A Half Day in Florence, Italy

Firenze, Italia

My friend Skye returned from visiting close friends in Perugia, Italia yesterday and called me en route to Firenze to see if I could join her with some new friends in walking around the city. Turns out that brothers Jim and John only had one afternoon in my cherished Italian city, but I was not able to meet them until after 17:00. We met at the High Bar where Luigi was exchanging a paper 20 euro bill for a lot of my madonnara coins from yesterday. [I was rained out again and thus, I was not able to earn much.]

I took this image of the Ponte alle Grazie (Bridge of Thanks) before we made our way over it to Via dei Neri to one of our favorite gelaterie (gelato shops). My new friends were kind enough to treat me to a cioccolato con pepperoncino (chocolate with red pepper) gelato.

After that, we headed over towards the Piazza della Signoria by way of la Chiesa di San Remigio (the Church of Saint Remigio). Next, we showed them the restaurant near the Straw Market where the “Hannibal” film was made and, in the mercato, actor Anthony Hopkins, as Hannibal Lecter, stabs a man to death after he sees that this man is following him. (What we call the “Straw Market” is officially the Mercato del Porcellino, market of the piglet, where the bronze statue of the boar is. Jim and John got to rub the nose of this bronze, which means that they will return to Firenze.)


Next to this are my madonnari friends on Via Calimala and the three squares we are allotted were filled with 3-D art on this day. Since I forgot to ask Jim and John if I had their permission to post their images on my blog, I am sharing with you this image of me standing over Laura’s disegno (drawing). Also, Giovanni is creating a dolphin emerging from a hole in the street.

As dusk was approaching, we entered La Rinascente, a department store facing Piazza della Repubblica. If you take the escalators to the top floor, cross the floor to a staircase and go up again, you will enter the terrazza, a beautiful terrace and coffee shop that overlooks Florence. I took these two images, one overlooking Piazza della Repubblica, with its lovely arched porta and the carousel; the other is of the ever gorgeous Duomo of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and Campanile (bell tower). I loved the night-lights on this!


But time was running out for our American friends and we headed to the Stazione di Santa Maria Novella to retrieve their luggage and get them over to the correct station for their overnight ride to Paris. I took this image of one of my favorite intersections near the Palazzo Strozzi (Strozzi Palace).

Skye and I then headed over to her house, where she whipped up a fabulous Thai rice dish for us before we heading back al centro. Skye has a job handing out flyers for a bar in town and sometimes I accompany her because I love to walk around Florence at night and she is a trip to spend time with.

During our cruising of the tourist district, we stopped by the madonnari again and I took this image of Tomo creating his 3-D drawing on Via Calimala. Monday, 31 Marzo 2008, is the last day that we madonnari will be permitted to draw in the streets, so the organizer Claudio wants for all of us to do a group drawing insieme (together).

In closing, I wanted to say that although I love creating this blog and sharing my images with you, I have come to realize that I spend so much time doing it that I have not been creating art or earning income. I cannot keep up my life as an artist if I earn nothing so I have added some PayPal links to the online blog to allow anyone interested in making a donation of any amount to be able to do so. Of course, I am also happy to accept commissions that are in line with the kind of art I create. Thank you so much for your interest and support! http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.com/