Welcome back! This week included such a wonderful visit from my parents. On Monday, April 8th, the day started with my usual breakfast at Madeleine Cafe and then my two classes, with a panini and hanging out by the river in between. After my wine class, which was actually at a cute wine bar where I bonded with some of my class friends, I walked to meet up with my parents! Having arrived in Florence that morning, they had just started to see the city. I was so happy to see them! Even though it’s not unusual to only see them once or maybe twice a semester while I’m at school, there’s something about actually being on the other side of the ocean that makes it feel like you’ve been away for ages. After being reunited and a quick stop at a cafe, we joined our tour for the Duomo at 4 PM. Starting outside the Duomo, we learned about the history of the marble, architecture, iconography, and key figures. It kind of reminded me of my Florentine Art Walks class ;) After we understood the outside, we walked inside and observed the inside of the church. Even though I’ve been inside many times, it was really cool getting to learn about some of the artwork and learn about things like the clock on the back wall: it has all 24 hours on it and is based on the sun rising and setting. Even though it looks like it doesn’t work, it’s actually accurate and the church has a person check the time every two weeks!

The tour continued by climbing up the dome to get to a small balcony right at the base of the dome. (If you’ve ever read the book Love and Gelato, I was basically recreating the scene where she climbs up the Duomo and freaks out because of how narrow and steep the steps are.) There were a lot of stairs, let me tell you that, but we eventually reached the lookout and had such a wonderful view of Florence. I also really enjoyed getting to see the roof of the Duomo so up close!! Something I found especially interesting about the construction of the Duomo was that only 1 person died during the building process… all because he showed up to work drunk and fell off the top. From there on out, Brunelleschi strictly prohibited any drinking before or on the job! Once we absorbed the view and became adequately nervous about dropping our phones or something over the edge, we continued on the tour inside, this time high up and inside the dome. The ceiling of the dome is covered in fresco paintings, which I’ve always slightly struggled to obverse for more than a few moments without straining my neck. Now standing right underneath them, it was so so so cool to actually understand the scene that is being depicted: The Last Judgement. I especially enjoyed looking at all of the beasts that were painted in the Hell portion of the painting. There were some weird looking things…

Our time at the Duomo ended by completing the climb all the way to the top of the dome onto the lantern, which is basically a small terrace on the tip of church. This climb was somehow even more narrow and steep, but this time the stairs were winding, causing for slight dizziness and my dad’s head not even fitting. In my opinion, the view was definitely worth the climb. This was such an amazing 360 view of Florence, where I was able to point out my apartment and creep on people’s private gardens that are hidden from the public eye. We walked around the terrace looking at the city, which seems a lot bigger from that point of view. Suddenly the terrace became way too crowded, so we started our descent. On the way down, we stopped on a balcony inside the dome that was right up against the fresco paintings. We were so close you could actually see the brush strokes, which don’t seem as intricate as I thought they were. We also saw several pretty big cracks going through the ceiling…

Eventually, our feet finally hit solid ground and we set off for a drink. My mom and I walked around trying to hunt down a place before stumbling upon a little outside seating a couple minutes away from the Duomo. I had an Aperol Spritz of course! We then walked over to Santo Spirito square for dinner, where we originally planned on going to Osteria Santo Spirito, my favorite restaurant, but the wait was over an hour long so we went across the square to Borgo Antico, where I finally tried some sort of boar in my pasta. We embraced the Italian culture and really took our time at dinner catching up and looking at pictures of the pups at home (I miss them tooooo much). The weather was so nice out, it felt like a summer night, and it was so fun getting to see what’s been going on in my parents’ lives. To end the night I dragged them over to Sbrino, my favorite gelato shop, and insisted they get some. My dad acted like he didn’t want any but had no problem putting down some stracciatella before my mom and I were even halfway through…

Tuesday morning started off with introducing my parents to Madeleine Cafe, sitting in the cute cafe to chat over some croissants, cappuccinos, and in my dad’s case, 2 americanos. After my mom insisted I take a handful of pictures in front of the cafe (it being my name and all), I parted from them for my class. Class was spent at the Pitti Palace: the last palace of the Medici family. This palace is HUGE and filled with so much art. I had a lot of fun looking at all the paintings, but after so many rooms it sort of all starts to blend together. In the Pitti Palace they also have a fashion exhibit, showcasing old dresses, shoes, suits, etc. from historical decades. They even had some of the Medici’s clothes, which was SO cool to look at. I really enjoyed seeing the evening gowns from the 80’s and 90’s. Majority of them were designer and so beautiful. Once my class ended and Lauren and I grabbed a panini at Gusta Panino, I met up with my parents at the Uffizi Gallery for a tour. I have wanted to go into this gallery for quite some time! Transformed by the Medici family from political offices to an art gallery, it is the home of some extremely famous pieces of artwork, including works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Artemisia, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, etc. I really enjoyed seeing how art progressed throughout time, as artists discovered perception, emotion, depth, shadowing, and anatomical realism. My favorite paintings to see were “The Birth of Venus”, “The Spring”, “Judith Slaying Holofernes”, and “Bacchus”. The Uffizi is a HUGE gallery, so we really tried to hit the main parts, but you really could spend several hours in there. Although I’m not the most knowledgeable on art history, I loved making the connection between what I had learned in class and actually seeing the paintings in real life.

After a very educational day, my parents and I hit some leather shops (I mean we’re in Florence come on) and they gifted me with the most beautiful navy leather purse. I can’t wait to debut her out on the Wisconsin streets :) We stopped at a wine window for a late afternoon glass. Except I got an Aperol spritz instead of wine, duh! Leather, art, and Aperol led us all the way to dinner time, where we met up with Natalie at Serre Torrigiani in Piazzetta, which is the cutest little hidden garden with drinks and food. The atmosphere was simply darling and such a perfect spot for the warm weather. Unfortunately, I guess we didn’t realize their kitchen was closing because we weren’t able to order food… We had to ditch the garden and were back at base 1. Luckily, my dad’s eye was caught by a huge slab of meat in the window at a nearby restaurant (of course) and he had taken a picture of the place when we walked by. We spontaneously walked back over to that spot and it ended up being such a good decision. We ended up having such a delicious meal; Nat and I had some amazing carbonara, my mom had gnocchi, and my dad had a steak (what else would he order considering we were sitting right next to said slab of meat in the window) and this truffle pasta that was seriously one of the best pastas I’ve ever had. Topped off with Tiramisu for dessert, we had such a blast laughing and enjoying our time together. If you need some great pasta and an authentic Italian atmosphere, I highly recommend Ristorante Il Paiolo!

Early Wednesday morning we set off for a day spent in the Tuscan hills for our winery tour! Since it isn’t high tourism season quite yet, it ended up just being us three on the tour with our wonderful guide Andrea! Driving us in a van out of Florence, our first stop was at the adorable medieval town San Gimignano. On the top of a hill and filled with old towers, the little town is super cute with a great view of surrounding wineries. Although the weather was not ideal, we explored the town and tried some chocolate (which was amazing of course) and different truffle dips. We only had an hour in the town so it was just enough time for a jaunt around the old towers and a hunt for the perfect postcard. As the rain picked up, we loaded back into our van and head off to our first winery: Corbucci. Nestled into the Tuscan hills, Corbucci had a cozy farmhouse and wonderful tasting room set up for us with doors that opened into a view of the lush greenery. We started off light with a sparkling white wine as they brought out SO much food, including different meats and cheeses, bread, pickles, and assorted crostinis. The winemaker, Francesco, was an extremely passionate man, excitedly explaining each wine that was sparked by his dream and love for the grape. However, when he saw my dad’s shirt, a Cesarz Winery polo, he really pulled out the big guns. Andrea explained to us that he never pulls so many vintages for the guests to try, yet here we were trying two different vintages of every wine. I think we ended up trying 12 or more different wines… I really enjoyed the white wine, a vernaccia, but the reds really started to blend together. As did the different reasons for the wines’ names and characteristics, I really lost track of Francesco’s different dreams ;) We were also treated to such a delish pasta, I had the pesto one, and a chocolate cake at the end that I seriously felt that I had to be rolled out of there. Overall, the couple hours we spent there were so much fun; I really tried to put what I learned in my wine class to the test (I don’t think Andrea was impressed.) After we enjoyed more than enough of Francesco’s wines, we stepped outside to welcome the sun that had finally appeared and set off to our second winery.

Our second winery was Fontaleoni, set right in the center of their vineyards on a small hill. Our visit started with a short tour around the cellar, led by a much more reserved and humble winemaker. She explained their bottling process, showing us this massive machine that was connected to the barrels by a tube and would bottle and label the wine the next day. These barrels were huge! I seriously didn’t think I could stomach any more wine, yet we still enjoyed the next 4 wines we tried. We were brought even more meats and cheeses, which I still had no problem eating. This visit was much less hectic, more sitting in the sun and enjoying the view outside as the day began to wind down. Something interesting was that a lot of the vines were already blooming, which the winemaker explained to us was not a good thing. She predicted that all the warm weather has been uncharacteristic for Florence and she feared that a frost was coming and would damage the bloomed vines. As I’m writing this entry in much colder weather, I’m saddened to say that she was right! Florence kind of reminds me of Wisconsin weather…

The wine tour was a lot of fun and definitely one of my highlights throughout the week. However, all of that wine spoiled my dinner a little bit so by the time we met up with the DeStefanis family and Liv, I was really only able to stomach a salad. We had a great time with Lauren and her parents (and Liv!) at a rooftop restaurant right by the Ponte Vecchio. It’s always a blast seeing my second parents :) My parents and I sleepily walked home and I quickly packed for the weekend before falling into a deep sleep.

Dad and I at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Thursday started off bright and early with a train to Milan. Due to an unfortunately timed train strike, we had to take a 7 AM train to arrive in Milan before it started at 9 AM and continued until 1 PM. While in Milan, we camped out at a caffe for a little bit, where I had a cappuccino literally the size of my face and some chia seed pudding. My mom decided to hang back and read while my dad and I set off to see some of the city. We ended up walking for probably 30 minutes in the direction of the city centre, peaking into different designer stores along the way. Although this is my second time in Milan, it always shocks me to see how urban the city really is. I swear, it kind of felt like my dad and I were just walking in an American city. We eventually made it to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the designer mall. It was PACKED with tourists, but it was fun getting to walk through and look at the windows. On the other side is the Duomo; I was excited to see my dad’s reaction. We admired the Duomo for a little bit and were asked many times if we wanted to purchase seeds to feed the pigeons… So many tourists were feeding the pigeons and having them land on their arms and such… I think I’ll pass from touching those mini beasts.

After a long, hot walk back to the train station (I was carrying the infamous study abroad backpack that weighs way too much), we waited for our next train to Lake Como! Turns out the train was actually canceled, so after waiting in the wrong line for the help desk, we realized we had to buy new tickets. The travel day was definitely not the smoothest, but I think we were all still in good spirits. After boarding our new train and seeing some gorgeous mountains on our way, we finally arrived in Varenna, a town on Lake Como. Our final destination was Bellagio, so we set off to buy ferry tickets. That is when we learned that the ferry workers were also on strike! Until 5:30 PM, which was about 2.5 hours from then. Well, there wasn’t much we could do except sit at a near cafe and enjoy some spritzes. While we were drinking a huge line started to form outside the ferry dock, but we weren’t really sure why they were already lining up. Turns out that the ferry was actually coming at 5 PM, so we ended up missing the first one and had to continue waiting. Honestly, it was warm out and the scenery was so beautiful that I really didn’t mind. Once our ferry eventually arrived, we took the 15 minute ferry ride over to Bellagio and had such a breathtaking view of Lake Como. The Alps rim the edge of the lake; snow caps on the top of the mountains contradict the lush green mountains that stand in front and are sprinkled with villages and villas. My mom also freaked me out by holding her phone over the edge of the ferry…

We were greeted by our Airbnb host in Bellagio, who drove us up to our cute little apartment. The place was super quaint, complete with a little balcony that peered through the houses and allowed you to peek at a sliver of the lake and mountains. The only downside is that there was no shower, only a bathtub with a shower head… meaning we had to sit down while showering… Besides that small thing, it was the perfect place for our short weekend trip! We walked down a street in Bellagio for a pizza dinner that really hit the spot. After a nearly 12 hour travel day, we were ready for bed. We wanted to be nice and energized for a full day of exploring tomorrow!

Friday was our one and only full day spent in Lake Como. Our morning started with a slightly overpriced breakfast at a water side cafe before we decided to spend our morning walking around. We walked along the water, peering into the lake (which was surprisingly clear) and enjoying the extremely clean streets. Bellagio was such a cute little town, not quite bustling with tourists yet, with clean, manicured streets and gorgeous landscaping. Our favorite thing were these funky looking trees that hadn’t quite bloomed yet and looked a lot like stumps. Our stroll led us over to Villa Melzi, a preserved villa on the water with extensive gardens. These gardens are so beautiful, with flowers, a small creek, a gazebo, and lots of greenery. The gardens were tiered, allowing you to walk up into the gardens through a switchback path. It was really interesting seeing how to stone edge of the gardens supposedly just grew out of the water; there was no beach or shore, the water immediately met the walls. As we excited the gardens we decided to walk along the local parts of Bellagio, attempting to follow a map with a line drawn on it from our Airbnb host. This led us through a huge field with the tiniest path and we honestly weren’t really sure if we were in the right place… Suddenly we were on the other side of Bellagio, so we stopped to get some oranges from a roadside market and walked down a lot of stairs to reach the port of Pescallo, a super cute little local neighborhood. The views were so gorgeous, so we sat down, ate our oranges (my parents’ first time having a fresh Italian orange!) and then washed our hands in the lake before heading back up. We made our way back to the side of our Airbnb, where we waited by a port to be picked up by our boat tour.

What shocked me is how small Bellagio actually is, we walked the entire distance, horizontally and vertically, in a couple hours. We were definitely ready for some relaxing time! Our boat guide picked us up at 1 PM and showed us around the lake. Not too many boats were out on the water and due to my lack of towel and my parents’ lack of swim suits, I decided to stay dry and not jump in. Our guide showed us some INSANE villas around the lake, including the owner of Guinness and a filming spot for a James Bond movie and where Anakin and Padme get married in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Admittedly, the sun pretty much put me to sleep so I took a short nap in the middle of the ride. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the scenery surrounding the lake was surreal. It reminded me of Lake Brienz in Switzerland, on a bigger scale, because of the mountainous picture surrounding us. Even though my dad doesn’t think this is a good comparison, it also kind of reminded me of Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin…

After our boat tour I did face a small case of hangriness and requested that we PLEASE stop to eat lunch because I am still just a growing kid! (Not really, but I like to think so sometimes) We stopped for some pasta at a cute winery that was hidden into one of the streets. With Bellagio being built into elevation, there were a lot of places hidden inside along many many steps. I introduced my parents to my obsession with checking my step count on my phone and the steps in Bellagio definitely helped us reach record numbers. After we ate, we wandered the town shopping, looking for a postcard of course. All the shops are little boutiques, although pretty steep prices. Lots of leather, silk, jewelry and art. Once I could no longer continue walking up and down the stairs, we head back to our Airbnb for a little bit of downtime. Our grand finale of our time in Lake Como was a dinner at La Punta, a nice restaurant at the tip of Bellagio. The view was absolutely gorgeous, as is almost anywhere you look from Bellagio, and the service was super friendly. I had a wonderful salmon fettuccine and prosecco as the sun went down. The mountain view faded out as dusk settled over the lake and the air grew chillier. We really took our time at dinner, enjoying our last big meal together. Of course my mom and I had to fulfill our sugar cravings after dinner, so we got lemon gelato while my dad tried some chocolate pastry thing. The lemon gelato was absolutely perfect and has put me onto a lemon wave, I’ve since gotten it several times!

Just like that, my trip with my parents was pretty much up. On Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast at a cafe and then trained back to Florence. I also had them try Nutella Biscuits, Lauren, Liv and I’s favorite grocery store treat. The weather was gorgeous as we walked to get paninis for the last time and my parents graciously helped me with my Pairing Food and Wine assignment by visiting a wine bar with me and assessing the wine we tried along with the atmosphere of the bar. I walked them back to the train station and had to say my goodbyes!

Overall, I am SO grateful that my parents were able to come visit me for the week. I really miss them while I’m at school but especially since I’ve moved to a whole different country. I love getting to share my life here with them and enjoy so many laughs (and pictures of our puppies!) with them. I know they read this blog, so hi, thank you, and I love you! See you in a couple weeks!

See you next week!

Week 12: Parents Week!

Madeline Cesarz

Week 12: Parents Week!

Week 13: Friends and Relaxing

Week 11: Lauren’s Birthday

Madeline Cesarz