christmas in florence!

Despite the chilly temps and the rain, rain....and more rain...Christmas could easily become my favourite time of year in Florence.  The tourist crowds have virtually disappeared and the locals have reclaimed their city.  The piazzas in il centro are suddenly full of Italians and the streets and stores have become (amazingly) easy to navigate.  There are Christmas markets full of handmade gifts all over the city and more varieties of panettone than I've ever seen!  The best part though, are the outdoor decorations that have literally blanketed the city....

 Daytime in Piazza del Duomo, complete with tree but minus the crowds!

Shopping on Via del Calzaiouli with Christmas lanterns strung above...

Street performers at the Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce

Mountains of panettone!

Getting drunk on gelato....apparently just as fun in December.

The lights and decor started going up mid-November all over Florence.  The larger Vias were the first to be treated and I exclaimed "oh, look how pretty that's going to be...!".  But to my delight, the decor just kept expanding.  First, to side streets all over town....then the big tree and nativity scene in the Piazza del Duomo...and displays of all sorts in every Piazza.  They don't mess around here.  Obviously, all of it is best viewed after dark when the miles of twinkling lights guide you through the streets.  Here are some of my favourites....

Evening in Piazza del Duomo.  So pretty!

Bello Ponte Vechio all lit up for the holidays.  Kind of magical how the stars seem to float above the bridge.

More lights....Via de Ginori.

What is so lovely about it all is that no two streets are the same.  The lights are generally strung the width of the street between buildings, but the variety seems endless.  Stars, globes, lanterns, arcs, sheets of light, and carpets cascading down the length....you discover a new treasure around every corner!

...Borgo Albizi.  The placement literally draws you down the street.

....a zig zag pattern on Borgo dei Greci...

In keeping with the predominant aesthetic here, there is nothing matchy or overly planned about any of this.  Like the best design and decor (and the city itself) it all has the feeling of having evolved over time.  The lights are all white....no colours here...but the motif, placement and repetition is ever changing.  Like a home filled with things that the owners love, nothing feels overdone.  Instead it has a sense of being effortless and reflective of the city itself. 

Christmas lanterns at night on Via del Calzaiouli

Lantern closeup...

Via del Corso.  Love the ribbon of light speckled with stars - it carries on down the whole length of the street!

That's not to say that there's nothing flashy going on...Italians are certainly fans of more than a little bling.  The key is restraint.  Like the way the Florence Duomo has been allowed to dominate the architectural landscape, a few choice streets and bridges definitely stand out with wow factor...but the simple colour scheme and toned down decoration on adjoining streets allows for maximum impact.  The same way that too many focal points in one space creates visual clutter while highlighting a single element creates harmony.  Each installation here says Festive and simply elevates the loveliness of this already beautiful city.  Obviously I dig it! 

Via Romana, leading to Palazzo Pitti....

Via Maggio's inverted trees...

Piazza della Republica.  The carousel is always there, but now complete with giant Santa, or as Elly now calls him: Babbo Natale.

Art projections on the facade of Basilica di Santo Spirito

It can be tough to maintain your holiday traditions being so far from home and from friends and family. We've tried to keep some small rituals for Elly's sake (I toted our Christmas stockings...handmade by Granny....here from Canada.) In the end though, I think Christmas in Florence will forever be a treasured memory for us.  Living in a city like this can't help but influence so many aspects of life and certainly our approach to the holidays will be transformed by our Christmas in Italy...next stop, Roma!

...the best thing about the holidays....a happy girl ;)  Elly's first gingerbread house!

a day in the country

This fall, my sister Kate and her guy Chad spent a couple of lovely weeks with us here in Florence.  Despite a few rainy days and some unexpected closures, fall is a great time to visit Italy.  The masses of tourists have subsided and you've practically got every museum and town to yourself!  One of our most memorable days with Kate and Chad was spent in the Tuscan countryside in a little hill town called San Gimignano.  During high season this place is packed with people, but we managed to visit on a crisp sunny day in early November...

The main entrance into the medieval walled town - love the curves in the small buttressed arches at the top!

San Gimignano is known as the Town of Towers.  A dozen or so of the town's original 72 tower houses have been preserved, giving it a uniquely beautiful skyline (most towers in other Tuscan towns including Florence have been destroyed by war, urban development or decay).  The San Gimignano towers are a result of family rivalries during medieval times when they competed to build the tallest tower. Today, it's a picture perfect hill town packed with medieval architecture, artisanal shops and great restaurants.  Something for everyone in our little group!

early November in Italy - sunny day and empty streets!

Check out the herringbone pattern of the paving stones!  Love it.

Though there's no shortage of charm or quality of restaurants and artisans in San Gimignano, what is truly breathtaking are the views of the Tuscan countryside surrounding the walled town.  A small detour from the main streets will take you out along the town walls...and the feeling that you've walked into a postcard.  Seriously.

Beautiful Tuscan hills.

Hills and rooftops - the fall colours meld so perfectly with the terra cotta....

Sisters.  I miss her already.

A trip anywhere with the Morton sisters is not complete without a little shopping.  San Gimignano is full of jewellers, leather makers, cheese and salumi producers....but in search of a lunch spot we stumbled into a shoe store.  I know, hard to believe.  Kate had been searching all over Florence for the perfect pair of boots - she found them (and handmade too) in San Gimignano. 

Kate's new hand-made shoes.  Pretty sweet.

Piazza della Cisterna - such a beautiful variety of textures and colours in the stone

Of course, Sandro had to scour the town (literally questioning merchants) for the best place to eat.  He reappeared to guide us down a side street to a tiny little Trattoria with a huge wine cellar...their speciality, a Tuscan favourite - cinghiale, or wild boar.  Kate and I weren't so brave, but Chad and Sandro went whole hog ;) on the parpardelle con ragu di cinghiale.  They seemed pretty happy.

Kate and Chad - lunch in San Gimignano

After our Tuscan lunch - and I suspect a play from Sandro and Chad to prevent any more shopping - the four of us climbed the 200 steps to the top of San Gimignano's only public tower.  The views from here are even more stunning than from the town walls...

Views from the top of the tower.  Truly like a postcard.

looking down on two of the remaining San Gimignano towers with rooftops and hills behind

The main piazza from above

A San Gimignano bell tower....and the Tuscan countryside.

Back down the steps, we had just enough time for gelato before catching our bus back to Florence.  To date, this remains our best gelato experience in Italy.  Everyone has their favourite combination -- mine, pistacchio and cioccolato.  Yum.  The perfect end to a perfect day.

....my hubby...I just love this picture ;)

San Gimignano from outside the town walls

Admittedly, this is my least design-related post so far, but the history, colours and textures of this beautiful town just needed to be shared.  A presto!