Green Beer, Funk Bands and Boboli

I'm finally caught up on sleep/work/laundry from our epic 10 day spring break so I figured I'd go ahead and do a quick post about what I've been up to since I've been back!

St. Patty's Day was, as I'm sure you are aware, this past Thursday. Back at UVA and in other parts of the world, this holiday is a huuuge celebration, so I was anxious to see what Florence had to offer! Much to my chagrin, I quickly learned that Italians don't celebrate St. Patty's Day. Wish I had known that before getting dressed that morning, as I proudly strutted the streets donning everything green from my wardrobe. After class, Devon, Brigid and I went to a local American bar and purchased some green beers! So while the holiday wasn't exactly as 'crazy' as it is in America, it was still really fun.

Don't think for even a second that I missed out on anything, though! This past week also happened to be the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, which was certainly reason enough to have a celebration.

The Ponte Vecchio was illuminated with green,white and red lights, which matched perfectly with the other festive lights and decorations strewn all over the city. All of the state run museums [think Palazzo Vecchio, Piti Palace, etc] opened up their doors free to the public until 1 AM! BINGO! Also, there was a great funk band that performed live in Santa Croce for about an hour..it was so much fun getting to celebrate with Italians and Americans. Italians have so much pride - it blew me away! In the days leading up to the anniversary, almost all of the shops hung Italian flags in their window displays and even had special sales in honor of the big day. It kind of reminded me of a really huge 4th of July celebration except infinitely cooler!

palazzo vecchio decorated with Italian flags

Hot Air Balloon in Santa Croce

And just when I thought things couldn't get any better, fireworks were sent off from the Piazza del Duomo. Red, white and green flashes filled the sky as Devon, Brig and I walked along the arno back to our apartment.

On Friday, we woke up and decided to be adventurous and try a new restaurant that a friend of mine had recommended. With a name like Pizza Man, I was a bit concerned that we might be walking right into the the tourist trap of the century. But, much to our surprise, Pizza Man lived up to it's rep and prepared us some of the best pizza we've had since being here. I got the Margherita DOP, which uses Buffalo mozzarella instead of regular mozzarella [side note: my palette must not be refined enough because I still can't taste the difference between regular mozzarella and the much more expensive and rare buffalo moz...oh well]. Devon got the Caprese pizza, which more or less fits the label of an American margherita pizza. Needless to say, we left VERY satisfied and have added Pizza Man into our rotation of restaurants 

margherita pizza 

caprese pizza 

After pizza we headed to the Boboli gardens to spend this gorgeous day wandering the Piti Palace.

As we had hoped, some of the flowers in the gardens have started to bloom, so we spent a good 30 minutes frolicking in the grass and taking photos of/with the foliage. Since we didn't go inside the palace on our first trip, we decided to check out the costume gallery inside this time. It was great! Sadly, photography was not allowed, but the dresses that were featured were utterly beautiful. Also featured in the gallery were actual remnants of clothes that Cosimus de Medici wore himself! For some reason, looking at his clothes left me with a very eery feeling...but I still though the whole thing was very cool, nonetheless.

It's officially Spring and with it has come some great weather. Today was a glorious day: high 50's and not a cloud in the sky...Bellisimo! Devon and I are continuing our adventures this weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark so I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to blog about upon our return. Until then...Arrivederci!