florence – Page 4 – Fennyblack

Love is in the air: San Valentine’s Day, starting 2 days before and ending the day after

Yes, you have to wait until two or three days before San Valentine’s Day to have the right idea for your lover.

It happens every year, each time you start thinking and watching shop windows, but then you think you want something different, something special that reminds you and you love of that particular feeling.

Anyway, here’s my preparation to San Valentine’s Day… Starting from a tour in Florence, passing by those little vintage shops full of things and old tools and books and posters..

Santo Spirito Street - Florence — Santo Spirito Street – Florence

going towards those refined and polish shops as the Rinascente, where you can enjoy its facade that is totally dedicated to the new fragrance of Ferragamo ‘Emozione’:

arriving to a fantastic idea, an homemade one.. that’s it! Here you are the solution:

San Valentine's choko-biscuits — San Valentine’s choko-biscuits

I know they will be very appreciated 🙂 above all if thinking about San Valentine Day’s I was sure to have…
…in Naples.

Imagine having lunch at home, because you man loves to prepare lunches for you..and you also have at your disposal a fish market where fish is very cheap and fresh and it has a wonderful taste:

and you can add some very good raw fish, enjoy this picture where you can see oysters (top!), razor shells, smooth clams and some others mollusks:

Raw fish: oysters, smooth clams, razor shells

Zoommm in the oyster:

Then, it’s time to enjoy the nice sun outside, so let’s have a walk in one of the man street – Via Toledo, also called via Roma – that goes straight to Piazza Plebiscito. At first, you meet a surprisingly great juke-box (with a poor man inside!) designed by Baci Perugina: you just need to choose your song and it starts… (then I discovered all the songs were part of Tiziano Ferro’s archives because of a particular partnership between him and Perugina brand, they created a limited edition for this loving occasion):

Baci Perugina and Tiziano Ferro for limited edition 'Autografi d'Amore' — Baci Perugina and Tiziano Ferro for limited edition ‘Autografi d’Amore’

Let’s finish the tour with something more pretty and less popular, in one of the narrows that lead to ‘Quartieri Spagnoli’ of Naples..a green and red Gallery of Love, full of flowers:

Love Gallery - Quartieri Spagnoli Naples 2015 — Love Gallery – Quartieri Spagnoli Naples 2015

Hope you enjoyed your San Valentine’s Day and mine too! 🙂

An alternative Saturday night: infusions in Teatro dell’Ozio

Actually, it’s happening even more often to have an alternative Saturday night.

Maybe because now the Saturday night is becoming the Friday night, after a long week spent working..
maybe because things are changing, and you start to understand you don’t always need to go clubbing or dancing to have your Saturday night. Anyway let’s enjoy together this new opening in Florence. I passed several times just in front of it but never stopped there. It looks like a mix of a perfume shop, a saloon, a tea house, a posh Italian bar. And it is.

They said it’s a totally new concept store: they sell perfumes, home fragrances, but also teas, tea cups and coffee pots and all the staff you can have in your kitchen. And you can also enjoy a meal, or a chocolate, infusions and cakes, pies, muffins and go on..

Look at those picture to better understand what I’m trying to say, read what it’s written on the first one, then go on..

Living style. Rooms become the perfect stages for a creative contemporary collection. Taking a new eye to the home.

Teatro dell'Ozio shop - handmade bags — Teatro dell’Ozio shop – handmade bags

The first lines of the picture show the concept of what you can see in the surrounding area of your seat (a comfortable sofa or white comfortable chairs made of wood). Then enjoy the ambient: a mix of ancient arches, romanic tiles, black libraries and branches that seem to be the dark touch of this place:

Teatro dell'Ozio - Florence — Teatro dell’Ozio – Florence

And then, it follows the bathroom area (?!) – well I’m joking, this is the privè:

Here it follows the shopping area:

We finally went for a set of infusions and a chocolate muffin with pistachios cream:

Infusions in Teatro dell'Ozio — Infusions in Teatro dell’Ozio

..really hard to remember their ingredients, but their taste and flavor were very palatable and helped feeling relaxed for this alternative Saturday night.

Let’s go Vintage!

I’m not very passionate about vintage, in the sense that I don’t like to wear vintage clothes and dresses from the past, look like old women even if you are just a twenty-years old girl. Anyway, it took place a very weird vintage fairy during last weekend in Florence. People say it’s the very end of Pitti weeks – even if I don’t really agree with this. ‘Pitti people’ really look like different from the ones I saw there, in Stazione Leopolda.

It was very enjoyable, because of people, music, clothes, accessories and atmosphere all around: not only vintage clothes, but also self-made clothing, tissues, old baggages and glasses and go on…

Vintage bags - not so expensive bags — Vintage bags – not so expensive bags

Vintage collections! flowers, postcard, old memories

And now the best snapshots, old clothes that look like curtains, people that look like some old movies’ characters (very impressive) and some view forms of the place from different perspectives:

Vintage accessories - view from a mirror — Vintage accessories – view from a mirror

don’t miss the next Vintage Selection event, let’s see in 2016!

Chocolate on Sunday, nothing else.

It was Sunday afternoon, after a long long Saturday night..

Just woke up late – obviously 🙂
Going out for shopping? Buy some new shoes? Just have a walk around?
Stop thinking, it’s time for a chocolate, very hot chocolate to keep this Sunday alive,
in a total relaxing place and enjoy the mood it could give you.

The answer was ‘Hemingway’. That little chocolate place in Piazza del Carmine, Florence. Once I saw it, but I didn’t stop there. But on last Sunday it was the perfect idea.
Well, now the ‘piazza’ should be also better than before, because the parking has been removed and it’s completely a pedestrian area, wonderful.

And wonderful is the smell you can eat just entering the place. Hemingway, why Hemingway? Was he passionated about chocolate, a chocolate-addicted? Wrote he about chocolate? I really don’t know.
And then the menu, where you can read about it.
Just a little research to discover this little emotional instant in Hemingway life:
…On the night of July 8, 1918, Hemingway was struck by an Austrian mortar shell while handing out chocolate to Italian soldiers in a dugout. The blow knocked him unconscious and buried him in the earth of the dugout; fragments of shell entered his right foot and his knee and struck his thighs, scalp and hand. Two Italian soldiers standing between Hemingway and the shell’s point of impact were not so lucky, however: one was killed instantly and another had both his legs blown off and died soon afterwards. Hemingway’s friend Ted Brumbach, who visited him in the hospital, wrote to Hemingway’s parents that: A third Italian was badly wounded and this one Ernest, after he had regained consciousness, picked up on his back and carried to the first aid dugout. He says he did not remember how he got there, nor that he carried the man, until the next day, when an Italian officer told him all about it and said that it had been voted to give him a valor medal for the act. As Brumbach reported, Hemingway was awarded an Italian medal of valor, the Croce de Guerra, for his service. As he wrote in his own letter home after the incident: Everything is fine and I am very comfortable and one of the best surgeons in Milan is looking after my wounds.

Hemingway’s experiences in Italy during World War I would become an integral part of his larger-than-life persona, as well as the material for one of his best-loved novels, A Farewell to Arms, which chronicles the love of a young American ambulance driver for a beautiful English nurse on the Italian front during the Great War.

Here’s the explanation.

And now enjoy the dark side of this post, from the very Belgian dark chocolate 99% (really hard to finish it!), to the less one 72%:

Belgian dark chocolate 72% in the back (sorry I missed this picture!)

oh, whipped cream really helped to enjoy them better 🙂

And chocolate at your disposal is in every shape and color and taste and flavor: bonbons, pralines, chocolate spoons, gianduia, macarons (or macarals?), chocolate with liqueur or grappa…

and let’s finish with a view of the place:

If you have some Sunday afternoons to spend in a relaxing place and mood, just try this chocolate bar and its wonderful chocolate, maybe avoid the 99%! or be sure to have also 2, 3 bottles of water with you – mouth dried up – .

Traditional Tuscany: fiorentina? Chianina? Cantina? what else?

Yes here we are, the second part of out tour in the countryside of Tuscany (near Arezzo) going until the upper side of Umbria. Enjoy for example, this little fiorentina, fresh meat from poor Tuscan-rooted beef:

Then, it comes the best hamburger you can find in this area: Crispi’s Chianina hamburger. It looks like a classical McDonald’s one, but it isn’t, I swear it.

let me also add this picture, it’s the one I prefer. It’s named ‘Lo sfondo’ that is to say you will have that sense of happiness while eating it and stomachache just after it 🙂

Chianina burger: 'Lo Sfondo' — Chianina burger: ‘Lo Sfondo’

And now let’s stop thinking about food, and have a look to some souvenirs you can get while going all around: magnets representing those landscapes and fields you can find on your road, sign about famous films run in those areas (as the one shown in the picture below: New Moon, Twilight), postcards about cantinas (the place where wine is produced) and historical monuments…

Tuscan souvenirs: postcards, magnets, posters

and then the most particular picture: a poster about the different kind of glasses, with different shapes and glass: generally they are linked to a particular kind of wine. Wine experts always say that there’s a only kind of glass for a specific wine, have a look here:

poster about wine and glasses: the kind of glass you use is related to the kind of wine you’re going to drink

Finally, let’s have a good Italian coffee, together with some special chocolate becoming exactly from their best production known all over the world: baci perugina frim Perugia

Italian Coffee in Montepulciano (La Briciola restaurant)

chocolate from Perugia ('baci perugina' are the most popular in the world) — chocolate from Perugia (‘baci perugina’ are the most popular in the world)

Ending with a wonderful panorama

Escape: Tuscan countryside

Yes I was escaping, flying away from the city, just for a brief wend.

But it was like going back home, in the countryside of a wonderful area as Tuscany.

That’s why I want to share some pictures with you, to offer you an escape, going deepen in the fields and trees and sun and weird moments of life.

Let’s start the tour from a little town near Arezzo, named Civitella Val di Chiana (exactly where the popular ‘chianina’ is made). Here you are some little snapshots of a huge landscape:

Tuscany - Civitella Val di Chiana — Tuscany – Civitella Val di Chiana

and then, something more particular and weird…

for example, think about those little towns that became popular thanks to their homemade products, as cheese and wine..

The following are Montepulciano’s ‘cantina’ views:

Montepulciano: Ercolani's cantina (1988) — Montepulciano: Ercolani’s cantina (1988)

and the to finish this brief tour (actually it lasted at least 1 hour), here you are the perfect end:

products of Tuscany: wine, cheese, homemade jam, particular smoked ham, lots of..

to finish, just ring the bell if you want to book and taste and enjoy…

Enjoy the rest of the trip in the next article!

– coming soon –

Florence: towards the Dome

It was my ordinary walk. I just want to share some nice shots I took while walking towards the Dome, not from the side that everybody knows – from Santa Maria Novella station – but from the back, through Via dell’Oriuolo. Here you are my walk, enjoy it by the pictures and in reality too, if you have this chance!

Just after two minutes, here you are what appears in front of you:

Now the Dome is very near to my camera, let’s zoom in

And finally, here you are the great view

So amazing… Just staring at it.

Colorful breakfast: Macarons or Macaral?

I took some pictures, they’re very colorful and bright, looking so happy. They’re about this new trend of ‘Macarons‘, something I thought was produced in France. I’m speaking – writing?! 🙂 – by using the past tense, because, in fact, some days ago I discovered something different. There was this old lady, who was working in one of the most colorful and modern cake design/pastry of Florence – Rinaldini its the name – and she told me that their origins are Italian, they’re part of the Made-in-Italy-history.

In fact, by looking at the following pictures, you will see that they’re called ‘Macaral‘ in order to be distinguished from the universal trend of nowadays. I think that Ladurée brand is playing a very essential role in the diffusion of those biscuits all around the world, and it’s also helping to spread the conviction that macarons are from France, even if it’s not true.

Anyway, wherever they’re from, it seems you can’t avoid to have 2, 3, 4, 5 (…) Macaral at least once in your life, for breakfast or a break in the afternoon..

And if when you are in front of those colorful infinite rows, you have such difficulties to choose the best flavors, just don’t worry, it’s normal! You’ll be displayed all the possible flavors of the world…violette, strawberry, pistachos, licorice, chocolate, coffee and many, many others.

If you want a tip: just choose by the color 🙂

Nightlife: those scenes you can see just in those hours

Nightlife, some times I think that nights should last longer. When you don’t have any plans for the night and then suddenly some friends call you to go out and see what to do together, those are the best moments ever. It always happened to come across some scenes that you can only see by chance, if you’re lucky enough.

Here’s what I came across some nights ago, while going towards the poshest street of Florence, maybe of Europe..because of its historical importance and the value of the brands that are located in its shops. Pay attention, you won’t be shown what you supposed to be shown 🙂

You know, we exactly are in Via Antinori,
and ‘Antinori’ it’s the name of one of the most important family in the history of this city. And it’s exactly the corner that leads you to Via Tornabuoni, the poshest street I was referring to before. So why an orange ironing board is there?!

Hence, a not very great scene.And that’s not all! The night it’s not finished yet…
We arrived in Santa Croce area..et voilà!Another weird wall appears to us:
Spermatozoa? Well, I don’t think they’re tadpoles..
but there on the wall? What’s their meaning? The green tag at the bottom right said ‘URBAN’, yes, a urban work of art, but I really don’t know what could it mean, and if you know, please help me to understand 🙂

Junk shops or values of the past?

Here we go, let’s have a walk in the narrows of Florence.

Let’s explore the streets you always avoid because they’re not the main ones, you won’t see any important brand shop windows, you won’t meet anybody and they’re a little scary. But you go on and maybe have some surprise.

I saw a little light, maybe there’s an old house or a little trattoria..but not. Just look at the bottom right of this picture:

The first things that drew the attention it’s the fantastic, smiling and cheerful old plastic doll ‘Susanna’, a myth for all the children, the symbol of mini chees portions that have always been part of the life of any child. Those triangles of cheese that made all the children happy were produced by Invernizzi, a popular Italian brand that became part of the international Krafts Food company. It’s ages that Susanna disappeared from TV – because there were a lot of TV spots about it – so it was really unexpected to see her in this little unknown shop.

And as you can see, you can explore all the variety of things from the past: old photos, old TV and radios, 101 Dalmatians puppets, old plates, guitars and so on.. an entire world of things of the past that sometime helps you remember.

And here’s some other stuff of old memories, pictures, statues, record player, Xmas decorations and weird stuff, it’s to you to find the other ones..All of these pieces could be very appreciated, it’s not so usual to see them, and I don’t think you can buy them on eBay. Maybe this is exactly what keeps them exclusive things.

Just some minutes after this first stop, you can look at a totally different kind of shop. This time it’s not a shop, it’s a gallery, a modern gallery. Exactly the contrary of the previous place.

Let’s try to understand these traffic signals and the re-interpretation of their artist:

Historical aim. Any of them has got a print of some historical-political important character: danger signals, alerts, stops, any of them just advise us of something. This is how any person interprets the things, old junk stuff showed in a window to help remember the past, modern traffic signals that advise for the future.

Let’s finish with this picture: