The Definition of Beautiful in Italy

So I guess it's time for another one of my required posts... I have to give the definition of beautiful "where I am".

The obvious answer that you're all expecting is "a leisurely afternoon with good friends and good wine". Which is true. But an unexciting answer.

The unpoetic yet extremely true answer (for Italian men at least) is "anything with a chest and a pulse". Even that seems to be a bit of a flexible guideline. The other day at the beach I rapidly became very ill (had a bit of a bug the last few days) and at one point I'm pretty sure I didn't have much of a pulse, but that didn't stop them...

The comical answer (for Italian women) is "sequined, rhine-stoned, cartoon character t-shirts". Seriously, they're the hugest fad right now. At least 50% of the females you see (young and old) are wearing them.

My personal answer is "getting to have some alone time with nature". I spent the last year living downtown Toronto for the first time and it's been really nice to be out in the middle of nowhere again (although I'd kill to be able to get delivery once in a while). As I've mentioned a billion times, this property is incredible, and it's especially magical late at night walking up the super long driveway surrounded by forest where fireflies flicker all over the place. It feels like thousands of tiny paparazzi snapping pictures of my epic return.

Work Work Work

Although I love my job here, I'm thrilled to be through this work week finally! I've had a tour nearly every day, all of them huge groups, and all of them in Italian. As a result, my Italian has very much improved just over the last couple days.

My job is about 50% knowledgeable tour guide, and 50% shepherd. The second part is the hardest. At the beginning of each tour I implore the visitors to please STAY TOGETHER and WALK QUICKLY with me between art works so that it doesn't take forever. Some groups are able to do this well, but in most groups, there are some serious laggards. You'd think that the oldest people would be the laggards, but it's definitely not the case... gli anziani (the elderly) are real troopers, and its younger people who drive me insane trying to get them to please hurry up. It's definitely going to change the way I view tours in the future. It's pretty selfish when people think they deserve to spend 5 extra minutes on their own with each artwork after the group has moved on, not only because there are 40 outdoor works so 5 minutes each = an extra few hours, but also because then they get lost and don't know where the group went, and I have to run back and find them.

This job is also an interesting psychological/social experiment, like Miranda told us on our first day. You see some interesting characters and get asked some interesting questions. One girl today had the most daft questions for me that there was no way I'd know the answer to. Like, "What is the depth of this part of the pond?" and "how did the artist move that piece to there?". It's also really funny when visitors ask questions I've already answered and the other visitors yell at them... for example (in Italian) "you idiot! she already told us it's by Luigi Mainolfi! And she clearly pointed out that aspect of the work! How could you miss it?!".

Another thing I find hilarious is that there are people who seem to think that this is a haunted pumpkin patch visit rather than a private contemporary site-specific art collection visit. They seem to expect that I'm going to try to spook them with something. There's one work out in the olive field by Bukichi Inoue titled My Sky Hole that is a long outdoor passage that leads into a windy indoor underground passage that leads to stairs which lead to a glass cube above ground. I have to stay behind to close the entrance door after the group has entered the tunnel, because we always close doors here, and I've had quite a few visitors panic and say "what's going to happen now??" as if the boogieman is going to jump out. I calmly respond "we're going to walk through the art work".

I do like that this job requires to speak very loudly... it's one of my fortes (pun totally intended). Quite often on Italian tours, people don't give me a chance to find my words and so they try to finish alllllll my sentences. I just raise the volume and drown them out. It works pretty well. I also meet some very nice people and get to work on my tan.

I'm starting to feel a bit like Bianca Neve (Snow White) here... not only because I'm pasty pasty white (despite being abbronzata (tanned) my my standards) but because all the woodland creatures are drawn to me for some reason. I literally have a memorable wildlife experience once daily. One day was the hedgehog, another was the lizard in the bathroom.

Then there was the day that I was taking a tour group out to the artwork by Alan Sonfist titled Circles of Time that tells the story of tuscany through various circles, starting at the center with a circle of the 14 oldest varieties of plants of tuscany, then a ring of thyme, then a ring of laurel, then a ring of rock, a ring of wheat, and a ring of olive trees. As I was walking over, a MASSIVE green snake (definitely the same length as my armspan) slithered over the rocks and up into the laurel, where it sat at eye level by the entrance and just stared. Needless to say, we didn't go inside the laurel ring that day. It was pretty cool in an ancient adam-and-eve kind of way.

Yesterday my wildlife encounter was going through a cave and having a bat fly out right in front of me. Today it was a bombo (bumblebee) the size of my face (seriously!) that followed me around for 10 minutes. He must have been super into the art work I was describing.

Anyways. Now I'm finally done what will probably be the most work-heavy week of my time here, and my next 2 weeks are going to be awesome!! I have an english tour next week, and then June 2nd is my birthday. Since June 2nd is also a national holiday, I'm going to go out in Florence with Katie and some of my Florence friends on the night of the 1st, since less people will have to work the next day. Maybe I'll get lucky again and see Jwoww and Snookie on my birthday! Then 2 days later I'm heading to Rome for a night in a hotel because early the next morning I leave for Split, Croatia!!! I'm so so so excited. A few days after I come back from that, Katie and I are going to go down to Rome for a night for their Pride week. I imagine it's going to be quite different from Toronto's! Then the next week my parents and their friends are coming to visit. I'm even giving them a private tour of the collection. And hopefully they'll bring some of the stuff I'm running low on (...mom! I need face wash, more earplugs, and sun screen please! Basically whatever's in that bag I left at the house... thanks!). The other new excitement in my life is that I've just booked a trip to Palermo, Sicily for the first week of August. I'll be spending 13 hours on a train (but I will have a bed on the train) and then about 4 days in Palermo. I'll also try to get to Taormina while I'm there.

Now I'm going for a much needed nap. Ciao tutti!

Snookie, Jwoww, and Truffled Spaghetti Carbonara

Snookie and Jwoww

I'll just cut to the chase. While enjoying some truffled spaghetti carbonara (amazing) at a restaurant in Florence on my much-needed day off, the ladies of Jersey shore passed not once, but twice. Then I had to explain to the dutch couple beside me who they were and what all the fuss was about. All in all, a very successful day.

Street art in Pistoia

Incredible ricotta gnocchi made by Katie and I

Menu for the restaurant I ate at in Florence last night

Just when spaghetti carbonara can't get any better... they go and add truffles to it

Snookie and the forgettable female of Jersey Shore 

Jwoww... rear view 

My new Italian hairdresser did a great dye job!

Libraries, Grocery Stores, and Hello Kitty

Mmm bus-stop yogurt

Today has been yet another exhausting day. No tours today, but this morning I was in the library (aka archive?) of the villa putting away some books. I'm not complaining about this though... I could spend 24/7 in there! What an amazing collection of materials on an immense number of artists and contemporary art, as well as an array of neat ephemera (invitations to art shows (one was even made of bronze), artistic little cards and letters to the Gori family, cds, etc.). All the materials are currently stored in giant shelf/cupboard things in alphabetical order. However, loose pieces of paper and delicate things like the invitations I mentioned are also just slotted in between the books, and as a result, many of them are getting bent, crushed, and probably lost. I spoke to Miranda about it and I'm really hoping she'll let me file all of these non-book items into folders to be stored separately... I (and my OCD) would find that really rewarding.

While I was putting away books, I flipped through them and discovered some artists whose work I really like. I've found some images of their work and inserted them below for your enjoyment. I really really like the work of Alberto Savinio, and as I came up the stairs from the library, I noticed that S. Gori actually has one of his paintings in the hall! So cool.

This afternoon Miranda drove Katie and I to the nearby grocery store. Our cupboards are literally bare, so we really had to stock up. Unfortunately, this also meant having to get the bus back. The walk from the grocery store to the bus stop is about 10 minutes. On the way, bus 25 (the bus we need to take) went past us twice. Then by the time we got to the bus stop, we had to wait in the sun 30 minutes for the next one. It got pretty hot in the sun, so I had one of the yogurts I bought (awesome european yogurt with 2 compartments - one for yogurt and one that holds delicious toppings like chocolate-y cereal and caramelized nuts), and ate it with a Hello Kitty spoon that came with a bowl I bought (see above picture). The worst part though, was after getting off the bus... walking uphill up a 1.5km driveway feeling like a packmule with sacks of groceries is not fun. At least I got some serious exercise. And we have food! Woohoo.

Ciao tutti!

Hans Silvester is a German photographer who documents the body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia

Hans Silvester is a German photographer who documents the body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia

Alberto Savinio is an Italian Surrealist

Alberto Savinio is an Italian Surrealist

Eva Marisaldi is an artist from Bologna. This is an installation she did in Florence, titled 'Non Linear Grey'

Eva Marisaldi is an artist from Bologna. This is an installation she did in Florence, titled 'Non Linear Grey'

Massimo Lunardon likes to work with glass, and did a series of Alien figures like this

Yet Another Lovely Weekend

Out on the town :)

Yesterday after a miserable tour (half of the "very trendy" Italian participants clearly had no interest in being there) the September intern Carolina picked up Katie and I and took us into Pistoia. She showed us this GREAT bar where 5 euros gets you a glass of wine AND a plate which you may then proceed to pile with delicious snacky food from the bar buffet. (The plate itself is super cool.. one of those foam things that's shaped like an artist's palette with a hole on one side that holds your wine glass so you can actually hold both and have a hand free to eat and at the same time). Then at about 11pm we had some sandwiches at a very busy restaurant, sat on the patio, and had an all-around good time. Afterwards Carolina offered to let us stay at her place since it was too late to go back to Celle (the gatehouse people are usually in bed by about 10pm). Carolina has an awesome yellow lab named Wendy.

This morning we came back and have managed to squeeze in a bit of sunbathing. Now I'm heading back into Pistoia for dinner with my cousin David again. Sort of dreading this upcoming week... I'm going to be extremely busy with afternoon Italian tours nearly every day, plus some office work. Wednesday I've got the day off and I'm going to a hairdresser in Florence, so that will be fun, yet also an exhausting day.

Ciao tutti

The Cuz Does Celle and Florence

David and I at Piazzale Michelangelo

Hung out with my cousin from Scotland some more the last two days. Yesterday he came for a tour with a group of Germans from an art association. They were awesome and the tour was enjoyed by all. Afterwards, David Katie and I went for some chocolate cake and cookies and stuff from the chocolate shop next door. Then today David and I went to Florence and we managed to do the "Duncan Tour" (if you know my family and our concise, speedy ways, you'll understand). I showed him the San Lorenzo market, Piazza Duomo, Piazza Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, we had lunch in Piazza Santo Spirito, went to see the view from Piazzale Michelangelo, went to see Piazza Santa Croce, had best gelato ever at Vivoli, and had a bottle of wine on the Terrazza of the Rinascente (Florence secret... ask me about it if you're ever in town). Now I'm exhausted and need a shower, so ciao tutti.

David on tour of Gori Collection

View of Villa Celle from the Chocolate Shop, Rosso e Nero

My dessert from Rosso e Nero. That's right. I got cake AND a cookie.

David's cake from Rosso e Nero

Katie's cake from Rosso e Nero

Graffiti near San Lorenzo, Florence

David's pasta "with prawn sauce" at Piazza Santo Spirito

My ravioli with crumbled almond biscotti and ribbons of dried salted beef at Santo Spirito

 

Santa Croce

The Cuz Does Italy

Wandering streets looking for somewhere to eat

My cousin David has arrived in Italy! It's his first time and I'm psyched to get to show him around a bit. Before arriving, he spent a few days in Switzerland and went canyoning, which sounds super intense. Now he's staying in Pistoia.

After I got some errands done in Pistoia I met up with him on Tuesday right after he arrived around 3:30pm. We found a nice little patio and had some great white wine. Then we had some terrible gelato (it was served at room temperature, had a bizarre texture, and after sitting out in the sun for 30 minutes, it hadn't melted at all... I'm terrified about what it may have been made of...). Then we tried to find somewhere to eat around 6pm, but, as Pistoia is not a tourist centre and therefore is a true example of "authentic" Italian life, no restaurant opens before 8. I refused to settle for crappy pizza once again, and we finally managed to locate a great restaurant that opened at 7:30 and they let us sit down a bit earlier. I had to explain that the last bus to my home leaves Pistoia at 8:10 so that's why I needed to eat early, however I didn't end up making the bus and I learned that the cab ride to my place is only about twelve euros.

But yes, back to our dinner. First of all, the menu was only in Italian and our awesome waiter translated the WHOLE thing for us word-for-word (I needed the translations for many things too, as it was a very fancy restaurant and I didn't recognize a lot of the Italian words and types of cheeses and meats they had). We both got crostini (toast) to start. Mine had a smokey sort of spanish cheese with whole peppercorns in it, plus prosciutto. David's had some sort of liver paté that he said was amazing. Then for a main course, I got beef from some region of Tuscany that is like their version of Kobe beef. It was incredible... so tender, simply done with just some salt, pepper and olive oil. David got tortellini filled with cheese and vegetables in a cream sauce. I'll definitely be going back to that place!

Yesterday I had a French morning tour which was a total disaster... the group of ANCIENT French people who showed up had promised they would do the whole 4-5 hour tour, but after an hour (40 minutes of which they spent in the bathroom) they said "we're going". Miranda was not happy, and I was frustrated that I'd spent more time making sure I knew the entire tour in French than they spent actually doing the tour.

In the afternoon I went back to Pistoia to hang out with David more. We went back to our new favourite wine place and relaxed and people watched for a few hours. Then Katie came into the city after her tour and the three of us went for dinner to this great restaurant called Home. Katie and I started with a simple pasta with cheese and black pepper, and then we split a steak (that was good but not as nice as the one the previous night). David had some sort of fish pasta and then a fish main course.

Katie and I caught a cab back and then had quite a magical, wildlife-filled trek up the driveway to our apartment. First of all, the forest around us was absolutely sparkling with fireflies, which was indescribably awesome. Then as we walked along a stone wall that borders the back pathway we take at night, we saw a big-ish creature running along the base of the wall. We were both like "Oh dear God, giant rat" but when I pulled out my cell phone to illuminate it, it was a big European Hedgehog! (See below pictures). Then I went into our bathroom and there was a fairly large lizard, which isn't scary at all because there are tons of them around, but there was something about it sitting on the bathroom wall with it's funny little feet with its bulbous little toes. I squealed for Katie to come see, and we were both looking at it, but then we moved the door for a split second (we essentially just blinked) and it was GONE! Must have been our bathroom spirit...

Today I have an English tour in the afternoon for a German art association and David is going to join, and then we'll probably hit up the chocolate shop next door. Then it's off to Florence tomorrow.

Ciao tutti!

Statue in Pistoia

In Piazza Duomo

Tower in Piazza Duomo

Giant group of people and children linking hands and dancing around a bush in Piazza Duomo

My incredible Tuscan Steak!

David with his pasta

My incredible daily breakfast - scrambled eggs with pancetta and shallots

Hedgehog!

Things I Take For Granted

As I mentioned before, there are some required posts that I have to do while I'm away. I want to do most of them later, after I've experienced more, but I think I have enough "things I take for granted" to do a solid post about it. In no particular order:

-Hot water. More specifically, hot water all the time. Here, there is a hot water heater that, even when full, only permits one to have about a 5 minute shower (ie. the length of need of shower I need if I shampoo my hair before wetting it, and if I shave my legs with the water off. Maybe this is why Italian women tend to forego shaving?). Katie and I have to make sure we plan it out so that we shower at least 1 hour apart, as that's how long it takes for the water heater to refill. Also, since our electricity is so finicky, we usually have the water heater turned off because it takes up valuable corrente (power). Therefore, if you forget to turn it on at least an hour before you intend to shower, you're outta luck. This brings me to my next point...

-Electricity. Long story short, we don't have much. The other night while cooking in the dark (to conserve electricity because I needed both burners for the dinner I was making) I had to go flip the breaker 12 times in about a 20 minute period. At least I'm doing lots of stairs as a result...

-Microwaves. Do you know what it's like to want to quickly reheat something, but your only option is to put it in a pot and cover it with a plate, and then it takes longer and gets overcooked and the bottom burns? It sucks. It also means that at dinner, I tend to just eat everything I made, even if I made way too much pasta or something, because I really don't look forward to having leftovers. Leftovers are supposed to be source of joy! Not frustration...

-GPS and/or maps on my iPhone. Yesterday I attempted to find the locksmith in Pistoia using just a very zoomed-in google map printout from Miranda. I literally spiralled around the city, following the instructions given to me by various Pistoians (all of whom, for some reason, had serious speech impediments or lisps, so that was a huge challenge on its own). As an aside, I've decided that the best way to learn a language is by asking directions, and by chatting with your cab driver.

-My car. Well, I don't really take it for granted. I appreciate it even when I have it. But boy do I miss it. Although riding the bus between here and Pistoia means I get to do some fun people watching and have some quality iPod time, it's frustrating that the last bus from Pistoia to my place leaves at 8:10 pm, which is further complicated by the fact that restaurants do not, I repeat, do not open before 8 pm.

I feel like I should end with something more sentimental and less material, but at the moment I can't think of anything, so I'll just say ciao for now.

More Pictures!

Katie uploaded a bunch of her photos today, so I swiped a few off her. Enjoy!

Me outside our apartment

Me in my stylish ensemble outside Miu Miu in Florence

Us and S. Gori at the Buren fountain inauguration

Walking past the Florence duomo at sunset

Me in the windowsill, on the phone

Getting windswept, with Ponte Vecchio in the background

Outside of Santa Maria Novella

Us at the fountain inauguration. Katie says this picture prettymuch sums up our summer... half art, half amazing Tuscan landscape.

So much wind in Florence!

Flowers in Florence

Miranda and I walking up towards the Villa

First italian Tour, Buren Inauguration, Rainy Florence

Fountain in Quarrata by Daniel Buren

Wooo what a great weekend! My first Italian tour on Saturday went fairly well... the visitors were very nice and patient with my Italiano arruginito (rusty Italian). The fountain inauguration in Quarrata on Saturday night was great! Met Daniel Buren, as well as another artist who has done work here at Celle, Fabrizio Corneli. Buren's fountain was very impressive (despite it's use of geometric shapes and primary colours which usually turn me off) and the setting was incredible scenic. The fountain is at a stunning villa in Quarrata that is now owned by the city and used as a public space. Katie and I made friends with the guy who did the lighting for the fountain, and his very nice assistant (and girlfriend? not sure...). There was also an open bar and big outdoor buffet of delicious food. Then we went back to Miranda's place in Prato for the night.

It was great staying at Miranda's. Her apartment is right downtown Prato, a 5 minute walk from the train station, and from there it was a 15 minute train ride to Florence.

I was amazed at how well I remembered my way around Florence! (the last time I was there was 3 years ago when I spent the summer.) Unfortunately the weather was beyond miserable, rainy and cold... When we got there we wandered through San Lorenzo Market, saw Piazza Duomo (but didn't go inside the duomo... so many tourists!!), then wandered down to Piazza Santa Croce.

At that point we decided we were starving but it was only 11 am so nothing was open for a solid meal like we wanted. We wandered for a bit and the rain got worse, and we came to a fork in the road and didn't know which was likely to have more restaurants. I "went with my gut", and ended up at Vivoli (the world's most incredible gelato place, hands down) which is hilarious because even in my whole time in Florence before, I never actually knew where it was... I always let my intuition guide me. Apparently that intuition's still there. So we had a small gelato (mmmm zabaione gelato) and then went to a trattoria next door where I got tomto sauce all over the sleeve of my white wrap. I spent the rest of the day looking super cool in a purple "Vespa" hoodie I bought in the street (paired with leggings and a cute floral pattern dress. at least the colours coordinated...).

Then we wandered back over to Piazza Signoria (where the Uffizi is) and it started bucketing rain so we waited that out in a roofed area with a bunch of statues. When it let up we went back up near Piazza Duomo to do some shopping (I forgot how incredibly bitchy Florence shoe-store workers are. How am I supposed to know if I want to buy it if I'm not even allowed to pick it up?).

Then my Florence Albanian friends finished work so we met up with them and went to a funky cheap bar for some drinks just as it started bucketing again. By the time we left the sun was out and stayed out for about an hour. We went over ponte vecchio and up to Piazza Santo Spirito (super cool little square that I only discovered on my last night of my previous stint in Florence) where there was a big market so we tried lots of pesto and spreads and things. We had a glass of wine out on a patio, saw lots of adorable dogs.

It started raining again as we were walking back towards downtown, so we went for a couple more drinks at a great little bar/lounge called Naima that I used to go to every night. Then katie and I caught the 10:00 train back to Miranda's.

 Back to the grind today! (Well, not really... no tours today. But still...).

Daniel Buren in the white jacket

Liliana, Katie, S. Gori and me

Installation at the villa in Quarrata

Drowned rat in Florence

WHAT is going on in this poster?

Just found Vivoli!!

...

Interesting decor at the bar just east of the Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Bride in Piazza Signoria