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Previously: May 6: Firenze

May 7: Firenze

Had a nice dinner last night with my Italian colleague, Fabio Zagonari, and his wife, Elena. I’d thought he was much younger than me, but turned out to be close to my own age. Fabio’s a theoretical economist at the University of Rimini, but also a classical violinist -- an unusual combination. He has a wonderful smile and a sly sense of humor, often prompted by pleasure at my generally weak grasp of Italian. (I edit his journal manuscripts; he was enjoying the chance to edit me in turn.) He’d misled me into thinking he had only limited English skills, when in fact he’s fluent and has a decent grasp of even some fairly subtle details. Elena is an artist, and an expert in frescoes (she studied with a local master in Firenze), and also has a charming smile.

They took us for a walk around the neighborhood for a couple hours yesterday before dinner, as we got to know each other. We swapped "how we met" stories, of course. They’ve been together since 1978, having met in their teens and become highschool sweethearts. They are clearly still completely charmed by each other (holding hands when they walk), and have adopted the same ménage Shoshanna and I have about dining: they agree with us that sharing each other’s meal means you can try out twice as many dishes. Here they are at the end of dinner:

They took us to a restaurant where Fabio had eaten many times while he was working in Firenze for a day or so each week on an AIDS project with UNICEF. The waiters had some pretty serious attitude, and we had fun trying to figure out together the right word for how they carried themselves. Shoshanna wins the prize for coming up with the right word (“attitude”, which they had in spades). Don’t remember the restaurant name for sure, and will try to look it up later, but it was something like “Mama (Donna?)”. I remember translating it as “Mom’s Place”, thereby violating the advice that one should never eat at a restaurant called “Mom’s”*. [Update: Fabio confirms the name was "Mamma Gina".] The food was very good. I had pasta with cinghiale (boar) for primi, followed by “Florence-style” fried chicken with fried zucchini; the boar was excellent, and although the chicken was good and not at all greasy, it seemed pretty basic fried chicken. Shoshanna had a savory farro soup for her primi, followed by an artichoke pasta. A decent house white wine to wash it all down. Tira misu for dessert, then a casual saunter home.

* Update: Tracked this down as an excerpt from Algren's Law: "Never eat at a restaurant called Mom's, never play poker with a man called Doc, and never sleep with anyone crazier than you are."

Fabio and Elena resolutely refused to let us pay for anything at dinner and during the next day (he even snuck away to pay for lunch before I could steal the cheque), so I’m glad we thought to bring them a gift. We always try for something Canadian. Often maple syrup, since it travels well. Since Italians appreciate good wine, we instead opted for ice cider, which was invented in Hemmingford (Quebec), just down the road from where my grandparents used to live. In much the same way as with ice wine, the fruit is allowed to freeze and desiccate while still on the plant, so the flavor and sugar concentrate before fermentation. It comes in a range of “dryness”, from sweet to quite dry, and at least until recently, it was unique to Quebec and thus, quintessentially Canadian.

Today, we went for a tour of a couple places. First was the Chiostro Dello Scalzo, a cloister that is seldom visited by tour groups. (Indeed, Elena told us that they only offer limited access, mostly to specialists and individuals who happen to spot the obscure entryway and wander in. They no longer allow large tour groups.) Elena and Fabio explained in detail how frescoes are made, which is quite a complex process. In particular, because it involves working in fresh (wet) plaster, remarkably careful planning is required. First, you need to control your materials rigorously because there are many and complex chemical interactions between the plaster and the pigments. That precise control is the only way to maintain consistent color throughout the creation process. This is important because -- second -- fresco creation is a multi-day process: the plaster dries as you work, and you need to be able to lay down only as much plaster as you can finish painting in a single session. It also takes quite a bit of strength, since you have to press the pigment into what is effectively wet stone. Third, you have to do all the usual planning that goes into creating any complex piece of art.

Fresco techniques evolved over many centuries, but there were some interesting standard techniques used to plot out the overall design (the synoptica -- not sure of the spelling). For example, the artist could outline parts of the image on thin cardboard and then press a sharp object through the outline to push dark pigment into the plaster and create a dotted guideline, or could use a sharp knife to carve a guideline (inciso). Here’s what those look like in practice:

The Chiostro frescoes tell the story of St. John the Baptist by Andrea del Sarto. This particular set of frescoes was done “on the cheap”, so it relied primarily on use of shadow and outline rather than rich and colorful pigments. The effects are nonetheless powerful, since del Sarto was a gifted artist. For example, check out the faces and folds of cloth in this image:

Next stop was Museo di San Marco, with much more colorful mosaics and this superb study of Savonarola:

The frescoes here were often faded, but sometimes were remarkably vivid, as in these examples of Mary fainting at the crucifixion and Judas at the Last Supper, plus cat (which a quick Goodle suggests represents treachery):

By early afternoon, we were all exhausted, so we stopped for pizza lunch, then went our separate ways. We passed through the Mercato Centrale (central market) on the way home (we love farmers’ markets), and -- amusingly -- bumped into Fabio and Elena, who had also decided to stop in.

Being tired and overly well fed, we opted for a stroll around the beautiful Duomo as the sun set, and skipped dinner.

More tomorrow!

May 8: Firenze

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