12 October 2024–Another old/new friend and a drive/tram ride to Florence! Elisa Guidotti had asked me to try to carve some time before we left for Modena to meet in person with her because she wanted to give me some literature that she has written about Coreglia. At the same time, she mentioned that there was yet another person in Coreglia who remembered me and wanted to meet me. Finally, Augusto had told me that he would be at San Martino Church, just up the hill from our B&B, at 8 A.M. this morning and wished, if possible, to say good-bye. Elisa did not get my message in time that I would meet with her and Augusto at 8 A.M. this morning, so she could not show up. But, Augusto was at the Church, and he showed me San Martino Church, the oldest in Coreglia if not beyond. Augusto opens the town Churches for the day and locks them up at the end of day. San Martino is, indeed, a beautiful Church. It is very old, as in around 800 or 900 A.D.—even older than San Michele! People come from other parts of the world to marry in San Martino, Augusto told me. This Church, across the street and two doors up from our B&B was inarguably more than well worth the time and visit! As we were preparing to say good-bye, Sandro Catignani pulled up and asked if I was Daniela. I did not remember him, unfortunately. He told me that he came frequently to the Forte because his mother would come to chat with my mother as my mother sewed, and so on. Additionally, my mother made his First Communion clothes and his Confirmation clothes! He is about two to three years older than I, so I must have been small, but he did remember, nonetheless. In fact, he recounted, his mother was a hairdresser, and my mother would on occasion go to her to get her hair done. As he recounted these things, he literally teared up. He said that he kept seeing my mother in his mind’s eye as we reminisced, and perhaps, I’m sure, even his mother, his mother-and-himself….What a moving experience this was for all of us! We exchanged contact information, and our plan is to continue to be in touch! Today was a beautiful sunny and warm day, about 70 F. Thank Goodness! We had been told that the best way to go to Florence, given that one cannot drive therein, was to drive to Villa Constanza, park the car iin the lot, and take the tram to the Florence town center. Easy enough, really, and Dad was able to get a break for once, without worrying about street signs, parking by attractions, and so on. We did have to walk, but, hey, that was not so bad, either. Florence had TONS of people today! The first piazza we saw was the Santa Maria Novella Church piazza. Santa Maria Novella is a huge complex, including a Church and a Dominican cloister. The exterior of the Church is spectacular, and for art aficionados, both the Church and the cloister, which includes an old graveyard, there is no lack of paintings on the walls, huge frescos, old Crucifixes, triplle-parted paintings, Statues, and so on. Dad and admit that we are technicallly illiterate when it comes to the artists of the Middle Ages. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. I had gnocchi with a delicious Gorgonzola creamy sauce (Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheese—and balsamic vinegar—do not taste at all like those we buy in the U.S. for day-to-day consumption. These are more subtle, milder, less salty, less sweet…). Dad had a fancy risotto that came with a gigantic shrimp on top that still had whiskers and open eyes!!!!!! We walked to the old part of Florence, and we enjoyed seeing the Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is one of a series of bridges across thee Arno River, but this one has houses/stores on top of it! Most other historic bridges we have seen so far allow for walking on top of them, but this is the first we’ve seen with structures all over it. The next stop was another piazza that houses one of many museums, and this is where the replica of Michelangelo’s David is displayed (among lots of other marble-looking sculptures). The real David is housed in a museum, which we did not visit. Besides the David sculpture, my favorite was the fountain of Neptune! Finally, we visited the Piazza del Duomo di Firenze. This is the Cathedral, and, not only is the exterior incredibly/outstandingly GORGEOUS, all marble, intricately sculpted, huge carved wooden-looking doors, but it is also perhaps the hugest edifice I have ever seen, including St. Peter’s in the Vatican! One had to pay to view the inside (not a lot, but the proceeds are utilized for maintenance and restauration projects), and we decided to get a gelato instead. Mass would be celebrated in English in just a short while, so we thought we’d focus on the exterior for now and take advantage of being inside for Mass to take pictures of the Cathedral throughout. We participated in Mass, but we were whisked away to one of the relatively smaller side chapels inside the large Cathedral, and we were shooed away by one of the attendants from walking around and/or taking photos while we waited for Mass to begin. After Mass, that same staff member walked with the crowd right to the Exit door, also shooeing us all from walking about or taking pictures of anything that was not directly within reach. But, you know what? Dad and I did not Ike that practice, and we decided that actually, the outside was the spectacular part; the inside was not all that pretty, really, except for maybe the frescos beneath the major dome. We could photograph that part. So, we just walked outside and viewed the matching and breathtaking bell tower and the Baptistry. Again, one had to pay to go inside of these structures, and we were satisfied with the exterior, at least for now. We took advantage of Dad’s not driving for some time still to enjoy a Florentine Negroni (Dad) and a Scuderi Spritz (me)—because, that’s what people do in piazzas here. We shared a slice of Torta di Nonna. It was getting darker outside, so we walked to the tram to head back home. As the tram arrived and the doors opened, EVERYONE waiting on the curbs at this stop squeezed and packed into a standing-room-only vehicle! Literally, we were sandwiched in, back to back, front to back, side by side, and so one, but we could not move once we all got inside. There was little if no space between one person and the next. And that’s when another English-speaking passenger told me that someone had their hands inside my backpack, but that he slapped the person away. He asked if he could close my backpack zippers because I could not reach it nor really remove and the zippers were wide open. Uggh! The NERVE! I worried about my passport, credit cards, other things that were valuable to me, UGGH! There was nothing I could do about it at the time, so we waited until we got off and back into our parked car to check what exactly might be missing. We don’t know what Saint is responsible for this, but all of my valuables appeared to have been intact! (Even the inside zipper had been opened, however. I do not THINK I left one of them unzipped, but it was now, if I recall correctly (my mind and emotions were traveling non-stop). Again, this passenger who slapped the guy’’s hands out of my backpack didn’t have to intervene, but he did. He did not have to tell me, but he did. I could easily have been robbed of credit cards, driver’s lice, and passport, among other things, but..I wasn’t. There are some guardian angels among strangers in this world! I have experienced this about three or four times in my life that come to mind right now. And these guardian angels, I am convinced, are guided by some supernatural Power that I’ve been so very fortunate to have experienced! Thank God for HUGE favors!
Our Travels 