Ieri Sera (last night) at Campo de Fiori

Musica!

Since living here, Sean and I have both fallen in love with Italian music. The artists below, I would consider some of the best in the world. It’s such a shame that Americans aren’t exposed to different types of artists like this (Jiovanotti and Malik Ayane are my personal favorites), because they are truly great.
Jiovanotti
Negramaro
Malik Ayane
Tiziano Ferro
Laura Pausini
Guisy Ferreri
Vasco Rossi

Settimana prima di Pasqua

All of our students were on their Easter break last week for “Settimana Santa” (holy week, before Easter) and so we hardly worked any hours. I am sure we will be complaining when we get paid, but we weren’t complaining having the free time, away from our restless students. Sean’s sister, Tiffany, and her boyfriend were visiting. The weather was amazingly warm, and sunny and we really enjoyed their company. Playing tour guides for a few days made us re-realize how incredible this city really is, and how proud we are to call it home.

Sean and I went to Firenze last weekend for literally 24 hours. It was really nice to get out of Rome for a bit and be someplace totally different. Florence is a beautiful city. It was Sean’s first time going, but my second, so I vowed not to take any photos to add to the 2000 I took on my last journey...except for photos of us of course. We arrived in the evening, and were feeling groggy from the train ride, which wasn’t so fast, since we opted for the low-priced train option that stops every 5 minutes. I had a caffé macchiato which is just shot of espresso and a drop of latte, and was ready to go. I was full of energy and dragged Sean to all the sites that I remembered. We walked the whole city in the evening since it is small enough, and it was just as I remembered - romantic, with a dream-like energy that comes from the small city tucked away in the Tuscan countryside. We even managed to go out and experience the nightlife at the popular Santa Croce, ending the night with some Italian karaoke. When we checked into our “quaint” hotel, the cutest, old Italian man, who reminded me of Giupetto from Pinocchio, greeted us. He spoke only Italian, and when we took out our American passports, he told us how impressed he was that we spoke Italian, since Americans can NEVER speak Italian. He called me out on being Italo-Americana because of my name and started having a conversation with me on where my family was from, where I was born and general information like that. Sean held his breath as I answered all his questions perfectly. The next day, we woke up bright and early and toured the city again. It was hot and bright in every piazza, and I got in some shopping (new, black, leather hand-bag!) We headed back to Rome on a 4-hour train ride, again, that stopped every 5 minutes. We were exhausted and ended up sleeping through Easter Sunday, besides waking up to watch mass on TV and eat chocolate bacci.

Villa Pamphili - my happy place

Una Bellissima Giornata

Domenica Perfetta

Today was a perfect day. After a glorious night’s sleep (which was desperately needed, since I have been suffering from the spring fever time change all week), we got up and made our regular strong espresso from the caffetiera, then headed out to the market to get some fresh fruit, bread and snacks. The sun was shining and the city was already alive and bustling with Sunday-morning families and tourists. We couldn’t help but stop and smell the roses at the local fiorista where millions of bright, colorful spring flowers over-flowed from the shop doors onto the sidewalk. The cutest little girl, about 3 years old, with golden blond curls and big brown eyes was in line in front of us at the market with her nono. As she carefully placed each item onto the conveyer belt, she said what it was, “uova, banane, spaghetti, tacchino...” It took about an hour for her to finish, and Sean and I were cracking up the whole time. She finished and I said, “brava!” Her nono smiled at our patience and was glad we saw the humor in his cute little grandaughter.

We then decided to go on a passeggiata (walk) and headed up to this area which is high above the city called San Anselmo, providing amazing views. A church sits on top of this hill, and when you look through the keyhole, you see a crystal clear view of the top of Basilica San Pietro. There was a little garden full of happy orange trees, fountains and people basking in the sun. We sat for a long time in the sun eating our crisp apples and making daisy chains.

After this, Sean went to his soccer match and I headed up to my favorite place in all of Rome, Villa Pamphili, for a long run. The park was packed with people, as today had to have been the nicest day of the year so far. After my run, I kicked off my sneakers, laid down in the grass, and let the hot sun kiss my face. I could have laid there forever. One thing there is no denying is that Italians love babies. There were millions of olive-skinned children, called names like Dario, Filipo, Giussepe, Flavio, Francesca, all running around, playing and providing the smiling adults with endless entertainment. Each family seemed to revolve around the children and there was such a genuine happiness radiating from everyone. It reminded me of my own happy childhood. Once the sun started to go down, I headed home and showered and am now feeling sun drained and satisfied from this domenica perfetta.