Mary

Gosh—rereading the Spirit Ring and LMB just put in everything: the saltcellar, exile from Florence, charges of necromancy, boasting of his own skills & railing against his enemies, Perseus fired with all the furniture in his house & alloyed with all his pewter—but Fiametta as protag is WAY better.

Detail view of bronze sculpture Perseus With the Head of Medusa, by Benvenuto Cellini

More distant view of Perseus, showing the statue in full with the crumpled bronze body of Medusa below and the beginnings of the marble plinth

Bronze bust of Benvenuto Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Statue of Benvenuto Cellini in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Finished The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini on the morning I leave Florence, after walking last night through the Loggia dei Lanzi to bid goodbye to his Perseus. Now to reread Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Spirit Ring, in which she calls Cellini “that wonderful egotistical monster.” Exactly right.

176!

me entering my 20th year of writing Naruto fanfic—

I love those Old Man Cat grumbles. (Age doesn’t matter for the grumbles, it’s a state of mind.)

I’ve just realized I used the word “absolute” three times in my write-up, which tells you what a superlative experience it was (and also that I’m typing on a small phone with no edit function…)

It WAS. and now we don’t have room for dinner. Which is okay as our new B&B on the south side of the river Arno is lovely and charming and high-ceilinged but situated up three flights of very tall stairs and I’m not sure how many times per day I can climb them…

We also drank a lot of red wine, told jokes, shared stories with our fellow classmates from California, New York, Puerto Rico, South Korea (& of course Canada). An absolutely wonderful time.

My only regret: we didn’t make Tuscan favourite pici pasta. But we’re bringing back 2 kilos dried, anyway…

Wire-cut spaghetti loosely gathered and dusted with semolina. Beyond are bowls of semolina, wooden rolling pins, and a couple wooden shapes strung with thin wires

A black bowl of pasta: wire-cut spaghetti with dill and basil in a garlic, chili, and olive oil sauce

The wire-cut spaghetti used a super cool tool like a guitar box (maybe just visible here?) and was served in a sauce made from olive oil, garlic, dried red chilis, dill, basil, lime (zest and juice), plus lots of Pecorino cheese. Absolutely stunning.

Rolling pin on a wooden table above 9 circles of cut pasta with a dollop of ricotta filling on each

Close up of a golden circle of pasta dough with a dollop of ricotta filling

Shaped cappelletti pasta. They look like little wontons but don’t tell that to an Italian chef.

Cappelletti pasta in brown butter sauce with grated grana padano on top.

We used the pasta dough to make pappardelle, wire-cut spaghetti, & filled cappelletti.

Filling first: ricotta, salt, pepper, lemon zest, olive oil, grated Grana Padano. Just a bit of filing for each circle of dough! Shape in a half-moon, seal the ends. Serve in brown butter sauce w/ more cheese.

We made our pasta dough. 200g 00 flour, 2 eggs. Make a wide well in the flour, crack the eggs in, stir w/ a fork til it looks like scrambled eggs, then mix in remaining flour to form a crumbly dough. Switch to a bench scraper to bring together, then knead by hand til smooth. Wrap in plastic & rest.

Chef also browned butter on the lowest heat, added garlic “with its shirt on” (still w/ outer skin attached, just lightly smashed—this keeps it from burning), then walked away for 20 minutes. No need to hover!

Later he fried sage in the butter, then strained out sage, garlic, & milk solids.

I love that they’ve built a bench round the rotunda so we lucky few who snag a seat can sit and stare and soak him in.

Folded pasta ready to be cut into pappardelle

A coil of stacked strips of pappardelle

Pappardelle with beef shank ragù

Pappardelle with beef shank ragù

The ragù was served with our knife-cut pappardelle. It was AMAZING. You could use any tough muscle meat here—Florentines love wild boar or duck. The one vegetarian in our group got her own special tomato & herb sauce.

Chef demonstrating how to cut the edges of bone-in beef shanks so the meat sears exempt

Bone-in beef shank and herbs searing in a pot

Chef mincing carrots, red onion, celery for sofrito

Carrots, celery, red onions minced for sofrito. Bowl of red tomato paste and pat of butter nearby

Chef started off making a ragù—searing bone-in beef shanks in olive oil, adding a bundle of fresh herbs, then the sofrito, tomato paste (never fresh tomatoes bc they’re too acidic!), butter, red wine, & water. Simmer (lidded) at least 90 minutes, then remove bones & excess fat and shred the meat.

Two eggs sit in a pile of 00 flour on a long wooden table, with a fork and red bench scraper just beyond

Freshly made pasta tangles in semolina flour on a wooden table, with bowls of semolina, rolling pins, and wire cutters beyond

As the crowning glory of our Florence trip we booked a pasta making class! A charming small group of fellow foodies, a skilled & funny teacher, three types of pasta and three sauces. This was an absolute delight.

Pizza with porchetta, saffron burrata, mozzarella, lemon peel, basil.

Pizza with blue cheese, Tuscan pancetta, mozzarella, pistachio.

Dark chocolate and stracciatella gelato.

Tuscan cream and “holiday chocolate” (with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and orange) gelato

More Things What We Ate

Pizza with porchetta, saffron burrata, mozzarella, lemon peel, basil.

Pizza with blue cheese, Tuscan pancetta, mozzarella, pistachio.

Dark chocolate and stracciatella gelato.

Tuscan cream and “holiday chocolate” (with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and orange) gelato.

An amazing stall specializing in pulses and grains, also selling olive oils, spices, spreads, etc.

A meat stall with prosciuttos hanging from the ceiling and many local Florentine ladies lining up

A cheese and prosciutto stall where the stall owner is slicing very thin prosciutto with a very sharp knife

A lambredotto sandwich, with filling made from the fourth stomach of a cow, stewed and chopped up. If you like offal you may like this sandwich. If you don’t, just enjoy the smell and let other people eat it. If you’re like me, order it for 5euros and satisfy your curiosity which is more important than your stomach anyway

The Mercato Sant’Ambrogio (pretend I didn’t misspell it in alt text above.) We got the best oranges of my life here & also tried Florence’s famous lambredotto, which is…NOT the best sandwich of my life. But we also got freshly harvested olive oil and Pecorino Romano cheese aged in walnut leaves.

The facade of Santa Croce, in tricolored marble against a cloudy sky

The central nave of Santissima Annunziata, brilliantly glittering with lights, gold, silver, frescos, and paintings

The facade of the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore at night, brilliantly lit, with the bulk of the dome hiding behind

Looking up into the Duomo’s dome, with its brilliantly painted ceiling

How ‘bout some churches?

The facade of Santa Croce

The central nave of Santissima Annunziata (go see this one, it’s GLORIOUS)

The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) at night

The inside of the Duomo, looming up into the dome

Since we saw one cloister with bells ringing, let’s see another. This is San Lorenzo, just outside the entrance to the Laurentian Library.

Momentary break for the peaceful second cloister of Santa Croce as the noon bell rings

Tomb of Machiavelli in Santa Croce

Tomb of Dante in Santa Croce

Tomb of Michelangelo in Santa Croce

Tomb of Galileo in Santa Croce

Speaking of Santa Croce, we saw tombs!!

Machiavelli
Dante
Michelangelo
Galileo

Sculpture of Juno sitting on a plinth and holding a (missing) lightning bolt, with two peacocks beside her

Close up of Juno holding a (missing) lightning bolt

Sculpture in relief showing a tired-looking Madonna with her baby poking her face or maybe wiping away tears. Anyone who’s held a toddler knows.

Monument to Dante outside Santa Croce

A few other statues I’ve seen and liked (staying with the SFW ones so Bluesky stops having fits over artistic nudes)

Juno and Two Peacocks by Ammannati

The Christ Child Poking His Mother in the Eye (okay it’s Torrigiani Madonna by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo)
Dante Monument outside Santa Croce

Monumental bronze statue of Perseus With the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

Monumental bronze statue of Perseus With the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

Back view of Perseus With the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

Back view of Perseus With the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

But my ACTUAL fave is Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus With the Head of Medusa, bc 1) I’ve been working my way thru his autobiography & my boy Cellini is ALL PROBLEMS & proud of it; and 2) the climax of Bujold’s THE SPIRIT RING is inspired by the creation of this statue. Also Medusa bleeds when it rains…

Donatello’s Saint George, a marble sculpture standing in an enormous niche, with the depiction of his dragon slaying in relief below

Close up of St George’s head and torso. He looks into the distance like a troubled but still noble hero

I also like Donatello’s Saint George, who looks a little overawed by what he’s done.

A closeup of the head and torso of Michelangelo’s David, seen from below

A closeup of the back of Michelangelo’s David, seen from below

A closeup of the right leg, hand, and backside of Michelangelo’s David, seen from below

A closeup of the head and torso of Michelangelo’s David, seen from below

Michelangelo’s David is unsurprisingly my favourite. The anatomy!! The expression!

Michelangelo’s David, a towering marble sculpture

Donatello’s bronze David, the first life-size freestanding nude bronze statue ever made since classical antiquity

Donatello’s first marble David, from 1409, still showing Gothic/medieval influences

Verocchio’s bronze David cc 1466-1469: says the plaque, “here David is a young man with a proud and spirited expression, satisfied with his victory, as elegant as a page boy.”

One morning we went to the Gallerie dell’Accademie and saw Michelangelo’s David; another afternoon we went to the Bargello Museum and saw Donatello’s Davids (plural) and Verocchio’s. Amazingly varied interpretations. Everyone has their favourite headcanon for this guy…

An orange tree growing in a plaza in front of tall stuccoed houses

A great glowing pile of mandarin oranges, priced 2 1/2 euros per kilo, at Sant’Ambroglio market

An orange tree growing in the courtyard of the Laurentian Library at San Lorenzo, with the cloisters beyond and the dome of the Medici Chapel visible above

A dark-haired woman standing in a green-shuttered window looking out onto a courtyard where an olive tree grows; she is looking above the courtyard at the red-tiled roofs and the blue sky

We’ve been seeing & doing & eating so much here in Florence that it’s hard to keep up and even harder to catch up, so this will not be a chronological accounting of event but more of an impressionistic gesture at a whole.

A ribeye steak cut open, showing the medium rare interior

A close up of a cup of gelato with a waffle crisp

Wow, @meowbrey.bsky.social got MUCH better photos of the steak and gelato

It’s somehow even more compelling that the finished & highly polished masterpieces, because you can see the WORK.