We’ve been in Florence a few days now, and at long last I can say I am caught up on my writing here. I still have many good pictures of Greece, Turkey, and Rome to post once my dad’s package arrives in the mail (he has a great camera and mailed me a jump drive w/ over 2000 pics; my camera, meanwhile, has had a smudge on the lens which makes pics blurry at times, but I think I’ve fixed it)
We say BC’s program is located in Florence, but technically it is situated in Settignano, a little town connected with Florence but not downtown next to the Duomo. And wow are we glad that it is here! Two popular American cliches about Italy are actually reality here: “under the Tuscan sun” and “la dolce vita.” The place we are staying, a former Benedictine monastery, is so picturesque it seems as if we are in a movie (it’s kind of like being in Santorini, where you have the feeling someone’s going to take a picture of you that will end up on postcards all over the world)
Below I have posted some pictures of our villa, the walk around it, and our little town which is about a 20-min bus ride to downtown, commercialized Florence.
Yesterday was the first day of both classes I am teaching this semester, Theology of Benedict XVI and Dante’s Divine Comedy. The students did great, and I am looking forward to working with them all semester.
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- Little creek and bridge along the beautiful path that leads behind the villa up through a grove of olive trees to a soccer field and park
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- Front of a great pizza joint we ate it. It has no sign whatsoever, so if you’re a foreigner like us, you’ll never find it (indeed, we did get lost for a while even though we were following directions pretty well!)
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- Near our villa, a park and refuge for weary children
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- Julia enjoying her afternoon
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- Joseph had fun as well, but he fell and scraped up his nose
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- Great staples of Italian breakfast: honey from Benedictine monks, cookies, and nutella
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- Joseph playing with Pete’s face during a pizza party
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- Baptistery, Duomo, and tower in downtown Florence
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- Joseph playing behind the baptistery in the pedestrian-friendly streets. He was black all over, and the old ladies were aghast at us letting him play like this;)
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- Joseph in front of the beautiful door of the baptistery w/ scenes from the Old Testament
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- Facade of the Duomo church
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- My “workstation” for this semester–on the terrace outside our apartment overlooking the rolling hills and olive groves of Settignano
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- Kids on the beautiful patio outside our apartment
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- Walking the road to our villa
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- Cave canem–Latin for “beware the dog”
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- Walking the road to our villa, with its old church on the right
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- Nice view of our patio
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- Julia outside with the laundry–we are hand washing and air drying most things here due to the cost and inconvenience of the villa’s machines
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- Sign for Villa Morghen and view of some of the students’ windows
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- Little road leading to our villa
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- Little pool outside one of our windows with goldfish and turtles for Julia to enjoy
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- Our group dining room–looks pretty much like other Benedictine dining halls where monks eat in silence and listen to readings (a great experience, but not ours since we have the voices of 40 people reverberating at the same time here)
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- Dusk shot of our villa’s old church
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- Looking over into the city of Florence from our villa. You can see the dome of the Dumo in the background if you look closely
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- View of the villa (left) with old Benedictine church (right) annexed to it
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- Our kids playing in front of the villa entrance
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- Olive groves out behind the villa
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- Jen showing that there are real olives on these trees!
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- Julia having fun with our fish
