Postcard from Florence: the Neighbourhood

Part of this sojourn is about, 

"Well, if we've sold our house and the kids are good, why pay rent in Canada?" 

"As a family, we manage a monthly budget of about 30 or so line items. How can we reduce that to 5?"

"If we can determine what amount we actually need to live on, can we spend that somewhere else?"

Coupled with last winter's deep cold very nearly doing us in, we faced the age old glass half-full or half-empty challenge: so we decided to make this time in our life an opportunity instead of a problem, and planning began. Thinking on how to explain, we are living in places as opposed to travelling through them: Slow Travel with a bit of the Art of Getting Lost thrown in. We don't have phones, we leave our tablets behind each day, disconnecting by even a little bit is turning out to be calming.

Our day's structure is the same as pre-homeless, but now that we've officially embarked, our joy factor is rising exponentially!

On Borgo de la Croce, our Florence home is situated in the old part of the city known as San Ambrogio, a neighbourhood with bustling street life, and home to families, workers, artists, musicians.  Old, old 3-4 storey apartments with inner courtyards, laundry lines, wafting conversations, Italian television shows, discomfited babies, church bells, small shops, a flea market, open-air food market and churches every few blocks. Accordions are played everywhere!

This is our building, our window is the middle one.



Our neighbourhood namesake, the Church of Saint Ambrogio, dates from the 10th century and we are surrounded by its life, cobblestone streets, tonne-stone walking paths that open onto Grande Boulevards and all sizes of Piazzas.  Wandering for hours every day brings us absolute joy!

We cook our own meals most days, which makes for adventurous trips through the daily farmer's market and the local grocery aisle.  Warm breakfasts are not a meal here, I cannot find oatmeal, Florentines prefer a stop in at their Cafe for a stand-up espresso and pastry. Prices are in Euros and not that much different than home, except in the farmer's market....literally dirt cheap. Seems outrageous "organic"  prices haven't yet reached Florence! Store-bought groceries are packaged with no English, resulting in some interesting purchases even when we're relying  on product photos and our dictionary!  Italians are very, very helpful!
  
Our street:

Our courtyard, where the main floor tenant washes crates and crates of fresh vegetables each morning. I think they are used for the Trattoria on our main floor. A Trattoria is a tiny restaurant seating maybe 20 that serves home-style light fare, plenty of coffee and wine. 

The bottom of this photo: Marc's stinky running gear hanging out to dry.

Our apartment, with everything we need. The ancient and cracking painted ceiling adds a nice touch we think! Our main window, 12 feet high, opens wide to let the warm fall air, sunshine and street music and noise in.

Communal garbage stations:

Florentines bring their separated garbage to numerous stations throughout each neighbourhood. Organic waste, recyclables, and everything else communally gathered. No house-to-house pick-up, 

with the streets being so small and many closed to traffic except durging rotating times per day.

The Flea Market, one block away!

  

We've made it inside exactly 1 famous gallery during our first week. The weather is beautiful, 10 degrees Celsius, exactly what we want for exploring the back roads of Florence, stopping for wine, coffee, cheese with honey!, getting ready for some great hiking in the hills behind Florence.  Yesterday, we sat on a piazza patio, reading our books in the sun, feeling quite at home, in love,  and blessed. Funny how all that works out time and time again during a 35 year partnership.

Next-up: Marc came to a church concert with me to hear Puccini's Messa de Gloria...sung!, 

AND it took him 6 days to find the closest rugby pitch.

Ciao, and love to you all

xx