La Vita e Bella - An Italy Expat Blog

Boboli in Bloom

2012-05-18T16:41:47Z

We went for a walk through Boboli today. It was overcast and cool -- exactly the weather you need when walking the long, steep hills in the park. The grass was freshly cut and flowers in bloom. Spring in Florence is so beautiful.

Our House Hunters Episode is Online (We Think)

2012-05-16T13:45:21Z

We always know when reruns of our House Hunters International episode air because we wake up to the nicest messages in our inbox from people seeing it for the first time. If you're new to our blog and found us via the show...welcome!

Since the episode originally aired last year, we've had lots of people ask us if the video is available online. From what we can tell, it was recently added to HGTV.com. Since we're located in Italy, we can't watch the video, but from the thumbnail on the site it looked legit. If you have trouble watching the embedded version above, try accessing it from the HHI page on HGTV.com.

Bike Tour of Florence, Italy

2012-04-25T10:05:13Z

I hadn't been on a bike since we moved to Florence. But, when we received an email from Italy by Cruiser Bike offering to take us on a "molto romantico" bike tour of Florence, I jumped at the chance.

Only later did I stop to consider that: Italian drivers are crazy, Italian traffic laws are nearly non-exisent and that the offer was for two. Meaning my, how do I say this nicely -- ballence-challenged, pregnant wife was invited along for the ride. Why not go, right?

Well I did, but we decided that Kate had better sit this one out. So, that meant I was one person short for a sunset bike tour of Florence. Luckily, my friend Tommaso was available, so he joined me for the tour, which took place on the only evening that it hasn't rained in this city for the last few weeks.

We started the tour at 6pm, which left us a lot of sunlight for the tour, even this early in the year. It was a small group, probably 8 of us total and we all spoke English. Everyone was really excited a living, breathing, real-life Italian (Tommaso) showed up to join us. The people at Italy by Cruiser Bike thought he was lost at first (who takes a tour of their hometown?), but that's understandable.

All of the major sites were on the route: The Duomo, Bapitstry, Palazzo Medici, Innocenti, Santa Croce, Palazzo Pitti, Ponte Vecchio, and Piazza della Repubblica. There were also others you might not expect: the English Cemetery, Piazza Beccaria, Ponte San Niccolo and lots of time on the bike trail that borders the Viale. Unfortunately, we had to skip Santa Maria Novella and a couple of nearby places because we were running late due to a few slow pokes on our tour...fellow countrymen of ours, I'm sad to admit. Hey Americans: get off your butts and start exercising...you're ruining the bike tour for the rest of us :-)

I have to say, I've seen all of these places before, with the exception of the English Cemetery, and they were much better by bike. I know that a bike may not be everyone's idea of a great way to get around, but I'm increasingly convinced that people who hold that opinion haven't been on a bike in years. Biking around Florence was fun and surprisingly easy. I immediately came home and started begging Kate to let me get a bike.

So, if you are visiting Florence and looking for a great way to see the city,
give Italy by Cruiser Bike a call. We highly recommend them!

The highly-requested (by Georgette and Kate) romantic bridge photo:

Rob's Typical Lunch

2012-04-20T12:00:50Z

With the rain coming down non-stop, we thought we'd share one of the things the rain can't put a damper on - my typical lunch. Is it healthy? Who knows. But I swear by it.

Above, in the sandwich, is tomato, pecorino di pistoia, and finocchiona. In case you've never had finocchiona its a Tuscan speciality, salami made with fennel, which is found more or less all around Florence. The bread is ciabatta, from the bakery down the street.

Rainy days here in Florence

2012-04-12T18:00:32Z

I'm well aware that Tuscany desperately needed this rain, but my goodness all of these dreary days are starting to take a toll! The only saving grace is that constant rain is rare here, so two hours of downpour is typically followed by a half hour of sun.

While we might be a little depressed, our garden is loving the weather -- sprouts are popping up like crazy! Here's hoping it helps our our harvest be more than the single tomato from last year. This year we're trying for two types of tomatos, zucchini, cucumber and peppers. Fingers crossed!

Lucky Girl/Busy Girl

2012-04-03T16:12:11Z

After staring at my computer and working in Photoshop for no less than 7 hours today, I turned around to see this cute combo. We've been super busy lately...busy in a "Wow, so many awesome projects at once!" kind of way and not the "OMG, I think I might cry" way. Because, trust me, we have done the latter and it ain't fun!

Hopefully in a month or two we can share some of our new client sites with you. They are AMAZING clients with fantastic offerings for those visiting Italy. Can't wait for you to see them.

More photos from around the city coming soon. April kickstarts a lot of the festivals, parades and other happenings around town that we so commonly stumbled upon last year. In fact, this Easter Sunday is Scoppio del Caro, which we blogged about last year.

Finally...I will be sharing a new recipe very soon. I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoy Olive Garden when in the US. I don't think anyone really goes there expecting authentic Italian fare, but they really do have some yummy Italian-American-ish dishes there...including Zuppa Toscana (which, sorry to report, resembles nothing of the sort here in actual Toscana). That beind said, it's a delicious soup. We concocted our own version last night -- a little lighter/healthier and less spicey -- and it was delish. Recipe coming shortly!

Big news from Italy...

2012-03-26T11:00:11Z

There's a baby in there! That's right, come September there will be a new addition to our famiglia here in Florence. We're very excited!

So far, we've been very impressed with the maternal health care here in Florence/Tuscany. I'm sure eventually we'll write up a few blog posts about the process, but for now we're just enjoying things and getting our life prepared for a new little person. We hope you understand if we're slow to respond to emails (we get a lot) and a little sporadic with our posts.

Gregorian Chant at the Duomo

2012-03-23T11:10:39Z

Not too long ago, we found out that the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) was planning a series of free concerts inside the cathedrial. The first one was Wednesday night, and it was great. Most of the works performed were composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi, a Florentine lived from 1583-1643.

The vocalists were accompanied by strings and, occasionally, brass instruments. I've never heard gregorian chant in a cathedrial before and it blew me away. The sound bounced off every wall, notes piled on top of notes, but it still sounded great. I'm not going to start downloading gregorian chant, but you will find me at the next concert (not chant, but also free) in April. If you're in town, you should visit this site for more details.

La Cantinetta di Dante e Beatrice

2012-03-08T19:00:34Z

A few weeks ago, Rob and I were wandering around the city center when we saw that a new paninoteca had opened on Via del Corso. It looked super nice, but since we weren't hungry at the time, we decided to try it next time we were in the area.

Last week, hungry and just a few blocks away we decided that it was time to give La Cantinetta di Dante e Beatrice a try! We were not disappointed. We split bruschetta and each ordered a delicious panino. In a city where days-old paninos are put in display windows, it's refreshing to find another great spot in the center (just a block from the Duomo!) where they make the panino fresh and with fresh ingredients. I had turkey on mine and it was the most flavorful roasted turkey I've had here. So good. Rob also treated himself to a yummy torta della nonna. If his smile was any indication, it was quite good.

The atmosphere of the place is really nice, too. Unlike a lot of similar eateries in the area, it's actually quite spacious with comfortable seating. It was fun to eat a panino in a restaurant setting. So, if you are visiting Florence and find yourself hungry and in the city center (what tourist doesn't?) and interested in a fresh, light lunch we highly recommend La Cantinetta di Dante e Beatrice, via del Corso 27/r.

First weekend in March

2012-03-05T13:38:05Z

This past weekend was relaxing and fun, thanks to nice weather, a new paninoteca (review post coming later this week!), and stumbling upon a specialty food market in Piazza della Repubblica. All in all, a pretty great start to the month.