Leaving Italy

Which verb tense do you use when you are suspended in time?  I think in "Leaving Italy" time, but that was 3 1/2 days ago.  On the plane I caught a cold, which leaves me listless and fuori la testa (outside the head).  It feels as though time stands still, but I know better.  Time does not wait for me to catch up.  So even now, I am in the past tense, or so it seems.

Boarding the flight

Here I am back in Los Angeles, an unexpected, unplanned, but necessary trip.

The wonderful 101 Freeway

I try to come to terms with who I am today.  In my adult life I have been a responsible, productive, type-A personality, a small business owner who works hard.  I had control and strove to make a name for myself in my career, which I accomplished successfully.

Nearly two and a half years ago, I had an injury to my back that changed my life.  No longer was I able to work the way I used to. In addition to my injury, there was the economic crisis.  My career changed drastically as a result of the two.  It was then that I decided the time was right to make real my dream to live in Italy.  With my personality type, comes the gotta-have-it-all-figured-out-in-advance mentality.  I went against my usual grain in late '09 when I packed up and relocated to Italy.  I didn't have all the answers.  What I did have was an unwavering faith that, come what may, I would be okay, everything would work itself out, and with a little time, improved Italian language skills, and more contacts, doors would open wide and opportunities would present themselves.  I still have the faith, though, quite honestly, not always unwavering.

Being an expat has its own set of challenges to overcome.  It is no easy path.  In fact, only a small percentage of people who relocate make it beyond the first year.  Studies indicate that something like 5% of the expat population last five years in their new home land and actually assimilate, which means they learn to speak the native language and live like a local instead of in the safe confines of an expat community.

I have made it beyond the first year, and it is important now to assimilate and speak the language and live like a local, if I want to stay beyond the typical five years or fewer.  I try to assimilate and plan to last far more than five years, but...

We often hear of la dolce vita (the sweet life).  La dolce vita, though, is a bit of a myth.  It is not to say that some don't experience it, but for the most part, it is not a reality for the average Italian nor the average expat.  In fact, la dolce vita is more typically for the well-to-do pensioners who can afford extended vacations.  Especially in today's economic climate, when the dollar is $1.42 to the euro, it is a struggle for most expats, especially American expats, to make ends meet. 

I find that I, a once driven, type-A gal, now lack motivation.  I care less about the things that used to matter. Now I struggle with questions such as:  Did I do the right thing?  Have I thrown away my life and the things I worked so hard to achieve?  Will I ever be able to overcome the obstacles and challenges I face in Italy?  Do I dig my own grave just so I can live in Italy? Am I truly an expat, or am I becoming a nomad? (That is, no fixed home, caught in a purgatory of not completely assimilating in Italy and keeping a grubstake in the U.S.)?

During this unplanned visit in Los Angeles, one task is to close up my existing office.  I had previously downsized and effectively closed shop. But I left a physical presence "just in case."  I get emotional comfort in having my desk set up that has my personality all over it.  My desk is glass, which I turned into a vision board. It is one thing to pack up boxes of books and file folders.  But what do I do with the mementos that surround my desk?  They say much about who I am and what I worked for. How do I box up or file away those miscellaneous pieces of paper and trinkets?  I have an Italian phrase sandwiched between the two pieces of glass of my desk that says, "Mi piacerebbe lavorare e vivere a Firenze," (I would like to work and live in Florence). Now done; check. But can I stay?

Also, while in Los Angeles, I will finally free myself of my car and some other personal belongings.  This is all rather scary to me.  The more belongings I slough off in America, the less I straddle the two countries and the more permanent I make myself in Italy.  That spells F-E-A-R in capital letters. Yes, I do want this. But it is not that simple.  (I cannot be entirely forthcoming on this public blog.)  So the questions keep coming at me like tsunami waves.

The car gets towed for maintenance

I struggle with living in the moment, enjoying what I have today, for fear of what could happen tomorrow, next week, next year.  I know it is against the principles we are taught, but I also believe it would be irresponsible of me not to give thought to those very real issues that could happen to any of us, but especially to me, as I straddle two homes, two cultures.  It is not that I want to manifest these negative situations into happening, but I also know it would be denial on my part to ignore their possible reality.  Heavy thoughts weigh on my mind.  The questions I ask myself cause discomfort. I am determined to live a simpler and more basic life in Italy. Some days I do.

I love the home I have made, and make, for myself in Italy.  I strive to create my own form of la dolce vita, and I succeed (to a greater or lesser extent).  I will not give this up, no matter the difficulties that face me or my own thoughts that sometimes punish me. These past few days in Los Angeles tell me that Florence is my home, my destiny.  That said, I also recognize that, when I return to Florence, I must spend more time indoors working. But when I choose to go outside, life awaits.  I live in a place full of history, and I do not take it for granted.  I try to be mindful of the beauty that surrounds me and to notice something new each day and definitely not to allow it to become ordinary.

An extraordinary life in an extraordinary home.  That is the theme of this blog and also my mission in life ... one step at a time.

--Josslyn, Los Angeles, California, USA

Unità d'Italia / Unification Day

Most people know today is St. Patrick's Day.  Some will eat corned beef and cabbage; others, drink green beer and play darts; and even others, look for an opportunity to pinch someone not wearing green. But do you know that today is yet another holiday in Italy?  

That's right.  Today in Italy is Unification Day, the 150th anniversary of the day Italy became a unified nation, Italy's birthday.  Many people have the day off.  Italians love an excuse to celebrate, and the festivities actually began last night with another holiday in preparation for today, "Tricolore Notte" (three-colored night).  

Don't feel bad if you didn't know today is Unification Day. I didn't know last night was Tricolore Notte until it was happening, and I was already in for the night. Not for long, though, as I got up and joined the sea of people.  Live music was played in various piazze (squares). The queues to get into the museums that stayed open and gratis until 1:00 a.m. were long.  A giant mongolfiera (hot-air balloon) came to rest in Piazza Santa Croce. Fuochi d'artificio (fireworks) went off at mezzanotte (midnight) from atop Palazzo Vecchio.

No photos of my own to share with you in this post, but you can look here as well as here.

Life in Florence, Italy, is an endless festival, a carnival of happiness.

Ortobello Farmers Market and Fuori di Taste

We went to the farmer's market that is part of a weekend event in Florence known as Fuori di Taste.  

In the rain and with my arms full of farm fresh milk and vegetables, I captured a few photographs of the food I love to eat, in season and locally grown.

La Festa delle Donne / Women's Day

Since my fascination for Italy began, I have heard about a day in Italy when women are celebrated.  I have been told the men give flowers to the women in their lives -- not only their wives, mothers, daughters, and lovers but also to their bankers, bariste (barmaids), bosses, shopkeepers, and even to women passing on the street in appreciation for all we represent, sometimes even laying a mimosa branch at her feet.  

My thought was Wow!  Italian men are known for their passion for women, and I couldn't wait to experience such an expression of exuberance.  

The day is March 8, just passed. I did receive a number of buona festa greetings and kisses.  No mimosa (sold at 8 Euro a branch) laid at my feet nor in my hand.  

The day of celebration actually began in America back in 1908 when some textile workers protested against their unfair treatment and went on strike.  The bosses locked the gates and trapped the women in the building.  A few days later, the building was lit on fire, and 129 workers died.  As women began demanding rights, politically and socially, the day caught on globally and has been known as International Women's Day.

Over the years much of the historical flavor has been forgotten, and though the day is still celebrated in much of the world, there is the tendency for it to be more commercial, like a Valentine's Day for women.

In Florence, the state museums offered free entrance to women.  A friend and I toured the Medici Chapel. At the canoe club, women-only teams were on the Arno in a dragon canoe.

Three male friends of varying ages told me this is the day to celebrate women, but that tonight all the men stay home with the telecomando (remote control) in hand while the women are out at the pizzeria with their women friends.

Thank you to the women before me that fought, suffered, and died fighting for fairness, equality, and women's rights, paving the way for a much better life for all of us women today.

A Day for Baking

What does a person do when a friend is a long way from home (Australia) and yearns for a proper kitchen and her passion for baking? A good friend offers said friend the use of her kitchen, that's what.

 Ellen preparing pancakes

Australian-style pancake

My passion for good, home-cooked food naturally compelled me to help my friend Ellen with her overwhelming need and desire to bake to her heart's content. It was mid morning, and Australian-style pancakes were necessary to get Ellen prepared for baking. Australian pancakes are thin, light, fluffy pancakes, almost like a crepe, with brown sugar sprinkled on top and the squeeze of fresh lemon, then rolled up.  They taste even better when eaten with your hands.

 Aussie Ellen preparing batter with English Sally

 American Blogger assisting the baker

See, I can do more in the kitchen than just quality control.

 Flourless chocolate cake comes out of the oven

Torture waiting for it to cool

Canadian Sandra leaves Italy tomorrow and will soon return to her home base in Portland, Oregon. We wanted to say goodbye one more time. Being a rainy day, it made sense to invite the girls to my apartment for a bake-fest. We allowed Ellen to do her thing in the kitchen. We enjoyed good conversation, sharing life, love, and travel adventures over coffee and Ellen's delicious homemade flourless chocolate cake. My apartment smelled like heaven.

 Sally gives her seal of approval

 Sandra and Sally chatting

Sandra also approves of the cake

 The baker herself takes delight in the taste of her cake

It was easy to convince Ellen to leave her mixer in my kitchen as collateral so I could be certain she would soon return for her next baking project. Always happy, I am, to help out a friend in need.

Golosa per il Gelato

It is no surprise that I am golosa (gluttonous: to have a sweet tooth) for gelato considering the word "gelato" is mentioned several times on my blog. In fact, we could say I am a gelatoholic.

Recently, a new gelateria, Cantina del Gelato, opened up around the corner from my home, which is rather dangerous for me. I watched with curiosity as they reconstructed an old wine cantina, wondering what they would be opening in the upcoming weeks. The vaulted ceiling is a reminder of the cantina that once stood there.  The small, blue window next to the door is where one used to pick up wine after hours, which reminds me of the days when, once upon a time, we had fresh milk home-delivered in the States. That was when you could still buy fresh milk.

Street view

Florence is filled with gelaterias, but few are truly good artigianale (homemade, artisan, craft) gelaterias. Most serve gelato that has been mass produced with plenty of additives and preservatives. Cantina del Gelato serves a few of the best flavors of gelato each day -- mascarpone and nutella, pistacchio, caprino and noci, limone, biscotti, to name a few -- not 31 or more flavors. They cater to quality and taste as opposed to quantity of flavors.

What truly sets this gelateria apart from the rest of the gelaterias? They found their niche with something you won't find elsewhere in Florence. Fruit from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

Cantina del Gelato offers Succhi Tropicale (tropical fruit juices).  The fruit is picked in Brazil when ripe as opposed to prematurely like we are accustomed to; immediately juiced from the pulp; without preservatives added, they are then frozen; and then imported to Florence, Italy.  Choose from fruit such as maracuja (passion fruit),  goiaba (guava), caju fruit (the fruit of the cashew tree. Did you know that each fruit bears only one cashew, and the cashew is actually the flower of the fruit?  The fruit itself has considerably more healthful than is the nut.), mango, banana, lime, acerola (the queen of vitamin C), and the number one "superfood," acai berry.   These fruits are rich in antioxidants, anti-aging benefits, omega-fats, anticancer benefits, fights against heart disease, lowers blood pressure, low in calories, high in fiber, helps one lose weight, and packed full of a large variety of vitamins and minerals.

Best of all:  Ask for a "Lo Frullo Acai."  Served in a bowl; eaten with a spoon.  

All that Cantina del Gelato serves is made with the finest, natural, top quality products, with no preservatives, and is made fresh daily.

A few of the many reasons why fruit from the rainforest is important in addition to what I've mentioned above:  Seventy percent of the 3,000 plants that the U.S. National Cancer Institute has found to have anticancer properties are found only in the rainforest.  There is an estimated 3,000 edible fruits found in the rainforest, but only 200 are cultivated for use around the world. At least 80% of our developed world's diet originated in the tropical rainforest.

As I move in the direction of what really matters to me on my journey living in Italy, I try to make healthful choices.  In other words, because all they offer tastes so good and is full of healthy reasons to eat it, I can righteously justify going daily to my neighborhood gelateria.  Right?  

Samio (left) and Giuseppe (right), gelateria partners

Whether you're an athlete, foodie, have a sweet tooth, are hot and need something cold to put in your mouth, care about your nutrients, when you're in Florence or if you live in Florence, make a point of visiting Cantina del Gelato, and tell them Josslyn sent you.  The winter hours are from 12:00 until 11:00 in the evening daily, closed Mondays.  Soon they will extend the hours and days for the spring and summer.  Giuseppe and Samio are friendly and will treat you right.

You can find them in Oltrarno, 200 meters from Ponte Vecchio at Via de' Bardi, 31, Florence, 50125, Italy. 

JUNE 2, 2011 UPDATE:

The summer hours are now in operation, which means Cantina del Gelato is now open seven days a week until midnight!  New flavors are in the house too.  My new favorite:  menta bianca  (white mint).  The flavor is incredibly refreshing on a hot day and tastes so clean being made from pure mint.

Casalinga Lunch in Cortona, Italy

Cortona is a charming Etruscan and Medieval walled hilltop town that is easy to reach via the Italian train line between Rome and Florence. One hour and 23 minutes on the train from Florence, exit at Camucia, and take the 15-minute bus ride up to Cortona. 

Piazza Garibaldi e chiesa

Walled city and view

Of all the times I have been to Cortona, my most recent trip was the first time I visited Cortona when it was not crowded with tourists.  

Locals in the Piazza

Wear comfortable shoes since many streets are very steep, and you have the opportunity to walk several paths, either along the wall or out in the country.  

Typical Cortona streets

This particular day, though not a clear day for gorgeous views and photographs full of vibrant color, was still quite wintery, and I enjoyed breathing in the clean air from the hillside and the smell of wood-burning fireplaces.   Early in the day, we found a good local restaurant that we would return to for lunch.  

Trattoria Tacconi Agniolo and a local woman

We asked Graziella, the owner and cook of our "Cortonese typical food" restaurant, to save us a table at one o'clock.  It was necessary to do if we truly wanted to eat there since the restaurant has only five tables.  

Graziella showing the fegato (liver)

We then resumed our exploration and chose to climb uphill so we would work up an appetite for all the delicious homemade food we would eat a couple hours later.

Fresco

Cortona views and streets

The restaurant is Trattoria Tacconi Angiolo (Via Dardano, 46, Cortona; phone: 0575.603588).  Deciding what to order wasn't easy.  Most of the dishes offered this day are dishes I enjoy.  Each region in Italy has its specialties.  This restaurant identifies its food as Cortonese style, but perhaps I am not yet experienced enough to tell the difference from Cortonese, Fiorentina, and Toscana food because all the dishes she was preparing were the same specialties in Florence. Graziella showed me the kitchen -- it was like being in their home -- and what she was preparing. 

Baccalá (salted cod in tomato sauce)
Fagioli (cannellini beans) on the back burner

The restaurant is called a trattoria (small restaurant), but it is really more like a casalinga (housewife, and also refers to a restaurant that serves homemade food and is very simple.)  It is like going home to eat at mom or grandma's house.  The atmosphere is no atmosphere.  That is how simple it is.  But the food is always delicious.  Tacconi is open only for lunch. Graziella does all the cooking, and her husband, Angiolo, serves your food. 

Graziella e Angiolo nella cucina

We took Angiolo up on his offer to order a half order of primi piatti (first plates) (3,50 euro) because we did not want to fill up before our second plates arrived. Oh, and the pasta comes from just across the street at the fresh pasta store.  

Fresh Pasta

I ordered pici (a long, hollow pasta) with fresh tomato sauce for my primo piatto and Arista di Maiale, which is a Cortonese and Florentine specialty of pork, and fresh spinach for my second.

Arista di Maiale

After lunch and stuffed to the gills, we walked along the wall and in the country for a good two hours to work off just how full we had become...well, that and also because we spotted a bakery we knew we would want to sample later in the afternoon.

View

Il Bramasole, Frances Mayes's house (Under the Tuscan Sun)

When you are ready to leave Cortona, I recommend you ask the bus driver his destination.  There are two buses that leave the same piazza at the same time.  Since only one bus was there, it did not occur to me to ask. We were engaged in conversation when all of a sudden I realized we had been on the bus too long and the road was unfamiliar.  I inquired of the bus driver where we were and where we were going.  Of course, everyone in the front of the bus got involved in the discussion between the bus driver and me.  Sure enough, we were on the wrong bus.  Luckily, we were heading in the right direction to return to Florence, and he let us off near another train station.  If it weren't for the fact that our train was five minutes in ritardo (late), we would have missed our train to Florence.

Oops!  Stazione Castiglion Fiorentino

Cortona has so much to offer, to see, and to do, yet I only touched on one of my favorite topics, food: where to eat with the locals and off the usual tourist map. We were the only non-Italians in the restaurant, and we enjoyed our food, the interaction with the locals, and our day overall.
-- Josslyn
Cortona, Italy

Italian Train Travel with Your Dog

What if you show up at the train station as you have always done, allowing just enough time to buy train tickets for you and your dog from the self-service machine, validate, and board the train for your destination?  Today, if you are not prepared, you will be in for a surprise.  My recent personal experience can save us all some grief.

Be aware:  There is a new law effective January 2011 regarding your pet traveling on the Italian trains.  It isn't as simple as it once was.  Tickets for your piccolo animale (small animal) are no longer available at the self-service machine.  Now you must stand in line at the train station to buy your ticket or purchase your ticket from a travel agency. Why? Because the new law requires when you purchase your ticket that you show your dog registration certificate.  What is a "dog registration certificate"?  If you have residency or are a citizen of Italy, then the document you need is called "Certificato Iscrizione Anagrafe Canina."  If you are a foreigner traveling from outside of Italy, your dog needs to have a dog passport.  If you have one of these two documents, you will be able to take your dog along with you on your adventure.  But you must remember to carry this document with you when you travel because, if you are asked to produce said document by the train conductor and you don't have it during travel, you will be in for an even ruder surprise.  You will be fined, and you will have to get off the train at the next stop.  Ouch!  You are now informed, and hopefully this will not impact your travel plans.


Catch-22?
One.  Mabel has her paperwork.  Before traveling from the U.S. into the E.U., there is an extensive, bureaucratic process to go through before boarding the plane.  The U.S. authorities told me with the documents that were issued to Mabel, she essentially has her E.U. passport and will be given one in Europe. In Italy, the authorities have told me that the U.S. is the governing body that issues the E.U. passport for animals. Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing?

Two.  If you yourself do not have residency, a permesso di soggiorno (permission to stay), or whatever documento (document) allows you to stay beyond the 90-day touristic period, you will not be permitted to register your beloved animal even though your animal has the required paperwork. Mamma mia!

A bit of general information regarding train travel with your dog
Let us assume you have either form of the dog registration certificate and are ready to travel.  

• Be sure to carry it with you at all times  
• Keep your dog on leash and carry your dog's muzzle.  The law says the dog must wear the muzzle, but I have seen it enforced one time only.  Be prepared by having it available should it become necessary  
• A small cat, dog, or other animal in a cage no larger than 70x30x50 cm travels free
• Espressi (Express), IC, ICN, and Regional trains: a dog of any size with leash and muzzle may travel except between the hours of 7:00 and 9:00 a.m.
• Ticket for your dog is in second class and 50% of the adult ticket price
• EuroStar and AV fast trains: animal transport is not allowed without special cage container

For additional and more specific information, go to the website of Trenitalia directly.