Food and Fun

June 22nd 2020: the city is filling up! I had the city to myself for quite a long time so I am happy to share it now! The Duomo and other large piazzas are beginning to go back to their usual hustle and bustle. Complete with masks and distance of course!

Nonna and I explored the region of San Domenico which is home to beautiful villas, walled streets and wonderful views. The streets are super narrow and very curvy so cars honk before rounding a bend to avoid a collision. The walls are topped with either barbed wire or broken glass….sometimes both! This technique was used to keep people out of the fields but it didn’t stop me from getting some photos of the hills!

Most people understand how important pizza is in Italy so understandably the hunt for gluten free pizza is a challenge. As I mentioned before, I found an amazing gluten free place but the regular pizza is lacking there. One day, I was meeting my friend for pizza in a piazza so I picked up my pizza and then walked across the river to one of the most famous pizza places in Florence for hers. I waited outside with my pizza and then it began to rain. I stayed on the street because I didn’t want to bring rival pizza in but the owner and workers didn’t want my friend to leave and go out into the thunderstorm. He convinced me to come inside but then he saw the pizza in my hand. “Why you eat that??” was his immediate reaction. I explained that I couldn’t eat gluten and so he told me why he didn’t make gf. He announced he does make a great gluten free pizza but he only had one pizza oven so it wasn’t safe from contamination. Our conversation ended with him declaring he could make a gf pizza for me…but he didn’t 😦 This whole exchange was so much fun because it was in Italian, it was about rival pizza places, and he welcomed us into his restaurant to escape the thunder!

I had an amazing meal with some of the best people in Italy! Piazza Santo Spirito is the ‘young people piazza’. Normal summer nights would find the steps and benches filled with study abroad students and locals hanging around eating pizza and drinking. But we all know this year isn’t normal! We sat outside and used disposable menus and munched on schiacciata from a paper bag and dipped in olive sauce from a plastic container instead of the usual service. I had risotto alle zucchine con cuori di parmigiano (zucchini and parmesan heart risotto) followed by some adequate gelato …not perche no 😦

Fiorentina is back in action! Nonna and I set up the game and watched from the living room. We tried our hardest to create an in stadium atmosphere, complete with me singing the anthem horribly off key and Nonna swearing at the opposing team! Please know that this photo was taken before Fiorentina went down 1-0 to the worst team in the league. it was taken before both a defender and the coach got red cards. it was before Fiorentina had two second half goals disallowed. it was before 4 yellow cards were issued (per team!!). and finally it was before the game ended 1-1. Let’s just say the faces looked different after the game!

I go back to school tomorrow and I can’t wait! I have been practicing my ‘get to know you speech’, the highlights are: Vermont, MAMMA MIA! , Greece, political science, soccer and fiorentina, and pasta di cinghiale. I’ll let you guess what the categories are 🙂

Exciting life news: I have officially received my CAQ from the Quebec government! This means I am one step closer to college!

In other news: a swarm of pigeons attacked some schiacciata during our lunch right next to our table and it was in fact terrifying.