissimi and after one it almost doesn’t feel like I’ve had it.I’ve discovered that un cappuccio is Florentine slang for un cappuccino. This was incredibly frustrating because I kept saying “vorrei un cappuccino, per favore”and they would respond with “un cappuccio?”and then I would say, “no, un cappuccino.”And on and on we would go. It’s a subtle difference, but like most things in Italian, subtlety is everything.I discovered that Italians take about three times as long to say something as English-speaking people do.It amuses me when I say something to someone who speaks English and then it is translated to the Italian-speaking person and five minutes later, I am still waiting for them to finish the thought.Italians LOVE to talk, endlessly, even when you understand, they say it another couple of times and in a different way. They are passionate about everything and very patient listening to long stories. » Read more…