Dante Alighieri

Dante was a famous Italian poet, theologian, and philosopher. His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia by the author, is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. Dante is also called the "Father of the Italian language".

Every Italian knows of him!!! I would equate him to our George Washington in fame and leadership. Dante is to Italy as George Washington is to the United States

Santa Croce & Scula del Cuoio

We visited Santa Croce our first day in Florence. It is the largest Franciscan church in the world. Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself and you can find some of his relics there. It is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini, and Marconi. I thought it interesting that the wife of Joseph Bonaparte, and their daughter Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte is buried there as well. When Napoleone conquered Italy he had his brother installed as a king and despite his Waterloo, his brogther stayed in Florence.
It also has on the main altar the most famous Cimabue of all time. The large cross is generally regarded as the last great Italian painter working in the Byzantine tradition, lots of gold painted throughout. It was the major work of art lost in the flood in Florence in 1966. Much of the paint from the body and face washed away but has been restored.
Attached and towards the back of Santa Croce is the Scuola del Cuoio (the school of leather). It was created after World War II by the Franciscan friars of the Monastery of Santa Croce and the Gori and Casini families. The Florentine leather artisans have been there since the 1930's. Their mission was to give orphans of the war a means to learn a practical trade with which to earn a living.
The Gori family continues to be committed to the this tradition of quality products and personal customer service. They have many, many famous customers with some of their pictures on the wall for the customers to view.

Laura Gori (pictured with Vicky)is now the president and we all had the opportunity to talk to her. What a beautiful and elegant lady. She was very gracious, very knowledgeable about WWII as well. Her aunt had married an Army officer that Laura had fond memories of. She said he never returned to America and worked for the Gori family without really speaking Italian.

Her daughters do some of the designing. Francesca Gori has created a line of hand-stitched one-of-a-kind handbags. Her collection is made from soft deerskin or exotic pelts such as crocodile, ostrich and python. These bags had bright color combinations and have decorative closures with bobbles of silver, gold, semi-precious stones and other rare materials such as fossils, quartz, amber all from antique jewelry . We had no idea that leather could be that beautiful. It makes Hermes, YSL, Gucci purses look second rate. As Tina commented, "Unfortunately at airplane tickets Florence tickets"
It killed her (and me) that we couldn't totally rationalize a purse purchase. It was amazing to see the craftsman at work, to touch the leather was like touching baby skin, the fragrance of the leather was primitive in a positive way. We did buy a few novelty items and thought how fortunate we were to get a tour by the Laura, it aa held so much important history.

The Bar scene in Varano Borghi

In VB there are 2 places for espresso, one is known as the Bar, the other is the Pasticceria Aries Gelateria. The Bar, just a 'spit' from Carla's apartment is the place to go for the VA regulars, mostly men and those who drink regularly (yes the town drunks, more than one). You can dash over there without a coat. I think Vicky went in her slippers once. It opens at 7am and closes at midnight. Besides an espresso,(1€)cappuccino or Tina's favorite Americana; they serve hard liquor and wine with little hors de ouvre placed at the end of the bar. You can buy lotto tickets, morning pastries and shoot pool in the back. There is one of the gambling machines and I am sure other "nefarious" stuff that we were not exposed to or allowed to see!!!
The Patisserie, farther down the block,(one may walk but often they drive), is a bit more refined, has nice cookies, cakes again morning pastries (called cornetto's) gelato during the summer and tablecloths on the tables. Carla took us there initially, I don't think she thought we were ready for the local "steamy"side of VB.

At the local Bar,there seemed to be a hierarchy of town drunks with #1 town drunk being *****. Apparently he is married, on disability of some sort, has poor teeth, drives an Piaggo APE and drinks white wine with campari. One morning we all went to the bar for our regular espresso and he was there to greet us with his signature drink. He had met us all before but greeted Vicky asking her in Italian if I was Vicky's mother and Tina, Vicky's daughter. We all of course laughed hysterically, I gave him an Italian physical disparaging sign under the chin to him which caused the whole bar to laugh hysterically. Giancarlo, the gentleman he is; immediately came to my defense by reminding us all that **** had already had been drinking that morning.

Villa Borghi

My sister Vicky sent me a picture of the Hotel Villa Borghi last spring. It had been beautifully restored and it looked like a first class hotel. Always my favorite type! I joked that it would be an appropriate setting for my 50th birthday party.
At that time I didn't realize the significance of the Borghi's Villa. It sits just behind Carla's apartment building across the newly landscaped round-about. The Villa was home to the Borghi family who owned the linen factories where the majority of the Varano Borghi citizens worked. In fact, Carla's apt building used to house the linen workers who worked for the Borghi's.
Apparently our great grandfather dared to commit a Sally Field type move on a table in middle of the factory except in his case it was a table in the village bar. Asking for higher wages and somehow insulting the Borghi family; resulting in his banishment from the town and ultimately his immigration to the US.
I only knew this story as legend, possibly an embellished story but Carla confirmed this was a very real event. This knowledge plus Carla's insistence that we cannot go in the hotel because we are not guests fueled our desire to pay a visit and take a tour.
The three of us snuck out the back door, which is really the front door of Nicolas' apt. one afternoon when we were making repose (Carla's word for a nap).
Upon entering the hotel we were greeted by a lovely young woman, who promptly asked what did we want and who are you? This was Vicky's cue, our beloved drama queen . She explained that we were here investigating the possibility of a family reunion in Varano Borghi and did she know of the family name, Vasconi. The young woman explained that she was not from the town and by now was almost speaking in a apologetic tone. As Vicky went about explaining how large our family was including my Dad's first cousins in the event now slated for Sept 2010. We toured the entire facility from the dining room (which Vicky deemed as too small for a reunion party) to the rooms upstairs, the original family library filled with books from the 18th and early 19 th century to the the outdoor patio which according to our now party planner sister could work if the hotel could set up additional seating on the lawn. She also asked about catering options for this supposedly family reunion.
Our tour ended with the young woman asking for our visitor cards and a suggestion that booking early would guarantee us a good rate and decent opportunity for the occupancy we needed.
Terri and I left the hotel each wondering what family event we had missed hearing about She had us almost convinced that this was really going to happen and who appointed Vicky to work out the details!

I want to also add how significant it was for the tre sorella's to visit the Borghi Villa. Here it is 100 years later, the banished branch of the Vasconi family, now numbering 50 plus in the US. Entertaining the idea of a family reunion in the house of the men who thought they exerted such power. My great grand father and his Tre sorella's are having the last laugh .

Bonding with Gatto

What a strange phenom. It seems that 5:30am I am consistently waking
up. I am not drowsey I am literally wide awake. Lloyd and the girls
would be shocked. This morning I see that Gatto has entered the
apartment. I decide to get up and join him in the front room. He is
sitting on the table staring into the bedroom at the two sorella's
left sleeping. By the way; Vicky is chatting away in her sleep. It's been
amazing but my cat allergy has been at bay for the most part since we
have been here. I actually reach out and pet the cat to induldge in
risky behavior. Maybe Zyrtec is the answer and we can finally get a
cat. The girls would be delighted. Lloyd would take some
convincing. So I sit here with the cat and relax.
TINA