I don't think I remember not knowing Arezzo. I do remember the feeling I got when I first arrived. It is very strange because Arezzo almost immediately felt like home. I grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas and moved out of Fayetteville for the first time when I was 24 years old to Florence, Italy. Talk about a jump! So Arezzo feels like home in a way that Fayetteville doesn't. It is really hard to explain, but Fayetteville is family and Arezzo is friends to me because my friends in Fayetteville are my family. Anyways, that is a whole other story.
The point being, it is always interesting for me to show people around a town I have called home for the last 3 1/2 years. Today was a busy day in Arezzo. It is the first weekend of the month so the antique fair is going on (la antiquaria), it is Saturday so the Saturday Outdoor Market is in full effect, and the Joust (La Giostra Saracino) is tomorrow so events are happening all over town. We were able to watch a lot of the practice marches through town today as Taylor and I showed everyone the Piadina place, Piazza San Francesco, Piazza Grande, San Agostino, Il Gelato, etc. (just to mention a few of our favorite places in town).
Then I introduced them to our favorite Porchetta stand in the outdoor market where you can get a whole roasted chicken (yummy) and buy fresh Porcini mushrooms from the hippy guy that looks like he just walked out of the Casentino Forest where he lives in a cave or house made of wood from his land. He's super cool and knows all there is to know about Porcini Mushrooms. Today they were also selling fresh zucchini and zucchini flowers. I explained to some of my colleagues that one of my favorite dishes is fried Zucchini flowers. Then the mountain/forest man gave us all a piece of the zucchini to eat raw and said he had picked them from the garden fresh this morning. Louise bought 13 flowers to fry up for dinner tonight. I hope they enjoy them!
Tonight Jesse and I will be having dinner in town with Count Brizzolari (we call him Sandro) and Taylor. It will be nice to catch up with Sandro since we haven't gotten together since we returned from the states in May.
Tomorrow is the Giostra Saracino. All of the Graduate and Undergraduate
students will be standing with the rest of the spectators in the Piazza Grande. Taylor and I will be with two other friends in Sandro's tower. We've gotten sick of getting pushed around in the standing room only! It should be a lot of fun. Monday classes begin and we are all really excited!!
Dory, I know *exactly* what you mean about Arezzo feeling like home right away- I never once doubted whether I belonged there or not. It just felt so right for me to be there, you know? To this day, I still consider it to be home, and everyone from the ADA is my family. I miss it so much! I'm so excited you're keeping this blog- the MFA program is a massive dream of mine, so I love that I can live vicariously through you for now. In bocca del lupo!
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