Florence - The Best Day Ever - Part 2

I can't believe it has been four and a half months since my last post, but we had a very busy summer, and culinary inspiration seemed to dwindle for awhile. I did start a couple of posts that never made it to the light of day, so since I've had a few requests for more blog posts, I thought I would resume with more posts of my trip to Italy, which is a little bittersweet in retrospect. It seems surreal to look back on that trip, but it was such a beautiful two weeks in so many ways, you leave a part of your heart behind and it is always calling you back. So that is the bittersweet....knowing that I can't go back any time soon. The good thing is that I will always love Italian food, and be able to make it in my own kitchen!

So, hopping in the time machine in my mind, let me take you back to a sunny afternoon in late April..... Barb and I had spent the morning around the Duomo, climbed the many stairs to stand at the top of the world there, eaten more burrata for lunch, and meandered through the streets back to our hotel to relax a bit before heading to the International Artisan Trade Fair going on just a few blocks from our hotel, and one of the reasons we had gone to Italy ahead of our culinary excursion in Umbria the following week.

Along the way back, we stumbled upon a little wine shop, and what could be more perfect in the mid-afternoon, but a nice glass of wine? Inside, we met a woman living what seemed to be the perfect life.... she was from Chicago, I think, and thirty years before had married a Florentine man and moved to Italy, where she eventually opened a wine shop.

We chatted for quite awhile, and eventually came away with a bottle of red wine called Morellino di Scansano. (Morellino is the name for the San Giovese grape varietal, in the region where this particular wine is produced). And, in the way of the greatness of Italy, the proprietress produced a corkscrew and opened the bottle for us, so off we wandered back to the Hotel Merlini, full of happy thoughts, an open bottle of wine, and pleasant anticipation of the beautiful Tuscan wine we were about to savour, and hey, at 14% alcohol, it was more fuel for our euphoria. I wish I could remember what it tasted like, all I know is that it was really good, like bottling a ray of Tuscan sun as it shines on Michelangelo's David. :)

We got back to our room, kicked our shoes off our weary feet, and enjoyed a glass of wine, with fresh air blowing through the open window. With the  afternoon wearing on, we decided to save the rest of the wine for later, and headed out for lots of browsing and buying at the trade show. I think I can speak for both of us that I have never been more thankful to have skipped  a second glass of wine in my life EVER. (Okay, I'm already tearing up). We approached the Fortezza da Basso where the fair was being held, and heard some music. We picked up our pace, thinking "ooh, maybe there's a parade",  (we had seen a strange kind of parade earlier in the day, kind of randomly wending its way by the Duomo, seeming to pick up people from the crowd, beginning with historically-dressed Florentine people, and ending with some modern-day politcal types. It was kind of strange, but fun).

But no, it wasn't a parade. (Just a quick divergence here..... very soon after Barb and I had met a couple of years ago, we watched the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", which was one of my favourites but which  Barb had somehow never seen, and well, this movie is probably the whole inspiration for us wanting to ever go to Italy together in the first place. Any woman who has ever seen this movie will understand; how could you not want to move to Italy after watching this movie? I think I might just have to watch it again).

So, up ahead, we saw some flashes of colour, and hurried up where a crowd was beginning to gather to watch....can you guess???? A real live trumpets-blaring, drum-rolling, cannon-firing, medieval costumed nobility, tights-wearing Italian men flag throwing festival!!!!!! REALLY!!!! And it was just starting!!!! Barb had tears pouring down her face while taking pictures, I thought I was filming it (wasn't,  but I will always have the memories).....it was such an incredibly blissful moment. Somehow the universe had come together in a cataclysmic way, and we knew we were meant to be in Italy at that very spot in that moment in time,  basking in the Tuscan Sun, watching a flag-throwing festival. Serendipity. 

In this festival, four separate groups of nobility and flag throwers arrived into the courtyard preceded by their own heraldic bands. Flag-bearing, as most people know, was a wartime practice, however, now the battle is fought with flags and not weapons, and all four groups of colourful flag bearers took turns displaying their magnificent skills. (The art of flag-throwing is called sbandieratori.) I can't remember who was declared the winner of the competition, but I know the winners were really us. So here are lots of pictures of the day, Barb got some amazing shots too, and maybe she can dig them out at some point to add some.

This is one of my favourite days of our trip, and I don't think at that point that we could imagine anything even better happening. Yet so many wonderful things were about to continue happening, our trip motto became "Universe, how can this day get any better?

            On a total high, we walked into the trade show, and here are the better things that kept the dream going at the trade show- a fragrant-with-ripe-cheese shop, a stall selling glazed chestnuts (YES!), a chocolate festival, gelato cocktails (yes, alcohol and gelato combined-genius at work here!), a massive spice and tea stall, and silk skirts galore. We went back another day to check out the skirts again, and found even more amazing food....I have to keep this show for a whole separate post, because it was so amazing. When we left the show, it was pretty late and nothing was open for dinner, so we popped into a little shop across the road from the hotel and bought some Italian chips, which we ate, along with another glass of wine, and looked forward to the next day, which would prove to be amazingly great too.

But it's Italy. We were immersed in greatness - the architecture, the landscape, the art, the culture, the history, the music,  the food, the wine, and most importantly, the people. It's no surprise that with great wine, olive oil and sunshine flowing through their vines and veins, Italians have a vitality that draws people from all over the world, and stays with them long after they have gone home.