Another door . . . this one from Orvieto

Monterosso, a month after the flood . . .

I am re-posting this from another blogger, Little Paradiso:

http://www.littleparadiso.com/2011/11/monterosso-month-after-flood.html


If you don't have time to watch the video, look at the stills below.  It's fascinating to see the channels that were constructed below the streets that were supposed to carry off excess water during floods like this.  Apparently, during the last 100 years the channels were either covered for safety's sake, or were neglected, and in any event, not inspected and maintained.  The reconstruction project will include opening up these channels again. 

Christmas in Florence

One of the ways I stay in touch with Florence when I am away is to watch television shows about Italian cooking.  I have two current favorites, both on The Cooking Channel:  "Extra Virgin," about a Los Angeles actress who marries a Tuscan farmer; and "David Rocco's Dolce Vita."  David Rocco and his wife Nina live just outside Florence, and Sunday Nov 27 will be the airing of their Christmas program, "A Very Rocco Christmas," which will feature stuffed and fried squid; spaghetti with braised octopus; and Christmas shopping in Florence.  The re-runs are well worth watching for the street scenes.

Il Porcellino

For whatever reason, today seems an appropriate day to be thinking about Il Porcellino, the bronze statue of the cinghale, or wild boar, which sits in the Straw Market in the middle of Florence.  The tradition is to put a coin in the mouth of the boar (which is a fountain), rub the snout for the good fortune to be able to return to Florence.  So far, it has been working for me.  Now, thanks to Karen, who runs the blog, www.AnAmericaninItaly.com I have another connection. a story written by Hans Christian Andersen.  Here's the story: 

http://www.andersenstories.com/en/andersen_fairy-tales/the_metal_pig/

Thanks, Karen!

"Tuscanizing" my Thanksgiving Feast

I'm adding chestnuts to my California Wild Rice Dressing, and remembering what fun it was to pick chestnuts off the ground in the forest north of Grosseto . . .

The Lives of Renaissance Women . . .

. . . in the 1400's and the lives of early Western pioneer women in the late 1800's and early 1900's were not that different.  I realize that the more I learn about Tuscan housewives living in the small villages and towns, the more I began to recognize the similarities of their lives and the lives of my great-grandmothers, who were early pioneers in the West.  In Origo's "Merchant of Prato" there is a great deal of correspondence between Francesco, the merchant, and his much younger wife, Margherita.  They lived apart much of the time, he in Florence and she in Prato, and thus the need for frequent communication.  Letters were carried back and forth between husband and wife by courriers on horseback or mule.  Five hundred years later, in rural California, mail was still being delivered via horseback.

Botticelli's "Primavera"

Botticelli's "Primavera" shows Venus clad in a camicia (chemise, shift), the first layer of women's clothing in the Quattrocento.  Note the round neckline, which would change to a square yoke in the following century.  The fabric was most likely cotton or very fine linen, not silk.