A few of my very favourite images from Tuscany. Whether out in the streets, in churches or in markets, it is the beauty of the little, everyday things that adds up to the Tuscan feel.
Flower boxes on window ledges. Narrow streets lined with medieval houses. Sun-baked, earthy colours on the walls. Shelter under leafy trees with delicate pink buds. Extraordinary frescoes in churches. Piles of freshly-baked biscotti in food markets.
Just a quick post today. I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather with your loved ones, mellow tunes (I’m currently listening to Sigur Ros) good books and, of course, tons of chocolate eggs. Happy Easter!
Last night I made a -relatively- healthy pasta bake with tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and fresh rosemary. Yum!
Tuscany is extraordinarily beautiful. My days there felt truly happy and almost magical. Of course, the sunshine and the excellent food, wine, coffee, gelato and tiramisu helped too. So here are some snapshots of how I spent last week, and I have to say that it feels like a huge downgrade being back in cold, drizzly London eating cereal for dinner.
Exploring one of the many villas of the Medici, one of the most powerful families of Florence with a fascinating history. Looking at the portraits of the many unhappy marriages of this family inside the house. Taking a stroll in the garden, along the rows of cypress trees, taking in the view of the village and the hills below.
Getting lost in the narrow streets of Siena, walking in the shade of the medieval houses with flowers on the window sill. Imagining how Piazza del Campo looks during the Palio, the famous horse race with the crowds and the flags and the horses that don’t stop until they are well out of the city.
Trying to count the medieval towers in the most charming village of San Gimignano, a place that feels unchanged since the middle ages. Having a delicious lunch, naturally followed by gelato, at the lovely piazza with the ancient well in the middle. Staring, awestruck, at the beautiful Duomo of Florence. Taking a big breath and climbing the 460 odd steps to the top of the dome for a view of the whole city.
Buying fresh supplies at the Mercato Centrale of Florence and then taking a bus to Fiesole for a perfect picnic on the hills where Leonardo used to test his flying machines. From there, walking for 10 or so kilometers by the medieval tower at Vincigliata to end up back in Florence, tanned, tired and very very happy.
Do you have any favourite memories from places you’ve visited?
As I’ve mentioned on Twitter and briefly here, The Boy and I flew to Pisa for a week of exploring Tuscany. The sunshine, the picturesque countryside, the amazing food, the charming towns that feel like living museums, the countless gelato flavours, the excellent wine, it was all immensely enjoyable and I think I have a new crush.
We stayed in a sleepy little village up in the hills west of Florence; it more than made up for the inconvenience of being out of the way with incredible views of the surrounding countryside. Yes, it is just rolling hills of olive groves and vineyards with farmhouses and tiny, torpid villages sprinkled here and there. Our long walks from village to village made me wish I wasn’t useless with a paint brush, or that I could at least write a nice little poem. (Incidentally, in the village we were staying was what is probably my favourite restaurant in the world, where the owner’s mama cooks properly mouth-watering, traditional Tuscan dishes and he will often bring little home-made treats like rigatino to the table).
I was, naturally, armed with an extensive to-do list which included many, many visits to museums and art galleries and churches, most of them in Florence and Sienna. They are of course excellent, hosting some iconic art like Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. In fact, you could spend days upon days just in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. However, what I very quickly discovered was that just walking around in this great cities feels like being in a museum. Since we were only there for a few days, it felt almost wrong to stay inside a gallery when we could wander the streets, seeing and hearing and smelling the real city, taking in the stunning medieval architecture (and of course eating gelato). So in the end, we managed to find a balance, we visited a few of the major museums but made sure to leave time to get a feel of the place and maybe a glimpse of the life of its residents.
Have you ever visited Tuscany? What did you like the most?
The Pergola at Hampstead Heath on a day perfect for a picnic.
I’m very lucky to live and study in London. Actually, I get to spend my days right next door to Somerset House where there are always amazing events taking place like London Fashion Week or exhibitions like the Pick Me Up: Contemporary Art Fair. Other than the lovely cafe with the incredible views of the Thames, Westminster, London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral, embarrassingly, I had never visited one of the exhibitions. So I hopped over to the Courtauld Gallery during my lunchbreak for a dose of culture and beauty.
The Courtauld Gallery is a brilliant little museum with a collection of paintings, drawings and decorative arts. The gallery is famous for the collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by some of the most celebrated artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, Gaugin and Cezanne as well as 20th century pieces by Picasso and Matisse. Some of the most iconic pieces like Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear can be found here. The gallery is not very big, the collection is spread over three floors and it’s easy to see everything in a little over an hour (or, of course, more, if you’ve got time). The building itself is beautiful, with ornate ceilings and chandeliers, a perfect complement to the masterpieces it houses. I highly recommend visiting the temporary exhibitions as well, at the moment it’s Victorian Drawings and Watercolours.
I couldn’t resist a peek in the gallery’s shop, you can find some beautiful little treasures there. I found some interesting books on London, fashion, Victorian England and lots of little things that no one actually needs but are really pretty. My favourites were two little books called Don’ts for wives and Don’ts for husbands from 1932, the lovely silk scarfs (it was only the £50 price tag that stopped me from getting one), and the properly english (slightly kitch) tea things, ideally to go with a cottage in the english countryside.
After reading The House of the Spirits, I was eager to read more from Allende. Thankfully my mum seems to have an endless supply of her books; I picked up Of Love and Shadows. It is a beautiful book, definitely not as epic as her debut novel but still lovely and very well-written.
The novel takes place in the horrible time in Chile’s history, after the military coup, during a dictatorship which meant death, terror and poverty for the majority of people. It is essentially a love story, but in this book love and light are constantly fighting with darkness and hatred; as the reader you see two young people fall in love in a background of horror and misery. Yet, throughout the book you never lose sight of the humanity and the hope that manage to survive the most dire situations.
