Amo Firenze! ❤️

Ciao! We woke up early to church bells in the distance and slightly overcast but strikingly beautiful gray skies. We went for a walk through olive orchards to Castello Del Nero, the 5 Star Resort sister property of San Filippo. Words cannot even begin to describe how amaaaazing this place is. We went for coffee and to explore and take lots of pictures. After Vince's 3rd desperate attempt in Italy at getting "Caffe Americano with ice, per favore", only resulting in one very perplexed Italian server, we left with hot black coffee and a side of steamed milk...but it was delicious nonetheless! Lesson learned: Italians do not, under any circumstances ever put coffee over ice! (I think Vince might still try to make it his life's mission to introduce ice into the Italian coffee world!) 

After our morning walk and coffee, we drove to Florence, only a short drive from San Filippo. We had been warned that parking in the center of Florenxe would be difficult, but when we realized we were suddenly, somehow, in the middle of the Florence marathon (literally runners on all sides of our car), we almost gave up hope. But luck was on our side, we found a prime spot in the center of town and discovered free parking on Sunday's! After we spent well over an hour analyzing the signs on the parking meters and google translating, verbatim, every word on every street sign within a 3 block radius! We were finally off to explore Florence! 

It was love at first sight! One of our new favorite cities in the world; beautiful, colorful and captivating! Something out of a renaissance fairytale! Perfect mix of old and new. We walked for 9 hours through all of the piazzas and palazzos, by the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio and Mercato Centrale. We watched a renaissance festival parade in front of the Duomo while street musicians played their violins. Every street twinkling with strands of white Christmas lights and damp sidewalks. Florence sparkles! We marveled at statues of Macchiaveli, Dante and of course all of the Medici. Loving the people, the food and the colorful architecture. We ate salads and hot turkey paninis at Mercato Centrale, striking up a conversation with the sandwich vendor about his dream of going to Los Angeles someday! 😊 after dinner the streets were quiet and we got our first gelato and watched a choir sing inside the basilica near Palazzo Vecchio Tomorrow morning our truffle hunt with Vittorio and his dogs! Buona Serra! Ciao! Love, L & V