Genvieve in Florence!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Thursday night I met up with Gen and her fiancé for dinner.  They have been traveling around Italy and made a stop in Florence.  And it just so happened that I am here at the same time!!  It has been about five years since I last saw her, so there was a lot to catch up on!

We met at the Golden doors by the Duomo around 7:00 and then heading off to dinner.  I took them to Yellow Bar.  Yes it my third time there, but you just cannot go wrong with anything that you order!! They have been complaining of not finding any good food, so it was the perfect place to go!! We caught up over a bottle of Chianti Classico and a delicious prosciutto and mozzarella appetizer and wonderful pasta and pizza.  It is amazing how much there is to talk about after not seeing Gen for so long!  It was like we picked right back up where we left off!!

We ended the night with Gelato! (because no matter how full you are, there is always room for Gelato).  They had not had any good gelato yet in Florence, so I took them to the best--Perché-no!  They were both very pleased with my selection!  After we went over the Piazza de Republicca to see the Gelato Festival and chat some more. 

I am so grateful to have seen Gen over here in Florence, Italy.  I had such a wonderful time catching up with her and meeting her wonderful fiancé. Hopefully I will see her again in the near future!

Friday was an exciting morning to wake up to! It was the day we were leaving for Cinque Terre!! But first thing first, we had class!! Friday’s class focused on olive oil.   Frantiano and Leccino trees are two types of olive trees that olive oil is produced from.  The first press of the olives produced Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the second press-virgin olive oil, and the third is olive oil. Olive oil should be stored in a cold and dark place.  Lighter olive oils are used on vegetables, while heavy and flavorful olive oils are used on meats.  The Mediterranean diet was also discussed again since olive oil plays a major role.

Before the cooking lab began Chef Tammaso had us taste four different types of olive oil from four different regions of Italy and explain our thoughts. Below are the four types and my thoughts I wrote down.

1.     Northern Italy/Lake Garda- light fruity flavor with a slight peppery taste.   An olive oil I would use for salad

2.     Liguria- A fresh, sweet, smooth and well-rounded taste (MY FAVORITE!!)

3.     Tuscany- Light flower taste with a light bitter after taste.

4.     Southern Italy- Spicy and peppery taste.  No fruit or sweetness.

After tasting the four, we were to choose our favorite to put over vanilla gelato.  I chose the olive oil from Liguria.  Chef Tammaso had told us before trying that the olive oil helps to bring out the flavor of the cream and egg in the ice cream. At first everyone thought this was a strange concept, but the taste of the gelato with the olive oil was AMAZING!! 

Vanilla Gelato with Liguria olive oil

Next we began our recipes for the day, which was 4 different types of bruschetta toppings to place on toasted garlic Tuscan bread. The four topping included

1.      1.  Tomatoes, basil, and garlic tossed in olive oil with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top

2.     2. Artichokes in a lemon and olive oil dressing

3.     3. Cabbage cooked in olive oil and garlic with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top

4.     4. White beans cooked in olive oil, garlic, and sage

All were delicious and easy to make!! We were done in no time!!  With 45 minutes left Chef Tammaso used the time to discuss the difference between American ice cream and the Italian’s Gelato.  It pretty much just turned into a discussion on why Italian food is much better than America’s.  Italy’s products are made with the best products available.  Very seldom does Italy use preservatives.  They are proud of their local produce and strive to preserve regional and local cuisine.  When you pay for your food in Italy you are paying for quality.  Therefore, the cheapest food you find will most likely have preservatives, whereas more expensive foods are made with fresh and local ingredients.  Each region has it’s own flare and certain types of food they are known for.  This allows each region to form their own type of cuisine (allowing tourists, like myself, to enjoy something different and new when traveling the country!).

FRIDAY TO BE CONTINUED ON THE NEXT ENTRY!

Molly Jean

Cannoli Siciliani!

Thursday May 26, 2011

Last night we went to Trattoria Anita for dinner.  Shep and I split a delicious appetizer made up of mozzarella, truffle, and prosciutto and slices of bread.  Truffle is usually too strong for my liking, but the amount in this appetizer was very light!  For dinner I ordered a fresh pasta bake with mushrooms and zucchini.  The waiters were so generous and gave us a small discount for being friendly and fun!

A Cappuccino is a perfect way to start the day!  Shep and I headed out a little early to our usual spot to grab one before class!  Today’s class was one we were all looking forward too.  It was cannoli day!!  Before cooking Chef Tammaso discussed the region of Sicily, the largest island of the Mediterranean.  Sicily is known for street food, sorbet, cannoli’s, pastries, and candied fruits.  A majority of Sicily’s food was from the Arab influence.  Sicily is also known as “the garden of Europe” because of its abundance of fruits such as grapes, mandarin, tangerine, orange, and many dried fruits.  Sicily food is also very “heavy” and fattening.  I guess we won’t be using the Mediterranean diet guidelines today!

Today’s recipes were Pasta Alla Norma and Connoli Siciliani.  The pasta Alla Norma uses dried rigatoni pasta.  Chef Tammaso taught us how to cook Al dente.  I always cook pasta to al dente at home and I usually taste the pasta to see if it is ready.  But Chef Tammaso taught us what to look for when cooking the pasta.  If there is a very very thing line of white in the middle of the rigatona, penne, or even spaghetti, that means it has been cooked to al dente!! (Erika did a fabulous job of cooking the pasta perfectly today!)

The sauce of the Pasta Alla Norma included eggplant, garlic, olive oil,  and tomato sauce.  After the sauce and pasta were finished cooking the pasta and sauce are mixed together and topped with salted ricotta cheese and sliced basil.

I worked on the cannoli shell today.  It was the same concept of making fresh pasta, but with a few different ingredients.  Lard and Marsala wine acted as the liquid instead of using egg and oil.  After making fresh pasta a few times this week the dough of the cannoli came together very quickly!  Metal tubes were used to wrap the dough around and put in the oil to fry!! 

The filling was made up of ricotta, cinnamon, confection sugar, candied orange peel, chocolate, and pistachio. After we filled the connoli shell we dipped each side into shaved chocolate and topped with confection sugar!  This was yet another wonderful and delicious recipe!! 

I couldn’t help but to think of my brother Kevin all the way over in Azerbaijan, wondering if the cannolis I made today were better than Carbo’s cannolis in Cleveland’s Little Italy!  I think it may be a close call!!

After class I washed a load of laundry.  Without a dryer the picture below shows my best ability to try and dry my clothes.  Hopefully they will dry by tomorrow before I leave for Cinque Terre!!

Clothes everywhere!

I am meeting my friend Genvieve tonight for dinner.  I can’t wait to catch up!

Ciao!

Molly Jean

Best Lasagne EVER!

Wednesday May 25, 2011

In Florence there are certain times that you are suppose to put the trash out, between 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM.  You are to take it out daily and separate everything into the severeal categories that you place out on certain days.  All of this was discussed in orientation, but none of us really comprehended it.  To avoid any difficulty, we just take our out on Wednesdays because that is the day “un-separated” trash is to go out.  The trash is supposed to be picked up by 8, so waking up before then is mandatory.  But trash is never picked up before we leave for class, which is 8:45.  I just don’t get this confusing way of doing trash…

Anyway—Today’s lab was fantastic!! We had about 15 minutes of lecture about the basics of lasagne, ragu sauce, and béchamel.  We immediately began cooking after all of our ingredients were prepared (mise en palce).  Liz was in charge of making the lasagne noodles, I made the ragu sauce, and Erica made the béchamel and our Apple with Balsamic dessert.

Ragu

Pasta Making

Final Touch!

Everything came out incredible.  Chef Tommaso was once again extremely impressed with our cooking skills.  He gobbled up a slice of our lasagne with a smile on his face.

Lasagne!!

Apples with Balsamic and Vanilla Gelato :)

Chef Tommaso being goofy!

I have a list of recipes at home listing different recipes I would like to try, and one of them is homemade Lasagne!  After today’s lab I am able to cross it off the list!  Today’s lasagne made in lab is the best lasagne I have ever tasted! I was impressed of how much flavor the wine adds to the meat.  I also enjoyed the fact that it was not covered in cheese.  The béchamel and Parmesan cheese added the perfect amount of creaminess to the lasagne.  This is definitely a recipe my family will love!

On the way home from class I ran into my friend Gen who is traveling Europe with her Fiance!  She informed me before I left for Italy that she would be in Florence and emailed me last night telling me she had arrived.  It was so ironic that I ran into her on a random side street in Florence.  I guess Florence is a small town, after all!  We had made plans for dinner tomorrow night.  I haven’t seen her in about 5 years and I cannot wait to catch up with her!!

After class we all decided to work on our research paper on Caterina de Medici.  It is due next week, but with only little time left we wanted it out of the way so that we are able to enjoy our travels this weekend and our last week in Florence.  Three and a half hours later I had a completed paper!!

After being cooped up in the apartment all day I’m going to go for a walk and then get ready for dinner and watching of the sunset over near Piazza de Michaelangelo!

Ciao!

Molly Jean

Fishy Monday, Boboli, Lucca, & Pisa

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Waking up Monday morning was a little difficult after our long and busy weekend away from Florence.  Class began with a review of what type of questions to look forward to for our midterm that was to take place Tuesday (today).   Next we focused on Central Italy and Tuscany cuisine.  Tuscany is said to be the land “touched by God” because it carries the best quality of food you can find all around the world.   There is seafood from the coast, grains and wine from the rivers, meat from the mountains, truffles from the center (near Florence!) and rice from southern Tuscany.  Next came the lab…

I had read on the syllabus that we were having a fish soup called Cacciucco. It is a famous soup of central Italy that was made for the workers.  Chef Tommaso had us all gather around the front.  And that is when he took out alllll of the fish we were to use in our recipe today.  Octopus, squid, mussels, clams, dogfish, and a few types of small fish.  The small fish and octopus still had their eyes.  There is nothing like raw fish to wake you up on a Monday morning!  I cleaned out my own fish for the first time, and probably the last time. 

Looking a little skeptical of the slimy little squid

The base of the soup smelled delicious and was made up of olive oil, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, rosemary, sage, parsley, and 1 small chili pepper. One base was made with white wine, octopus, squid, mussels, and clams, and the other with red wine, dog fish, and the small fish.  The base of cacciucco is always the same and the fish can vary, depending on what is available.

Fish soup in White Wine

Fish Soup in red wine

When the soup was done cooking we served it over a thick slice of garlic toasted Tuscan bread.  I was brave and tried all of the fish I had never tasted, such as the octopus, dogfish, and small fish.  I am a huge fan of fish, so this was not a problem for me! Except for the fact that the small fish still had eyes.  Ignoring that disturbing site, the fish was actually very tasty.  The texture of the dog fish and small fish reminded me of trout.  It was very flaky and easily absorbed the flavor of the base and red wine.  As for the other soup, the octopus was not bad… just a little rubbery… And the other fish I had no problem eating!!

The final product

After class I stopped at San Lorenzo market to send some wine, olive oil, and balsamic home to the states!  And then went over to Boboli Garden.  I have wanted to visit Boboli Garden since I arrived here in Florence, believing that it was filled with big, beautiful, and colorful flowers.  Boy was I wrong!! It was more of a huge park.  Although, there was a small section of pink flowers that we found, the garden was mostly made up of the color green.  We sat and relaxed for about an hour looking out over Florence, walked around for 20 minutes, and then returned home, wishing I had saved 6 euro for something else.

After a night of studying for the mid term scheduled today, we entered Apicius (our classroom building) and were confronted with the news of no midterm.  We all had mixed emotions.  We were excited that there was no test, but disappointed we had spent the night studying when we could have been out and enjoying Florence and hanging out with other people in the program.

Class went on as usual.  Today’s discussion was about Liguaria region of Italy, which is known for it’s beautiful flowers, rich of olive trees, and eggs.  The famous recipe of the region is Torta Pasqualina, which was one of the recipes made which is a recipe made for Easter (Pasqua = Easter).   The torta is made up of pasta dough, artichoke and swiss chard (or spinach) mixed with ricotta, and an egg.  This is made in layers to create a beautiful and delicious pie!

The other recipe made today was focaccia bread.  I have had focaccia bread in the states, but the one my group made today (mostly Erica’s creation) was AMAZING!  I guess it is true that bread always taste so much better right out of the oven!

After class we (Erica, Liz, Shep, Audrey, Missy, Lacey, Laura, and I) were off the Lucca and Pisa!! The train ride to Lucca was about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  We arrived around 3:30 PM and entered the town with empty stomachs in hope to find delicious food.  We wanted something light and cheap to give us some energy for our bike ride.  We thought we had found a great little joint, but it was nothing but a disappointment. I ordered a porcini mushroom risotto.  It was the worst risotto I have ever tasted.  I guess that’s what you get for cheap and fast food!

But the day was not over.  We still had a bike ride to complete around the walls of Lucca.  Audrey had a great Rick Steve’s guidebook that led us to a bike rental place where you are able to rent a bike for 1 hour for only 3 Euros!!  What a deal!!

The ride was so relaxing.  The wind felt so refreshing and the air was so clean.  The eight of us rode around the bike path twice before our hour was up.  After returning our bike we had some time to kill before catching the train to Pisa.  There was only one thing missing from our wonderful afternoon… you guessed it… Gelato!!

We stepped on the train at 6:15 PM for Pisa and arrive around 6:45 PM.  Luckily the leaning Tower was only a five-minute walk from the station!! We only had an hour until the train left to go back to Florence!  We quickly walked over towards the Leaning Tower of Pisa to take the pictures that every tourist of Pisa must take!

We finally returned to Florence around 9:00 PM.  The days here seem to be getting shorter and shorter.  Today flew by!! I went to class, went to Lucca for a bike ride, and saw an important landmark.  I’d say it was a successful day!!

Buono notte!

Molly Jean

Verona and Lake Garda

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We are all finally back in Florence relaxing in our apartment after a wonderful trip away to Verona and Lake Garda.  We left at 9 AM Saturday morning on a charter bus to Verona.  It was exciting to see all of the people we haven’t seen since we arrive to Florence, after our Roman excursion.

We arrived in Verona Saturday afternoon around 1:30 PM at the Albergo Hotel, where I shared a room with Liz, Erica, and Becca.  We met up with the other girls to explore the city and grab lunch before meeting back at the hotel for a bus and walking tour.  As we walked towards the center of the city, we came across a Market Le Piazze dei Sapori where we found cheeses, meats, olive oil, olives, fruits, nuts, bakery, cannoli’s, lotions made with olive oil, sangria (I could go on and on).  At the olive stand I was able to sample and at that point I realized I have not tried or bought any olives yet here in Italy!! It is definitely on my grocery list for when I got to San Lorenzo this week!

Olives!!!

As we walked through we came across a restaurant located in a quieter section of Verona called Ristorante S. Eufemia.  There we order a couple bottles of wine, good food, and prepared our letter to Juliet to drop off during our walking tour-- or so that’s what we thought we needed to do (read on later about Juliets house).

Four o’clock came quickly and ISA was divided into 2 groups for the bus and walking tour.  The tour started with the bus, which took us to the highest point of Verona, Santuario Nostra Signora di Lourdes.  From there, we were able to see and incredible view of the city.

The bus then took everyone to the “old stone bridge” to begin the walking tour.  The walking tour discussed the history of the city and monuments.  The most interesting part of the tour for most of us, especially the girls, was seeing Romeo and Juliet’s house.  Our tour guide informed us that the story of Romeo and Juliet was written in Italy and it was Shakespeare that took the story to make it to be more dramatic.  That is why the English version is more popular than the Italian version. 

As we approached Juliet’s house the entrance way was covered in what is called graffiti.  The graffiti was letters, notes, and questions from visitors to Juliet.  There is also a statue of Juliet, which visitors are to touch the breast of the statue to have good luck at love.  At first I thought that it was a disgusting tradition, but soon after I decided 3 seconds of feeling awkward was worth the luck.  And of course the whole letter situation… Apparently in Verona you are to send letters to Juliet’s house by mail and someone will write you back.  I was very disappointed.  At this point everyone and I who wrote a letter had no clue what to do with it.  Most threw it out in a trash-can in Juliet’s courtyard, but I found a hole in the graffiti wall that I managed to shove my letter into.  I have no idea where it is going to go, but I felt better doing that then throwing my letter in the trash!

After a lovely and peaceful tour of Verona our dinner completely turned our day around.  Our dinner was full of laughs and fun until it was time to pay.  It was my most expensive dinner yet, and it was NOT very good.  I feel like I’ve vented to about everyone I’ve talking to so far (by that I mean my parents, boyfriend, and other ISA girls). BUT here’s the story:

On the menu there was a picture of a juicy looking steak with grilled vegetables and potatoes.  When the waitress was taking our order I told her I wanted the item in the picture.  She pointed to the name and price (14 Euro) on the menu.  I asked her what came with the steak and she said “grilled vegetables OR potatoes.”  I ordered the grilled vegetables! (surprise, surprise).  Four of the other girls had decided to order the same thing.  We all ordered a cocktail, which we knew would be expensive, and water.  The water was 2 euro for a small, individual bottle, when usually a large bottle for the entire table to share is 1 euro.  We finished up and were told to pay inside.  We asked to pay individually, which is looked down upon in Italy, but the restaurant allowed it.  My total was 27.50.  The veggies were NOT included, my steak was prepared well done (GROSS!) and each and everyone of us were charge a service fee of 1.50.  Needless to say, the nine of us got ripped off.  With only little money left to spend for the night we decided to cheer ourselves back up with some gelato before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we headed out to Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.  When we arrived we boarded a motor boat which took us around the lake.  The view was incredible.  The sun shined down on the water, which was so clean with an aqua color, unlike a certain lake up in Cleveland.  The Alps showed in the far distance and sail boats were coasting by us.  The sound of the water splashing against the boat helped everyone feel at ease and relaxed.

After the 30 minute boat tour we had 4 and a half hours to ourselves.  We ran straight to the public beach that our tour guide pointed out.  We quickly changed into our bathing suits, lathered up in sunscreen—or at least I did, and headed onto a dock where many were bathing in the sun.  The beaches are made up of rocks.  Not the most comfortable to lay out on!

After 2 hours of laying out in the sun it was time to grab some lunch.  Liz, Becca, and I headed up to where we had seen many shops and restaurants on our way to public beach.  “Ristourante-Pizzeria Valentino” caught my eye!!  Being my best friends last name and all, I just HAD to eat there.   And that is exactly where we sat down to eat.  Our ISA director had told us on the bus to eat some seafood while we were near Lake Garda, so I decided to order Mare Pizza.  It had tomatoes, mozzarella, mussels, calamari, and shrimp.   It was DELICIOUS!

With a full and satisfied stomach Liz and I decided to grab a cup of fresh fruit from a street vendor and sit by the water before it was time to head back to Florence. 

It is now time to review class material and find out what is on the menu for tomorrows cooking lab!

Buonanotte!

Molly Jean

The Il' Litini Experience

Saturday May 21, 2011

Tonight Erica, Becca, Liz, and I decided to try Il Litini, which was recommended by Liz’s Aunt.  When we arrived we noticed a crowd waiting outside for tables.  We went in to see how long the wait is and to put our name on the list, or so we thought that was what you are supposed to do.  They told to wait outside and they would remember us.  This is something that American’s are not used to.  We always put our name in and our given a buzzer or pager to let us know what your table is ready.  While here in Italy, I have truly appreciated the remarkable memory of the Italians.

During our wait a hostess served us the house white wine and parmesan cheese on the house.  The hostess eventually sat us are our table where the four of us became even more confused and disoriented.  We were used to the other Italian restaurants having menus in English, as well as Italian.  We were also used to the waiters knowing how to speak English, somewhat.

The waiter came over to ask if we liked wine and which color.  We said we wanted white.  He left without questioning what kind and brought us a bottle of the house wine. Looking around at other tables, we saw huge bottles of wine.  We were fearful in that we were getting the same bottle and did not want to pay or drink that much amount of wine.

After he served us our wine he listed off appetizers to bring to us, without handing us the menu.  We were confused if we were supposed to order a full course dinner or not.  I kindly asked for a menu.  Once the menu arrived we did not understand what the words meant.  We asked our waiter, who was extremely busy.  We also asked the Australians sitting next to us.  They were very helpful in explaining the menu to us!

Finally we decided on Farro Soup and the pasta sampler, which came with a pasta verdue (vegetable pasta), Ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, and penne with meat sauce.  We topped our farro soup with olive oil and parmesan cheese (just like we learned in class!) and shared the pastas.  All were well worth the confusion!!

At the end the waiter brought us complimentary glasses of Muscato.  We figured he either liked us, or just felt bad for us! Either way the service and food was fantastic, once we figured everything out!

Then came the bill.  Our waiter walked over with a man with a pad of paper, mumbled something in Italian and placed the bill on our table.  There were two scribbles on the bill- one at the top and one at the bottom.  We weren’t sure if the total said 40 euro or 90 euro.  We ended up asking another waiter that worked there and he said “It’s 40! Good price, huh?”  We were shocked and confused as to how small the bill was.

After a confusing, yet extremely satisfying dinner, it was time to pack for Verona and Lake Garda!

The bus leaves at 9:00 AM to head to Verona.  The weekend is filled with tours and relaxation and no computer.  See you Sunday blogspot!

Ciao!

Molly Jean

My Favorite Thing to Cook and Eminem's Death

Last night was a relaxing night in.  Liz and I bought pasta on Wednesday at the San Lorenzo Market.  The shape of the pasta reminded us of an over sized tortellini, filled with spinach and ricotta.  Cooking this time was a lot easier than the first.  No fuses were blown!!  Only 2 burners on and cooking in the dark is the trick!!

Within 30 minutes dinner was ready!  The pasta filling was as sweet and creamy as the filling that was made in class for Crispelle Florentina.  The balsamic reduction coated my mouth with a delightful sweetness! (Aspiring food critic right here... wish I was better at describing my food.  Maybe I should just stick with the work "yummy.")

Balsamic reduction I made to serve with the pasta

After dinner,  Liz, Erica, and I all sat together on Liz’s bed to watch Modern Family on Hulu and then after went to Perché-No for gelato, another place recommended by Chef Tammaso.  I ordered two flavors, white chocolate and coffee crunch. Delicious!!!

This morning’s class was a discussion on Northern Italian food, focusing on Lambardia.  With it’s mountainous landscape, Lambardia is known for rice, milk, butter, and cheese.  Lambardia’s traditional dish is risotto, which is my absolute favorite meals to cook.  Northern Italy also likes to use more animal fat, such as butter and lard, for cooking, because of the cooler climate,  compared to southern Italy who cooks with olive oil.  Therefore, the Mediterranean Diet is NOT practiced too much in Northern Italy as much as it is in the South.

Today’s class recipe was risotto with asparagus and Veil Milanese (breaded and fried veil).  Chef Tommaso taught about the best cuts of veil to shop for.  The top three are veil rib roast, top sirloin, or strip loin.  It is best to cook with the bone, adding great flavor, as well as making it easier to flip on the grill or pan while cooking.

Cooking the risotto was very comforting in that it reminded me of being at home, cooking my favorite recipe.  After the first step of sauteing the onoins, we toasted the arborio rice and then added the wine.  As the wine cooked off and was absorbed into the rice, the room filled with a scent of sweetness.  The slow process of adding the stock takes awhile, but I love standing and stirring the risotto with excitement, just knowing what the end product will turn out to be.

The final steps were to add butter and parmesan cheese to add an extra creaminess to the risotto. Our final product was excellent!!  Chef Tommaso was very pleased.   The risotto was very creamy and satisfying and the freshness of the asparagus was spectacular!  We also added basil at the end to give the risotto a kick of flavor.  Molto buono! 

risotto

The veil was excellent as well with a crispy outer crust and tasty, tender meat inside.

Viel Malanese

And the end of class Chef Tammaso tried to play a trick on us. He told us that Eminem died tonight (and by "tonight" we believe he meant last night).  Everyone's jaw dropped.  We asked him how, what happened, when, where... "He was drunk... crashed his car in the street... in LA..."  We were all a little skeptical of Chef Tommaso's story, but believed him.  Liz ran out of the class room to check the internet and Chef Tommaso began to laugh "This is not true!!!"  He was so proud of himself.  He got us good!!

After class, Liz, Erica, Becca and I went to climb the 463 steps to the top of  The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, also know as Duomo, since we did not end up going yesterday!  The stairway up was steep, dark, and crowded.  I have never known myself to be so claustrophobic!  Whenever we would stop moving all I could think of was how I would get out if something had happened.  Once we saw a glimpse of sun from the last flight of stairs I had a sigh of relief.  Although the climb was a bit nerve racking, it was well worth it!  The view was beautiful with the sun shining over the city of Florence.  We were able to see our Piazza della Repubblica, which is right where we (and Jersey Shore!) live.  We were also able to point out the leather market, San Lorenzo Market, etc…

Piazza Della Repubblica

San Lorenzo Market

Off to enjoy the rest of this fabulous sunny Friday here in Florence!

Ciao!

Molly Jean