It's all in the pronunciation ……

We opera-goers who stayed up very late to post during beneficial wi-fi time were slow to wake up this morning.  Rigmor has a slight cold complicated by her allergies so I let her sleep as late as I could while I read online about all the mayhem in the world.

We have another afternoon Italian class and hadn’t really discussed what we would do with our morning; although as our Duomo, Baptistry and Bell Tower tickets are still valid we thought we would head there.

Rigmor has on her trip bucket list a visit to Castello Vincigliata, a medieval castle in the hills northeast of Fiesole.  Established circa 1031 AD, its restoration started in the 17^th Century.  In the pure spirit of Renaissance patronage, eighty masons, artisans, sculptors, glassmakers and antiquarians  were commissioned who together revitalized the castle after ten years of work.

Rigmor’s employer’s parents lived in this castle in the mid 1930’s.  While full of stories of the era, they had never visited; hence the desire to get photos for the family.

Our ever-clever Simona hatches a plan and calls us while we are at a late breakfast.  She is already in Fiesole with the Art and Architecture group having taken two Mercedes mini vans for the trip.  If we could take the bus and meet her, we might hire the driver for the trip back and forth to the Castello.

We have become old hands at city bus travel and arrive right on time.  Our driver lives in the area and wends the van through the hairpin turns.  The area is full of hikers and joggers enjoying the solitude and beautiful vistas.

Soon we arrive at the gates.  We are so grateful for Fersa, our able driver, who is working the intercom.  Voila!  The gates open and we drive up the parking area.  Fersa makes sure we are in good hands before he leaves for his breakfast of cappuccino and cornetto. 

We take numerous pictures.  The castello is used as a venue for events, many of which are weddings.  Ninety percent of the weddings are from foreigners as this kind of beauty is an everyday backdrop for many Italians.  Of course, we have tried to sweeten the pot by speaking of the marriageable age children Rigmor's employer has, so our tour was both comprehensive and gracious.

It was an absolutely lovely and historic place, hence all the pictures.  So if anyone needs a destination wedding venue, I highly recommend it.

Fersa drops us into town where we buy some more bus tickets and stop to have a quick lunch.  Guess who we run into?  Our boxer friend, Stringa is back on the prowl taking advantage of the water bowl our trattoria has placed outside.  I think Italian girls can't afford to get married so they get a dog!

On the way to class today I was attempting to photograph this beautiful Italian girl with a wonderful tan on a bicycle when I accidentally captured a bike on bike accident.  It appears that no one was hurt but there was a lot of picture taking, gestures and shouting going on.

In Italian today we are learning abut Italian gestures.  Trust me, this does not come naturally.  We are much more buttoned up in the States.  Personally, I am not going to try any of them except for the one that means..this costs too much.  That's  is fairly universal.

After class many of us gather on the loggia for drinks.  We are in the middle of the men's fashion event Pitti Uomo.  Now uomo is pronounced whoa-mo. We have an intrepid photographer in our group from Chicago whose mission is to capture on film the men of Pitto Uomo as they return from whatever they do during fashion week. I find that generally they carry lots of Salvatore Ferragamo shopping bags as they parade before us.

They are a distinctive lot with their rolled up trouser cuffs, tight fitting jackets and unusual pattern matching with the shirts and pocket handkerchiefs and no socks. You will not find these guys standing outside of Dillards at the mall.

Simona scoffs at the interest in this lot, saying...Hello...they are all gay!

Once we corrected our photographer's pronunciation, she found she had a lot more men willing to pose for her when she stopped announcing she was making a study of the men of Pitti Homo.

Like I said...it's all in the pronunciation!