Botticelli Blue Skies: An American in Florence

Contents

1. I Can’t Go to Italy 1 2. I’m Going to Italy 4 3. Gli Studenti 6 4. A Flat Full of Sun 9 5. Siamo Arrivati! 11 6. Via Visconti Venosta 16 7. All Florence and Fiesole 19 8. Postcards and E-Mail (One) 24 9. Mosquitoes (Zanzare) 27 10. First Lessons 30 11. Reserved for the Mutilated 34 12. A Piece of Laundry (Un Pezzo del Bucato) 41 13. Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashonah) 45 14. In the Bosom of My People 50 15. Florentine Hospitality 56 16. The Mystery of Marriage 60 17. Fiesole and the Etruscan Sigh 64 18. Postcards and E-Mail (Two) 70 19. Italian Trains, Italian Men 73 20. Seashells from the Adriatic and Roast Sardines 77 21. The Fire, the Wedding, the Gondoliers 84 22. The Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Losses, and Other Thefts 90 23. The Movie Sets of Venice and Florence 99 24. Botticelli Women, Italian Wives 103 ix Contents 25. Sciopero! (Strike!) 107 26. The Five-Hundred-Year-Old Farmhouse 111 27. Losing My Way, Discovering Treasures 116 28. Cinderella in Drag, a Night at the Ballet 123 29. “Rita, You Are the Girl I Have Loved . . .” 128 30. The Incorrupt Body 134 31. The Altar of the Virgin of Siena 138 32. La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth) 145 33. The British Institute Library, Jane Eyre, il Porcellino 154 34. The Uffizi, the Spanish Chapel, and Madame Butterfly 161 35. Halloween in Tuscany 169 36. Gypsies (Zingari) 178 37. “ A Pistol That Shoots a Big Nail in Front of the Animal” 182 38. A Farm Feast, Colle Val D’Elsa, Bongo Drums for the Bishop 189 39. Picasso in the Dustbin, Windmills on the Wall 195 40. “Tabu” 200 41. Daughters of Florence 204 42. Massimo’s Lizard-Skin Keychains, Riccardo’s Castagna 208 43. No Coins in the Fountain 215 44. A Roman Ruin, I, the Sistine Chapel, and Judgment Day 225 45. St. Peter’s Basilica and the Pope’s Fishing Cap 230 46. The Spanish Steps, Desperation at the Tiber River 236 47. The Mosaics and Karaoke Bars of Ostia Antica 244 48. Thanksgiving Tacchino Arrosto, Elvis in Sequins 251 49. The Olive-Picking 259 50. The Artist, Her Villa, the Bombs of World War II 264 51. The Christmas Mystery, Two Big Macs 274 52. L’Ultimo Addio, Last Views of the Ponte Vecchio 281 Contents x Botticelli Blue Skies ...