Christmas night Campanilismo

 

it's Christmas eve and the bells are ringing

their tones echoing off the wet cobblestone pavement

accompanied by the roar of the

river Arno- it's banks 

swollen from months of heavy rains.

Campanilismo

is the love of neighborhood church bell.

For traditional Italians

it trumps the ringing of the cell phone.

It

is the sound of Home

and warms the soul

like

fresh cooked pasta

paired with a nice Chianti

(hold the Fava beans, please)

Merry Christmas 

from Florence

M

Cosmo

was named after this guy- Cosimo di Medici. this piece is located in the Piazza Signoria of Florence Italy. I've always loved this sculpture- the patina on it is fantastic! Plus- look at how gorgeous the horse is- I'm such a sucker for equine beauty

luggage

oh yeah, after 33 hours in transit....it turns out that they lost Cosmo's suitcase.

So now he's re-wearing the same outfit that I hand wash nightly- that, and this goofy Italian sweatsuit that I bought him in our neighborhood children's clothing shop. I think he looks like an Italian gymnast- pretty cute! We are hoping to find his suitcase today, when we go wade through the "ocean of suitcases" we've been told is at the Florence airport. until then...Cosmo's working on his floor routine

Finalmente

Well, we made it to Florence- after a grueling 33 hours of travel! It usually takes at most 20 hours to get here from Tucson- but yesterday- or was it the day before?- we flew into Frankfurt right when they were getting hit with another snow/freezing rain storm.
Needless to say, the airport was in chaos- it had already shut down a few days before from another epic storm, and they were still scrambling to get passengers on planes since that shutdown...
In fact, we met one family of 4 that had flown in from San Francisco 3 days previous- and they were scheduled to return to Frankfurt in 2 days (after what should have been 5 days in Florence). It's a trip they will always remember- and hopefully they are able to have some good memories too.

Porta San Niccolo' from the banks of the Arno. December 2006

So- We are here now, in our funky Apartment in Florence- it's in a bit of chaos from now being lived in, so we've got some work to do- but I'm sure it'll be in better condition in a few weeks...Our tenant was a bit of a pack rat, so there's lots of stuff to sift through.
I've also discovered that my USB plug is on the fritz so I can't download any images today. I'm going to buy a new one hopefully tomorrow- and then I'll post some of the images I took on our walk tonight.
(Florence is all decorated with Christmas lights, and it is raining, so there are lots of beautiful reflections framed by Renaissance architecture)
OK- I'm off to go eat pasta-
arrivederci- Maureen

Ciao!

Santo Spirito, Florence Italy 

Please note: I will be closing my etsy shop from Dec 16 to Jan 12 for winter vacation. I've lined up our house sitter / dog sitter and I'm packing my bags- heading for "the old country" to spend some time with my Italian friends and family- bringing Cosmo to visit some of the museums and sights in the Florence area while I'm there, plus visiting jewelry studios where I used to study and work...
(I will be blogging about places we go during our visit here on my blog- hope to give you a unique view of Florentine life and holidays )
I look forward to re-opening with some new designs and innovations for my jewelry line in January!
(I'm pretty excited about this new thing- will be working on it's organization during the break as well)
Wishing you safe and Joyous Holidays-
ciao= Maureen