I am sure I will be saying this about several other places in Italy that I have yet to visit, but I am in love with Florence. We spent two full days in the city and I still didn’t accomplish everything I had hoped to, which really isn’t surprising considering all that Florence has to offer. Needless to say, I will be returning to Florence and will be adding it to my list of potential places to live in Italy once I am old and retired. But I digress, there will be more on Florence in a minute; I first must tell you about my simple yet amazing Thursday last week. The amazing part of the day began with lunch as we had our first lunch guests of the semester (lunch guests will be increasingly common; we have been trying to invite people for several weeks now to no avail). An English family came to join our meal as guests of John Rose and Dr. Webb, and were accompanied by some very nice young Italian men that some of the girls had met while out on the town two weekends ago. I was seated at the end of the table where the three young Italian men were sitting along with a few of the girls and we all had a very enjoyable time trying to converse with our limited Italian and with their limited English. Thankfully, Francesco (whom we had met during our trip to Venice--he is the son of the Italian family of three that rode along with us on the 
bus) is very good at English, and so played the role of translator for most of the meal. They were very sweet and I’m sure we will be seeing more of them in the future. After lunch I took a very relaxing nap (anyone who knows me knows I love my naps) and when the English class was over, Lilly, Kelsey and I took a walk around Sansepolcro. It had been raining all morning, but by the time we finished buying some postcards to send home and making a quick run by the ATM, the overcast rainy day had turned in to a sun shower, creating the most beautiful, vivid rainbow that arched over small Sansepolcro. This rainbow was so bright that you could distinguish every color, and it stretched on for what seemed like miles. Of course the three of us stopped to snap several pictures. Let’s see, we’re up to entertaining lunch guests, postcards, and the most beautiful rainbow, and the afternoon still isn’t over….as soon as we turned around from admiring the breathtaking view, we noticed a crowd of people standing out
side of the “best gelateria in town” that is closed until March, all holding cups of delicious looking gelato. Could this day get any better? We had to stop ourselves from running to the store front; we had only heard rumors that the “best gelato ever” was from this very store, The Goblin, and all of us had spent the past three weeks of our time in Italy just waiting for it to open and try for ourselves. Today was the day! I can now attest to the fact that The Goblin does in fact serve the best gelato I have ever personally tasted so far (and believe me, look at the title of this blog, I have eaten a lot of gelato). I don’t usually go for the fru
it flavors, I love my chocolate, but I tried the lemon and fell in love. Since the three of us were just having too good of a time to head back to the palazzo quite yet on our rainy turned sunny, rainbow, and gelato filled afternoon, we decided to explore the town a little bit and went for a walk. We left the walls, something we nine students have yet to do much of, and saw some beautiful old buildings and more of gorgeous Sansepolcro. Unsurprisingly, I retired for the day a very happy girl.
Now the moment you, and I, have been waiting for, the tale of our trip to Firenze! My oh my where do I begin…in case you haven’t noticed, I have fallen in love several times since I have been in Italy. That is to be expected, though, right? Good, because I am very much in love with Florence. Since so much happened in so little time, I’ll go ahead and skip to the good stuff. After a day full of classes, traveling, our first look at Florence, and a delicious dinner at the hotel, we went to bed and awoke Saturday morning with a plan of action to conquer the grandeur that is the city of Florence. There is so much to see and do in Florence, and we all had different objectives, so we split into two groups as we have for most of our excursions thus far. I set off with Kayley, Kelsey, and Megan after leaving the others at the Santa Maria Novella bus stop where we were all starting from for the day. Stop one: the Santa Maria Novella church. A very decorated church both inside and out, Santa Maria sticks out in my mind for its several frescos decorating almost all of the bays inside of the church, for its noticeable blue and white lined pattern painted on both the outside and inside of the building, and for its crucifix—which is unlike any I have ever seen. It is a very striking crucifix when you first lay eyes on it because of the way the body of Jesus is modeled, every one of his muscles flexed, showing the immense pain he must be feeling yet trying to hide. His body appears to be tense all over, yet his face remains calm and almost peaceful showing that his mind and body are feeling opposite of each other. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed to be taken inside of the church, so I’ll have to show you the postcard I bought of the crucifix if you’re interested.
Stop two: what was to be a quick walk by San Lorenzo to admire its beautiful outside, as it is not open to the public for the time being, before heading to the San Marcomuseum. H
owever, stop two was delayed due to Kayley’s and my getting sidetracked after laying our eyes upon Il Papiro. I wish I could say “Il Papiro” and each of you would gasp in awe and amazement at the great fortune Kayley and I had of coming across this little shop, because after our rather lengthy visit, I do believe that “Il Papiro” deserves to have world-wide recognition and admiration. Believe me, if you have ever been or ever go to Il Papiro, you will understand. Florence, as some of you may know, is famous for its handcrafted paper. If you have ever heard of Florentine paper, but did not understand the significance, I am about to enlighten you. Kayley and I were on our way towards San Marco after leaving Kelsey and Megan to another quick stop they wanted to make before catching up to us, when we looked into a shop window and saw beautiful journals, pens, bookmarks, and various other assorted paper products made with delicate, intricate prints. The shop looked adorable and the various prints of the paper products were intriguing, so we decided to go inside for a 
quick look. I have never been happier with a decision in my life (that may be a bit of exaggeration, but at least you get my point). What was supposed to be a fast five minutes turned into an hour and half long stay in Il Papiro. We began by looking at the cutest little paper covered clothespins and ended with purchasing at least 30 Euros worth of paper goods each. The store is small but packed from floor to ceiling with various products decorated in hand printed Florentine paper. Journals, pens, photo albums, clothespins, bookmarks, boxes of all shapes and sizes, wrapping paper, scrapbooking paper, note cards, highlighters, table placement cards, and so 
much more. We later found out that the Il Papiro we were in was the flagship store and the only store to have a paper printing station to demonstrate to customers as well as print paper for products right there inside of the shop. There are five other stores in Florence (it is Florentine paper, after all), a few more in other cities in Italy, two in the United States (Palm Beach and NYC), and two in Australia. It started, as many handcrafted product shops in Italy do, as a family business. The owner and paper printer in our Il Papiro was incredibly friendly and demonstrated for us how the paper was printed with its beautiful, detailed designs. Unbelievable is the 
only word that comes to mind when trying to think of a way to describe this process. Kayley and I had already picked out a few products we wanted to purchase, and after watching the process of how the hand printed paper was made, we decided we needed more. Support local artists, right? The marbling technique is the most popular and commonly seen, and the print that the man (I’m ashamed to say we didn’t get his name) demonstrated the technique of for us. All of the paper is beautiful. The shop owner was beyond generous and friendly to us. As we were all purchasing our goods (Kelsey and Megan had joined us by this point and were equally as amazed by the paper printing process as we), he gifted us with the paper he printed as the demonstration for Kayley and me, complete with official seal and the date. He also gave us each a membership card, so now I will receive 10% off any purchase at any Il Papiro shop I go to! Is it hard to understand why Kayley and I were on such a natural high after leaving the store? I’m tempted to say that 
that stop in itself may be have been reason enough as to why our trip to Florence was so amazing…
But Il Papiro is not the only reason why our trip to Florence was remarkable, as the next 36 hours held so many more fascinating, fun, and memorable times. I’ll try and be brief and give you the speedy version of “Hilary’s Tour of Florence.” Kayley and I eventually did make it to the San Marco museum with Kelsey and Megan in tow. The San Marco museum is more half museum, half art gallery showcasing Fra Angelico’s art in what used to be an old monastery, and partly still is today. The entire second floor of the museum houses what used to be friar’s rooms, and each one contains a fresco done by Fra Angelico. Many of the frescos are of the crucifixion, were painted using a stencil, and so all look identical. One of the largest and most beautiful frescos in the museum, in my opinion, is not located inside of a bedroom but is on the wall you first see after climbing the stairs to the second floor. It is a fresco of the Annunciation (when the angel tells Mary that she will be conceiving Jesus). There were several frescos of the Madonna as well, and there were also some cut-outs in the floors where a mirror reflected frescos that had been done on the ceilings of the underground tunnels.
Naturally, we had to reward ourselves with gelato after the long, hard climb and enjoyed it with another study abroad student from Vanderbilt whom we had met at the top. She was studying in France and visiting Italy for her winter break. As much as I am probably not supposed to admit this, and am feeling a bit guilty and ashamed for doing so, I have to say that it was nice to be surrounded by so many young Americans and to hear a familiar language flood the streets of Florence. I know that I should be indulging in the Italian culture and taking it all in, which I am, but as awesome as it is to be in a different country, having that tiny sliver of home in the middle of Florence was a bit nice. Florence is a huge magnet for study abroad programs, so American college students were in abundance during our weekend excursion.
As you can imagine, the climb to the top of the Duomo in combination with our busy morning took quite a bit out of us, so Kayley, Kelsey and I finished up our day with a visit to the Duomo museum where we admired the originals of the many, many statues decorating the outside of the Cathedral, and headed back to the hotel to relax our tired feet, saving the Uffizi for Sunday.
It was forecasted to rain all weekend, but we awoke Sunday to yet another beautiful sunny day in Florence and set out at the same bright and early time of 8:30 a.m. to make sure we accomplished at least most of what we wanted before we had to head home to Sansepolcro. We began at the Santa Maria Novella train station again so that we could drop off our bags in the holding room there, as to not cause any major backache during the day, and then headed for the markets; it was time to shop! The markets in Florence are well known, and the main one in San Lorenzo square is huge. An ideal place to treat yourself and buy souvenirs for others, the three of us spent all morning there, completely forgetting we only allotted ourselves about an hour and a half. There were just too many pretty scarves and bargaining was just too much fun to spend any less time wandering through the market than we did. We all left the market satisfied with our purchases and the amount of money we spent on them, ready for lunch.
At the recommendation of a friend from home who studied abroad in Florence two semesters ago, we ate at a small sandwich place called The Oil Shop that is very popular with American study abroad students, as was evident by the line out of the door made up entirely of American college students. The crowd was worth it because this sandwich shop is absolutely delicious. I am so glad we had the chance to go and I will definitely be making my way back next time I am in Florence. Big, delicious sandwiches made Italian style to fit a student’s budget—what more could you ask for? Kayley and I, of course, had to stop for more gelato after lunch (maybe this semester should be called “Hilary’s Gelato Tour of Italy”?), did a run by of the Santa Croche Basilica where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried, and is by far the most beautiful church I have ever seen, before finally making it to the Uffizi after swinging by Michelangelo’s square for a few good pictures of (the fake) David.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I have to admit that I was bit disappointed in the Uffizi. Perhaps after I learn a bit more in our Art History class and return for a second look I will admire the pieces more, but this time around I found the Uffizi fairly unimpressive. I have come to realize during my short time here in Italy that sculptures are not my favorite art form and that I would much rather gaze upon a painting or other piece of art, and the Uffizi halls were lined with sculpture after sculpture after sculpture, which after a while, I tend to think all look the same. In addition to the many sculptures, each painting housed within the Uffizi seemed to be of the same five Bible stories with the exception of only a handful. The Madonna, the Annunciation, the Nativity scene, Jesus being baptized, and the Crucifixion were the scenes of choice. Don’t get me wrong, those are great stories to have a painting of, but after so many they all start to run together. It was fun, though, to compare the body language and facial expression of Mary in each Annunciation painting, and to compare the facial expressions of Mary and the body types of the baby Jesus in each Nativity painting to see where each artist put emphasis and focus. Perhaps I am making myself sound ignorant, and I do hope that when I return I will be more enlightened after having some art history under my belt, and maybe it was because my feet hurt after a long two days and my concentration just wasn’t what it should have been to be visiting the Uffizi, but I was a little disappointed.
Though we were lucky enough to be able to squeeze in the Uffizi before leaving, it was all we had time to do that afternoon before catching the train back to Arezzo. It was enough, though, to leave a wonderful taste in my mouth and wanting more of Florence. I do plan to return at least once, if not twice, since it’s easy enough to be a day trip from Sansepolcro. I still have the Pitti Palace, gardens, and the pig’s nose to rub! Another visit to the markets might not be a bad idea either….
Ciao for now,
Hilary
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