The Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta on the road from Pienza to San Quirico d'Orcia

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo



157. The Rificolona

Yet another Florence festival! This one goes back to the middle ages and has been revived in modern times. Apparently farmers from the Casentino and Pistoia would bring their wares to the city to sell and sleep under the cloisters in Piazza S.S. Annunziata, sing hymns to the virgin Mary and hold a market the following day. In derision of these country women and their shabby clothes, local Florentines made caricatures with candles under the skirts, christening the women 'fierculone' or 'firey big arses'!


Today a procession of people carrying various coloured paper lamps and lanterns makes its way from Piazza Santa Croce, through Piazza San Giovanni and finishing upm in piazza S.S. Annunziata. Complete with marching band and followed by small boys carrying pea shooters trying to extinguish all these lovely creations... it's a bizzare sight!


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