This afternoon we went with Maria Cristina, Miriam, Mauro, and Maria Pia to an artisinal festival, and I think it was what the Renaissance festivals in the states wishes they were-- Artisans who have been passing their art down for generations, showing off their talents, selling their wares, admiring the talent of others, and-- what seems to have been a big theme for this year-- giving demonstrations and tutorials to educate and inspire youth to carry on the traditions. Unfortunately there were no turkey legs (at least for me-Frankie didn't miss them), and fortunately (for both of us) no one randomly yelled huzzah!
The festival took place in a gorgeous garden called the Corsini Garden, which was beautiful in and of itself. It's got several sections all in the baroque style-- neatly laid out with box hedges and lemon trees in urns, and a central walkway lined with statues. Apparently the original statues that were in this garden have been moved to the Santa Trinita bridge and the Bargello museum, but the ones there now are lovely, so we didn't miss them.
One interesting thing I learned about the main path-- when I looked at it from one end it seems very long and grand, but it took less time than I expected to walk it (meaning it was a shorter walkway than it appeared to be). I researched this and learned that the architect wanted to give it the illusion of being longer. He did so by changing the height of the pedestals for each statue progressively as you go, making the loggia (think over the top patio/porch with stairs and archways) the focal point. Pretty neat trick, Signor Silvani...
In another part of the garden, there was a selection of ancient varietals of different fruits from the area, all laid out and labeled on a table. The table was in the middle of this area that had a bunch of different fruit trees in urns, and from what it looked like, these fruits came from those trees. However, I tried to research that part of the garden to get a little more info about the history of it, but came up empty. So, I've concluded that either those urns were brought there specifically for this event and are from elsewhere (which seems insane to me because they must weigh a ton), or they're part of the garden and I think they're a big deal, but Florence thinks I'm just being dramatic...
Some of the exhibits and Artisans were set up in the old out buildings of the palace the gardens were connected to, and some of them were in these beautiful tents that look like they're straight out of the 14th century. Everything was interspersed so you could easily walk the whole garden and have something beautiful (either a part of the garden, or something an artisan had made) to look at the whole time. We saw so many beautiful things-- from wood and metal working, to jewelry making, lace and tapestry making, ceramics, and more. We wanted to buy so much of it, but we know we're limited on what we can bring home, so we both settled for something small. Frankie got these gorgeous cufflinks which are made from basalt and then intricately painted to look like the tiles Italy is famous for. For me, I wanted a pin, as I wear a lot of blazers and I like to dress them up with a pin. We saw several pins, but when we got to the mosaic display, there were a selection of pins which particularly caught my eye. The artist explained to us that the mosaics were made from Murano glass (made in Venice), which they cut and place, and he demonstrated on a piece he was working on (amazing). He then explained that the man next to him comes from a family of metal workers, and he designs the setting for the jewelry. When he saw the pins I was looking at, he told me they are antiques, made by his father over 50 years ago, and the settings were made by the other man's grandfather. He was very proud of them (understandably so), and seemed excited at my interest. That is until I decided on one. Then he almost seemed reluctant to part with it. Lol.
After looking at all the beautiful things, we walked over to a part of the garden with a little fish pond and fountain. There was a stand there serving wine and aperitivo, so we all had a glass of wine and a little roll that was filled with a truffle spread. Flipping delicious. We sat in the garden and visited for a while. Mauro had brought am album with photos from when they came to visit America in the 90s. We had a great time looking through those, though it was a little bitter-sweet given so many of our loved ones in those photos are no longer with us.
By now it was about 7, and Cristina and Miriam had to head out for an appointment. We were told that Maria Pia and Mauro would walk us back to our hotel. Shortly into our walk, it became clear to us that their car was parked in the opposite direction of our hotel. We tried to tell them we didn't need them to walk us back, and if anything we'd walk them to their car and get ourselves back to the hotel. We used the translators, we even called Miriam to ask her to intercede (which she refused to do, lol). We eventually figured out that they knew perfectly well what we were saying, they just weren't interested. 😂🤣
Eventually we all ended up walking to their car, then they drove us back to our hotel and dropped us off, so it all worked out in the end and we had a lovely visit and walk.
We had dinner at osteria chingiale bianco, where we shared spinach ravioli, a chingiale steak (that was frigging delicious - I've never had chingiale served that way), and a side of fagiole toscani (white beans served with a little salt, sage, oil, and pepper-- simple and tasty). For dessert Frankie had the cake of the day and I had strawberries with mascarpone cream. We met a couple from London who are working on a 3ish year plan to move to lake Cuomo, so we exchanged numbers and agreed to stay in touch.
On the walk back to the hotel, we heard live music and found this duet performing at a bar, so we stayed for their final set (inside at the bar they had the cardinals game on.. Too funny).
A random man bought 4 roses from the street vendor who'd been peddling them to the crowd the whole time, and on his way to the taxi to leave, he gave one to the singer, one to each of the ladies he was with, and one to me ❤️❤️❤️.
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