Archive | Italy

Good morning from Florence!

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Gil and Lena holding hands as their aunts (Jess and Emily) carry them through Florence!

It’s a beautiful morning here in Firenze (Florence), and my sleeping babies might actually let me finish this blog post! I thought I’d share a few photos from our first couple of days of vacation together. My parents, sister Emily, and sister-in-law Jess are here with Elliott, Lena, Gil, and me… a huge treat for all of us!

We’re totally in love with this city by now, and I just want to move to Florence. The beauty, the architecture, the history, the people, the bicycles, the river, the views, the countryside, the food… sign me up! I’ve been posting photos on Instagram, if you’d like to follow along for more frequent updates.

Here are a few photos of our apartment, which totally exceeded our expectations for location and beauty:

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On Sunday morning, our first full day here, my mom and the kids and I were up hours before everyone else. We took a walk through the city in the early morning while the street sweepers were still at work:

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View of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge filled with jewelry shops) as seen from right outside our apartment.

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Weird angle of some happy early-morning walkers!

Later we took a walking tour of Florence together, which was rather long (3.5 hours) for all of us, not to mention for our 2- and 1-year-old! The kids kept us laughing and entertained, though, even as the tour guide droned on… and on… and on…

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This photo made me laugh. Basically this is how Elliott and I “listened” to the entire tour: with two kids jumping off of us.

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We got to see the traditional Sunday morning parade through the old city. It reminded us of our Sicilian town’s medieval festival every August!

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Old and young.

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A tired tourist snuggles with her mama.

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This happy guy wanted to do nothing but walk walk walk, this time with the assistance of “Auntie Ema.”

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The famous Santa Maria delle Fiore, Florence’s main cathedral. I read a whole book about how the dome was built, so it was thrilling to see it in person!

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Elliott and Lena talking together in the huge Duomo (cathedral) on his birthday. Happy 33rd, dear Elliott!

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I love these last two photos: Lena jumping in the Palazzo Vecchio, and Lena and Gil with my dad in the Duomo. I’ve been reading books about the history and architecture of Florence in order to prepare me for our visit, and now to see my family in all these beautiful places is such a gift!

I’m grateful for this season of our lives: happy little children, living in Italy, a whole week with family. I’m also praying that the rest of the trip goes as well as the first part has… can anyone relate to that prayer?!

P.S. If you’ve been to Florence, I’d love to hear recommendations for favorite eateries, views, sights, and surrounding towns to visit!

15 :: in family, Florence, Italy, travel

6/52 (and a walk around our Italian town)

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The 52 Project: a portrait of my children once a week & every week in 2014.

Lena: She’s such an acrobat these days! Her light, strong little body is figuring out how to do so many amazing things… which is part terrifying and part amazing. The phrase I hear most frequently is: “Yook, Mama, yook what I can do!” (Also, “What time is it? What does that mean?” and “Can we make something yummy in the kitchen?”)

Gil: I finished his sweater yesterday just in time for him to wear it to church! I’m so proud of it. Be warned: you might be seeing a lot of it between now and warm weather.

——–

I had kind of a frazzled morning. (Snacks! Coloring! Screaming! Nap time! Reading! Clean up! Tears! Laundry! Repeat!) When we finally decided to go on a walk and headed down the hill, I felt like a fresh breeze blew through me. I felt light and strong as I munched an apple and let the weight of the stroller carry itself down the hill under my hand. Crisp air filled my lungs, and suddenly everything seemed sharper and brighter as my mind took in the sights and sounds: the bustling piazza, the old men walking in and out of the municipal buildings, the farm trucks filled with produce harvested that morning, the glittering beauty of Mt Etna rising in the distance.

“We live in Italy,” I realized with a jolt. “Live here. Not just visiting.”

And so I started taking pictures as we bought produce, snacked on bread sticks and pizza from our favorite panificio, and played on the playground. Later we added artichokes, balsamic, basil, sausages, arancini, and wine to the stroller basket. We shall eat well tonight in celebration of living in Italy!

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My stroller is as big as a Fiat!

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Prettiest house (and potted plants) on the street.

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A view of the castle outside our house as we round the corner for home.

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And home sweet home. Oh Italy, we love you!

14 :: in 52 project, Italy, Sicily

a weekend in the Madonie Mountains of Sicily

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We took this trip over a month ago, but somehow in the rush of Christmas and the new year, I haven’t had a chance to post the photos yet! Our weekend trip to the mountains was so beautiful, though, and we had a wonderful time with my mom, who was visiting for 10 days. I literally found my new favorite place in Sicily and really hope we get a chance to go back!

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The Madonie Mountains are in north-central Sicily, and they are particularly famous for the beautiful hilltop mountain towns (like the one in the first photo). I was reading The Stone Boudoir, a memoir about Sicily’s mountain towns including several in the Madonie Mountains. The hills literally were alive for me that weekend as I absorbed vistas, streets, and foods in real life and through the pages of my book.

We stayed in an agriturismo (farm stay) because we wanted to enjoy the fruits of the region. The Slow Food movement originated nearby, and our host proudly told us that all but a few of the things we ate were from “kilometer zero,” or were harvested/gathered 0 kilometers away. We loved that agriturismo, and so if you visit, be sure to check out Casale Magherita.

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A little fall foliage in December!

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We also visited one of the five most famous mountain towns in the region. This one was called Castelbuono and is the largest of the five. We explored the castle, wandered through the streets, and ate an amazing lunch at Ristorante Palazzaccio.

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View of Castelbuono from its castle.

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Lena and my mom admiring a huge presepe (Nativity scene).

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I really liked all the clean laundry, I guess…

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We sampled traditional Christmas sweet bread (panetonne) with a spread made from manna, the dried sap of the ash tree for which the region is also famous.

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Salute! Cheers!

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Even more wonderful (and challenging) than visiting a mountain town with two small children was an incredible and verrrrry long hike we took during our visit with an Italian outdoors group. Photos from the hike coming soon!

7 :: in agriturismo, family, Italy, pretty places, Sicily, travel

our harrowing adventure to an Italian winery

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I’ve been wanting to go see Gambino Winery for a long time.  Like… years.  But Elliott and I both wanted to invite friends to go with us, and we just never planned ahead enough to do that.  (Typical.)  Finally we got our act together and invited two couples that are becoming good friends.  (See this post!)

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Unfortunately, the morning that we chose to go also happened to be a day that Etna decided to erupt.  She’s been erupting a lot lately, but it’s usually just a pretty spew of lava.  That day, unfortunately, it was a gigantic ash cloud, the largest we’d ever seen.  We admired it from our kitchen window and then jumped in the car to drive up the slopes of Mt Etna to the winery.

You might be thinking ahead of us and wondering if there could be a problem here?  The fact that we were driving right into the ash cloud didn’t occur to us until we were about to get off the highway and both turned to each other in surprise.

“Is the road under construction?  What’s all this gravel?”

“Wait, is there something falling on the car?  Is it raining?”

“No, it’s ash from Etna.  Wow, the whole road is covered.  It’s not gravel… it’s a 1/2 inch of ash!  And it’s still falling!”

We got off the highway, noticing with a slight sense of anxiety that the highway entrance was now closed indefinitely.  We turned onto smaller mountain roads as we began to climb the mountain toward the winery.

My friend Laura texted me to say that their GPS indicated they would be 15 minutes late… sorry!  (No problem… so would we.  As usual.  Everywhere.)

We continued to follow Google Maps on my phone as it wound up the mountain.  The GPS led us to turn off onto smaller and steeper roads, which is a serious issue when they are covered in loose, gravelly ash.  A couple of times our car’s tires whined, scrabbling for purchase on the slippery roads, and then lurched forward, fishtailing slightly before getting a grip.  We exchanged sweaty glances and ignored our increasingly fussy kids in the back seat.

After a couple of stressful wrong turns, we finally followed our GPS around a tight turn and up a narrow gravel road.  At this point we dead-ended at a farm, made a wrong turn, came back to the farm, and stared at the road the GPS was telling us to take.  I got out and walked down the road to confirm our suspicions.  No, we were correct.  The “road” was a farm lane that petered out into a straggly vegetable patch.  From somewhere nearby we heard a farmer singing as he worked in his garden.

We were officially completely lost.

At that moment we heard a car coming up the road behind us, tires digging furiously in the loose gravel and ash.  We got out of our car to watch as a large, black, American car squeezed around the rock wall and then slowly pulled up in front of us.  Our friends got out.

“So I guess this isn’t the winery?

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I’m going to skip ahead — past the hilarious laughter, past the cheerful Italian man who came upon us then and guided us back to the main road in his car, past the realization that the directions on the winery website were actually correct, past the absurd and second wrong turn that led us up steep gravelly roads that we eventually had to all back our cars down, past the enormous and almost anguished sense of relief we felt as we parked our cars and ran into the winery, ever-so-grateful for that basket of bread and full glasses of dark red wine.

And then there we were, sitting peacefully around a large farmhouse table, eating and drinking and relaxing together the way you assume you always will when you move to Italy.  Roads and GPS units excepted.

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For 20 euro for each adult, we were served a full meal of antipasti, sausages, soups, espresso, and dessert, and we also were given five bottles of wine to taste and take home and as much bread, olive oil, and balsamic as we could eat.

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Three of the five wonderful wines that we sampled.

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Very typical Sicilian food: grilled eggplant and sausages sprinkled with crushed pistachios.

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Alyssa and Jake… who read this blog before they got to Sicily and now get to see themselves on it!  What what!

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Eggs from local free-range hens.  Apparently the eggs went very well with the last, strongest wine!

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My sweet friend Laura and her new fan, Miss Lena-Making-Silly-Faces.

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Growing big and handsome on Italian bread and olive oil.

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After the meal we headed outside for awhile to walk off the wine and take in the view.  The patio outside the winery was covered in crunchy, ever-so-lightweight ash, some of the chunks as big as our palms.

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We could step right into the vineyards themselves and walk around.  Clusters of grapes still clung to the branches, and the leaves were turning red and gold in the cold autumnal air.  becca-garber-gambino-winery-19

The main building of the winery is brand new and beautiful, and the owners are digging a wine cellar now that will be visible through the plexiglass floor of the main tasting room.

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Tasting the season’s leftovers!

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We attempted a family picture in the vineyard, and this one makes me laugh.  So typical of Gil these days!

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But this one turned out pretty well.  To our new friends: thanks so much for braving the mountain right after it erupted (talk about induction into the Sicilian Driving Club) and for making crazy memories in Italy with us!  We’re so glad you’re here.

6 :: in agriturismo, Italy, Mt Etna

Olive Picking in Sicily

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In late October, the officer’s club organized a trip to pick olives on a local farm.  The season was at its peak, and trees were heavy with darkening olives.  We decided to go along, mostly because I’ve wanted to go olive picking since we moved here, and this was really our last chance.  We planned to only stay for a few hours, because we couldn’t fathom that we’d be much help in the grove with our two little ones.

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The farm was just outside Mineo and owned by Agrippina and her husband Franco, who runs a butcher shop in the beautiful hilltop town of Mineo.  There were about 20 of us there, including some little children, and the whole atmosphere was very carefree.  I wondered how long it would take before we were sweating and miserable, as I’d heard that olive picking is no walk in the park.  Agrippina, however, informed us that olive trees only produce olives every two years.  Last year 100 of their 125 trees produced olives.  This year… only six.  Only six!  That sounded manageable.  How long could six trees take for 20 people to pick?

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We headed down into the groves and got a quick tutorial.  We could either pick the olives by hand — as Elliott is doing on the left — or we could rattle them out of the trees with long- or short-handled rakes — like the ones our pediatrician is using and has stuck in his back pocket!

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Lena enjoyed helping out after some guidance… and she probably picked more than I did!

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I did have a sleeping baby attached to me, though.  And camera duty.

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It was easy to slow down in the warm, dappled sunlight… only to be roused again by the furious pace of our Italian hosts.

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As we picked olives, we tossed them down onto green nets laid out under the trees.

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When one tree was finished, everyone helped shake the olives onto one net…

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… and then picked out all the stems, leaves, and debris from around the olives.

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We then funneled them into crates to be transported to the olive press.  It’s dirty work, especially if you like sticking your fingers in your mouth!

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The group moved quickly from tree to tree, but it still took a couple of hours to pick all six trees.

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The group is dwindling…

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Elliott and Lena found a peaceful spot under a tree.

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And then Gil woke up and wanted to join in the fun!

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When all six trees were picked, we walked back up the hill to Franco and Agrippina’s house, which is over 100 years old and looks out over the valley.  On long tables under old pine trees, they served wine and grilled meat from Franco’s butcher shop, and we contributed side dishes.  The meal was delicious and–for some of us more than others–well earned!  Afterwards we ate Italian pastries and sipped limoncello and espresso before the drive home.

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A relaxing day… especially considering we were sort of working!

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3 :: in Italy, Sicily

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