Mini-vacation to Florence

May 17, 2021 by JLF

With the Covid pandemic coming under control, the Government has relaxed some of the restrictions. We wanted to visit Florence for several reasons, so we decided to head there for Saturday and Sunday (May 8 & 9, 2021).

After our first trip to Italy, Mike M. asked me if I had been to Piazzale Michelangelo. It sounded so wonderful, but no… we hadn’t visited it. I vowed that I would visit it in the future and we have now done so many times now. On Saturday, it was our first stop of our mini-vacation. From this grand piazza, you can see all of the gorgeous city of Florence. And we even listened some live blues music while enjoying the view.

I had read that the Irises were in bloom and so we searched for this special garden and found it (along with a lot of other people). The Irises were spectacular!

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the restaurant right next to Chiesa Santa Croce (with brown umbrellas in photo below). This is one of our favorite piazzas in Florence, so it was nice to return. We’ve been trying hummus whenever we see it on the menu and especially appreciated all of the fresh vegies as dippers. Although hummus isn’t considered a traditional Italian dish, chickpeas are used in many different dishes here. My favorite is cecina.

We walked around some of the main sights of Florence and were pleased to see that there were more people now on the streets and around these sights. Here’s a few pics of the unique and beautiful Florence duomo. Gotta love that dome – no one still knows for sure how it was built and why it is still standing!

I wanted to spend some looking at and reading about the sculptures in the Loggia dei Lanzi so was a bit disappointed that people are still being kept from this open air exhibit. I suppose too many people could gather in the area… It was built between 1376 and 1382 and the various sculptures have been exhibited in the space since then. I like the two lions on the steps: the one on the right dates from Roman times, the other on the left was sculpted by Flaminio Vacca in 1598 and was originally placed in the Villa Medici in Rome before being moved to the Loggia in 1789. The history here is mind boggling!

For dinner we ate at Cantinetta Antinori, our favorite restaurant in Florence. Antinori is one of the biggest wine producers in Italy and the restaurant is located in the family’s Palazzo. Because the COVID rules allow only outdoor dining, everyone was sitting in the Palazzo’s courtyard. It was a delightful setting, great food, and tastes of many of their less well-known wines.

Apparently I was tired of taking pictures, because I have none for Sunday! But it was a lovely day… We went to Mosaico, an English-speaking church that we’ve visited before. Then visited a friend that has recently opened a store/bistro that sells Italian and French (yep, French!) cheese and wine. We enjoyed visiting with Rebecca, savoring many new and interesting cheeses and buy several items from the shop. When you next visit Florence, be sure to stop in at Formaggioteca Terroir.

Coronavirus Update

Tourists are now allowed back into Italy! Yay! We are still waiting for some of the specific rules, but generally tourists will need to prove that they don’t have COVID before entering. We are still wearing masks in public (inside and outside) and haven’t heard much discussion of the relaxation of these rules. Restaurants are opened for outdoor dining but starting June 1st, we can eat inside, at least for lunch. This is important because we’ve been having lots of rain, so the restaurants have hustled to get tables available outdoors with umbrellas.

Italy got a slow start in distributing the vaccines, but the pace is definitely increasing. I have received two doses of Pfizer and Jim is scheduled for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine on June 7th.

Despite the improvements, we have a conservative travel plan for 2021. We plan on exploring various parts of Italy in 2021 and then to visit other European countries in 2022.

If you are planning to visit Italy, please let us know. Lucca is a great city to visit and to use as a base for many days of exploring Tuscany (Florence, Siena, wineries, hilltop towns, beaches, etc.) as well as Cinque Terre. If you can’t make it to Lucca but will be spending some time in Florence, we can come for a drink or a meal. Italy is looking forward to the return of the tourists! We are looking forward to visitors too!

Yellow, Orange, Red but when White???

February 27, 2021 by JLF

Each week Italy assigns a color to each region based on the latest coronavirus data… the colors identify the set of restrictions that will be in place for the week. We felt quite fortunate that Tuscany (our region) was Yellow for five weeks. We used the time to do a bit of exploring in Tuscany, including a morning of birdwatching in a nearby park, a visit to a beautiful Abbey, and a wonderful lunch with friends in a nearby town. But then we moved to Orange – meaning no travel outside of your town (except for essential activities), restaurants closed (except take out and delivery), and all museums closed. The rumors have been flying that we would move to Red this week… and so we asked the question that we’ve asked before “What do we need to do before we turn Red?” BUT… we stayed Orange for at least another week. Whewwww! We have a new Government in place (sorta like a new Administration for the US Federal Government) so I’m expecting some of the baseline rules to change in the next few weeks. And dreaming of becoming a White zone.

Vaccines are now being given throughout Italy and Tuscany is doing a great job of getting them into people’s arms. The Government has published a multi-phase approach to distributing the vaccine and we are in the second phase. It will start when the first phase is done – and they are not yet predicting when that will be. So we wait… Execution of the plan has been slower than expected due to delays in the distribution of the vaccine.

Abbey of San Galgano

I have been looking forward to visiting this Abbey for several years. Before moving to Italy, I joined a Facebook group called Paradiso…Toscana that is primarily used for posting beautiful pictures of Tuscany. I kept spotting this Abbey and dreaming of visiting it one day and taking pictures of the wonderful architecture of the ruins of this Abbey. It is about a two hour drive from our home… we zipped down the coast then through very twisty roads to find the Abbey in the countryside.

We visited this Abbey with Brian and Victoria Rice, American friends who have been living in Lucca for a few years. They have learned to expect a bit of a history lesson during the drive to each destination… This Abbey was built during the 13th century. Saint Galgano lived and worshiped in a nearby hermitage, so when the Abbey was built it was named after him. In the 1500s some people removed and sold the valuable lead roof. Hence we have a beautiful and unusual ruin today! Brian took a very cool video that gives you the sense of the building without its roof. I particularly like the carvings that were scattered across the ruin. The head is thought to be a likeness of the last architect in charge of building the Abbey.

Above the Abbey is the Hermitage of Monte Siepi. At the center of the round chapel is the stone where San Galgano stuck his sword as a sign of having definitively left his weapons to start a new life faithful. Archaeologists have confirmed that the sword is of the style and material used during his lifetime. Scientists can’t say the age of the metal for sure, but there are no indications that the metal is not from that time period AND they have confirmed with ground penetrating RADAR that the handle and blade are intact. Yep! Another Sword in the Stone!

Monteriggioni and some wonderful pasta!

After our visit to the Abbey and Hermitage we headed to Monteriggioni, a VERY small walled town nearby, known for its medieval fortifications and watchtowers. The walls are quite impressive when approaching the town. You can usually walk along the wall’s perimeter on an elevated walkway. And from there, you can enjoy the beauty of the Chianti countryside. The walkway was closed during our visit, so we will need to return in the future!

We ate lunch in one of the wonderful restaurants in town and I had a most unique pasta dishes. It was called “Aperto Raviolo” which can be translated to “open raviolo” – not sealed like normal and only a single raviolo (plural is the more familiar name of ravioli). It was stacked up similar to a lasagne with ricotta filling between the pasta layers and served on pumpkin sauce. Game on! I wanted to make this at home. That day I started my Internet searches and found several similar dishes that gave me further inspiration. So I made a stacked raviolo with ricotta filling and embedded a parsley leaf INTO the pasta; I served it on top of asparagus sauce with crushed hazelnuts and parmigiano reggiano. Time consuming (like 3 hours!) to make but surely a lot of fun!

Anniversaries

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Jim’s retirement. March 9 is the one year anniversary of our arrival in Italy. Not what we expected, but still no regrets.

End of Year Reflections

January 3, 2021 by JLF

At the end of the year, I think that it is natural to reflect on the year that is finished and look forward to the one just about to begin. I think that we all agree that 2020 is a year like no other in our lifetime. We watched movies and read stories about pandemics, but none of us had experienced one. Each of us experienced it differently, depending on our circumstances, our nature, our faith, and those around us. We had the additional unique experience of retiring and moving to a foreign land. So, how did we manage? Here are my reflections of our first ~10 months living in Italy during a pandemic.

Our new town: We had visited Lucca three times before we moved here, so we had a good idea of what to expect. Yet on a daily basis, I still see beauty that I missed before. The walls, the streets, the churches, the museums – none are world class (well, except maybe the walls) but all dazzle me! And they are right outside my door! There are some aspects of Lucca that are “on hold” because of the coronavirus, such as concerts, celebrations, shows, and most street performers. We are definitely looking forward to them restarting!

Our new home: We are very thankful to have a beautiful apartment in a 500-year-old “palazzo” with amazing 360° views of Lucca. It’s on the third, fourth and fifth floor, and thankfully we have an elevator. But within the apartment there are still four sets of stairs! The layout is sorta odd, undoubtedly due to the multiple renovations that have taken place. But we use every part of the apartment and it is serving us well. It was renovated about 12 years ago but we have experienced several problems, such as leaking windows, leak in bathroom leading to some mold, steam heat & hot water that stopped and started every few days, and electricity that would shut down if we used too much. We continue to work through the problems; each time learning more and more about how to get things done in this culture.

Our residency status: Before coming here, I generally understood the steps needed to become a permanent residence, but I underestimated the time needed to go through the steps and the number of times that I would need to copy our documentation (passport, codice fiscale, bank statements, birth certificates, …) and present it to a person who would painfully take us through the next step. Thankfully we were introduced to Tony, who helps us each step of the way. He tells us what the next step is, what documentation to bring, gets in line early for us, and talks to the person. For this, we give him €20. A very low price to pay for this valuable service! Jim has finished the process but I am still in the middle (due to an error that I made days after our arrival here). But it is nearly time for Jim to start renewing his “permesso di soggiorno”!

Our health: One of my goals for this year was to “Learn about the Italian medical system”. Well, I nailed that goal! Italy has a highly rated national health program that is generally covered by the taxes paid by residents. But in order to move here we need to get private medical insurance to have before we were able to sign up for the national program. We have been to the doctor several times each, gotten Xray’s, MRIs, blood tests, and Jim had a minor operation. So, yeah, I’ve learned a lot about the medical system… The best parts have been finding good doctors that can speak English (easily or with some difficulty), pharmacists who are really very helpful and relatively low price for services and medicines. But we are still waiting for reimbursement for that operation that occurred at the end of August. In general, our health is probably a lot better than in the past. We walk more, ride bicycles again, and eat fresh & healthy food every day. Just still too much food & wine, so we plan to work on that in 2021…

Our friends: Despite the coronavirus restrictions, we’ve been able to develop friendships with several Italians and American expats. There was an active group of English-speakers that would meet each Monday afternoon in Lucca. Given the coronavirus restrictions, they aren’t so actively currently, but we look forward to engaging with them in the future. So far, all of our Italian friends speak English fluently (or nearly so). I know several non-English speakers, but relationships develop slowly when the conversations can’t go very deep!

Our church: Lucca is sometimes called “The City of 100 Churches” but they are nearly all Catholic… Our faith is very important to us, but we are not Catholic. So, we were thrilled to find a protestant church in one of our early visits to Lucca. Once we arrived, we started attending regularly via Zoom or in person, depending on the coronavirus restrictions. The church and people are wonderful, but frankly we really struggled with the language. A few months ago, we decided that we would attend an English-speaking church in Florence (about an hour drive from here) once things re-open. In the meantime, we watch various church services online and share a Bible study with an American couple here. Maybe one day there will be an international church in Lucca. We are looking for volunteers to come to Italy and help start it!

Our language skills: We consider this our full-time job. I’ve been studying Italian off and on since 2017. I’m currently working with an online tutor two times per week and a local tutor once per week. I can comfortably talk with people in stores, ask for desired items, and pay for my purchases with a bit of chit-chat mixed in. Phone calls are still challenging but I was very pleased that I made a follow-up doctor’s appointment last week with no major problem. As part of our “integration agreement” to become permanent residents, we need to pass a language test at the A2 level. I hoping to complete the test this Spring or Summer. Jim essentially started over when we moved here. He works with an online tutor three times a week and I think that he is making great progress. His biggest challenge is that he depends on me to communicate in challenging situations!

Our transportation: We mostly stay in town given the coronavirus restrictions and our primary mode of transportation is walking and riding bicycles. But in late December we purchased a car, making local trips to doctors, supermarkets, and home improvement stores easier. We look forward to the time when we can drive around Tuscany and Italy. We can use our U.S. driver’s license with an International Driver Permit for one year after establishing our formal residency here. Then we need to get an Italian driver licenses. The test is difficult for everyone AND is in Italian. It typically takes expats 3 months of intense studying to pass it. And because we will be considered “new drivers”, we will get provisional licenses and can only drive cars with very small engines. Really… with 45 years of driving experience…

Our finances: We are doing ok, especially given that we retired several years before we expected to. We have a great financial planner who is guiding us through new situations for us. I’ve learned to deal with our bank better but we are still adjusting to managing our cash flow, utilizing debit cards, an Italian credit card, and occasional trips to the bank for withdrawals. Some of their rules still don’t make sense to me. The exchange rate dropped a lot but fortunately our planner suggested that we transfer several months of money before the big drop. I’m hoping for better exchange rates before March! I’ve also started to prepare for the Italian and US tax activities that we’ll tackle in early 2021.

Our retirement: I still can’t believe that we don’t have to go to work on Monday… or next week… or next month…

And what about 2021? Jim gave me a funny look when I said that we ought to come up with goals and objectives for 2021, but all of those years of annual planning cycles have trained me… I won’t bore you with all of the details but two that we are really looking forward to are:

Travel within Italy, including Sicily wine tour and regions that we haven’t visited before
Welcoming visitors, and helping them learn about the beauty of culture of Italy

We hope and pray that the coronavirus will come under control in 2021 and we will all have a good and healthy year!

Another lockdown!

November 10, 2020 by JLF

A week ago, the Italian government announced a three-tiered system for restrictions to tackle the coronavirus. Each region (similar to a State in the USA) would be declared either yellow, orange, or red depending on the coronavirus metrics. But the good news was that Tuscany was yellow, so not a lot of changes. Last night the government announced that Tuscany is orange.

What to do?

“Snack” with friends at his restaurant (after closing). Well, the snack was several courses and included four bottles of wine. The restaurant will be closed now with only take out and delivery allowed. Two of his friends have been helping at the restaurant and staying with him because their cruise ship jobs are on hold until. They’ll head “home” tomorrow and we will miss them.
Lunch with the Rice’s, an American couple that live in Lucca and have become great friends. Lousy lighting in the photo, but an impressive last meal before the lockdown. We’ll continue meeting with them at least weekly via Zoom as we pray and discuss books together.
Shopping for items that we may have a hard time getting. We don’t expect problems getting food, buying essentials, and can order stuff on Amazon. So, we went shopping for decorations for a Christmas tree that we plan to put up in December. And Jim went to Pisa to buy some bottles of 2001 Col D’Orcia Brunello at a great price.

This lockdown shouldn’t be as restrictive as during March and April. We’ll be able to take walks and ride bicycles on Lucca’s wall, a beautiful park that surrounds the city. I think that most stores will remain open, but am not sure about that. Late breaking news… rumor on the street is that the government plans a total lockdown if the numbers don’t start improving in five days.

So, how did we get here again??? Below are two graphs that I created from data that is freely available from a government website. The first shows data from all of Italy; the second is the region of Tuscany, where we live. The blue lines shows the number of new cases reported each day. You can clearly see that the two peaks – and that this second peak is much higher than the first. I believe that this is because there is so much testing being done now as compared to the first peak. During the first peak, most of the testing was done for people coming to the hospital with severe symptoms of COVID-19. Yep, they had the virus. Now there is lots of lots of testing being done, even on people without any symptoms. So the non-symptomatic, but infected, people are now being identified. The more problematic curve is the red line, showing the people that are in intensive care. You’ll see that the curve is still a bit lower than the first peak. The hospitals were full during the first peak and they are filling fast now. Fortunately, the Italian health system has prepared for this second wave.

And you can see that I still find all kinds of reasons to analyze data in my newly retired life. 😉

So we have big plans for lockdown – read, study Italian, do several jigsaw puzzles, play games, watch Puccini operas (full length operas available on youtube.com!), walk and bicycle the walls, walk through the city, and enjoy the quiet.

Because of the coronavirus, things have changed here over the past few weeks. And we are well aware of all of the changes and challenges in America. We think and pray for our families, friends, and the country’s leaders everyday.

Day Trips and Driving

June 19, 2020 by JLF

When we arrived in Lucca in March, we planned to rent a car for a week to buy stuff for our new apartment and pick up wine we were storing in Florence. Three months later, it finally happened. And we were able to take some fun day trips as well. This blog post will describe our adventures with plenty of pictures. And give you a bit of insight into the fun and challenges of driving here.

The Beauty of Lucca… so many nearby day trips!

You probably aren’t interested in our trip to IKEA or stocking up on heavy and bulky foods at the supermarket. So, I’ll focus on our day trips to Florence, Bolgheri, and Cinque Terre.

Florence: Jim and I walked through the biggest tourist areas in Florence: the Duomo/Cathedral, Palazzo Vecchio/town hall, the center court of the Uffizi museum, and across the Ponte Vecchio/old bridge. I estimate that the tourist crowd was about 5% of the usual size. Many stores were closed and museums are starting to open, but with limited hours. It was a great opportunity to take pictures of some of Florence’s great sights, but it was also quite sad. For example, there are usually big crowds in front of the gorgeous Gates of Paradise and you could never expect to get a picture without bunches of strangers… not now. Ponte Vecchio is usually packed with tourists looking at overpriced gold jewelry in the shops that line both sides of the bridge… not now.

We had lunch with Rebecca of Grape Tours. We met Rebecca and Pierre, her husband, in September 2014 when we went on their four-day Tuscan Wine Tour. And we’ve stayed in touch since. We are signed up for their Sicily Wine Tour in October. There is still room on the trip for you to join us! We had lunch at Le Volpe e Uva, a great place for wine and food, one block off of one of the main tourist areas. Seek it out!

We also picked up that wine that had been stored for a few years at an enoteca by the train station and bought a few more bottles to show our appreciation. Our wine cellar is growing again, but it will NOT get too large!

Bolgheri: Bolgheri is a small coastal town about an hour from Lucca with numerous wineries that make some of the best and most expensive wines of Italy. The two “biggies” are Ornellaia and Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia). Several years ago, Jim and I visited Ornellaia; this week we went to Chiappini, a family-owned organic winery that is next door to Ornellaia. We went with Pasquale, an Italian friend of ours, who knows many of the family of these small & great wineries. The wines were delightful and just being at a winery was wonderful. We tasted several wines than bought a few bottles. We ate lunch at a local enoteca and enjoyed some yummy gelato with views of Bolgheri out to the sea.

Cinque Terre: When planning vacations to Italy, we often considered visiting Cinque Terre, five fishing villages perched high on the Italian Riviera. In fact, we even did a puzzle of one of the villages. But each time, we concluded that it would be too crowded. Those villages are packed with people coming to see some of the scenic views in Italy. Well, they aren’t too crowded now! So, off we went with our friends Victoria and Brian to visit two of the towns – Manarola and Vernazza. They had been several times before and talked about how nice to visit without the heavy crowds. There were tourists visiting, but not too many.

Our first stop was Manarola. We wandered through the city, then ate lunch at Nessun Dormire and enjoyed a slow meal of bruschetta with pesto, salami, cheese, melon with prosciutto, and a local white wine – with THE most incredible view.

After Manarola, we jumped on the train that goes between the five villages and we got off at Vernazza. Typically the trains run every 20 minutes, but now are running one per hour. We wandered around Vernazza and stopped for some delicious Italian gelato. We visited the town’s main church and wondered if it would be difficult to concentrate on the service with such spectacular views out the windows!

Everyday life in Lucca… car rentals and driving

We don’t have a car in Lucca, so get around town via walking and bicycling. Plenty of food stores, restaurants, clothing stores, pharmacies, etc. are very close by. But after staying in Lucca for 3 months, I was ready to wander a bit further.

So, we rented a car for a week, starting June 8^th. We requested a standard SUV through the local AVIS office so that we’d have plenty of room for some furniture that we plan on buying. Jim walked about 20 minutes to the car rental place, was given a mid-sized crossover, and returned to our house.

Our apartment building has a parking lot and we are allotted one space – quite an unusual feature inside the walls of Lucca. To get to our parking lot you need to drive through a ZTL, a zone that is tightly restricted to residents and others with specific needs. Because of the coronavirus, the rules have been relaxed through the end of August, so we didn’t need to get any special permission to drive through our ZTL. On our second trip to Italy we got two tickets in Florence for driving through the ZTL and did not want to have to pay the big fines again!

Jim has driven a lot in Italy and is quite comfortable doing so. I’m the navigator and am quite comfortable in that role. In fact before last week, I had never driven in Italy. But I drove around the outside of the Lucca walls (lots of traffic circles and relatively heavy traffic) and once to Pisa on the autostrada/highway. I would say that the drivers are more aggressive here than in Virginia, the lanes are narrower and there are traffic circles everywhere! Oh, and if you are looking for the pictures of that tower, we went to Pisa for the shopping – there is an IKEA there! After our first (of several!) trips to IKEA, the car was stuffed with furniture, household goods and more stuff!

For now, we plan on renting a car as needed. We can use our International Driver’s License for one year then will need to get an Italian driver’s license. The test is MUCH harder than in America AND it is in Italian. Most ex-Pats study a lot for 3 months to take the test, then end up taking it a few times before passing.

Coronavirus update

In the town of Lucca, there was one new case of COVID-19 for the week ending June 14^th. We are learning to live with the virus. In town most people have masks on, around their neck (to allow quick replacement) or stashed on their arms (???).

Stores are very careful to follow the rules. Masks and hand sanitizer are required and many stores allow only one customer at a time, so queues on the street on common. Some stores take your temperature before letting you enter; a nearby supermarket even uses an infrared sensor! In more open area such as the Walls of Lucca, about 25% of the people are wearing masks and the others only put them on as needed. There are a few areas of town where young people gather during the evenings and they not do proper social distancing. ☹

Our church met face-to-face for the first time on Sunday, being very careful to leave lots of space between family groupings. After the service, we went outside to chat with each other. It felt great to be doing something as normal as going to church!

And one final picture from Lucca… the moon next to a church’s bell tower:

My Next Adventure

I retired in Italy!

Category Archives: COVID-19