Meet Alberto. The owner of Michelangelo Leather. A jacket store on a quiet block just off the main streets of the San Lorenzo market. When I left Hotel Lombardi this morning, I was headed towards the market for a second cappuccino, yapping on phone with Blackberry technical service. Welcome to Florence! Really, I was giggling to myself -- it felt absolutely no different than walking down the streets of New York City, trying to unlock the mysterious inner workings of a new service plan. The streets were loud, I couldn’t hear what the woman on the phone was saying, and I was bombarded with a series of very long pin numbers and codes that I was instructed to enter. And so, I made a right turn on Via Zannoni, and plopped my behind on a very nice marble stone on the sidewalk. I took out some scrap paper, wrote down all the numbers I supposedly needed (this ultimately lead to 2 more hours of T-mobile phone calls, but, really, its Saturday night and I’ll save you from that) and began the process of getting a foreign SIM card to work in my “international” phone. After I hung up with my T-mobile friends, Alberto appeared at the doorway of his shop. We exchanged smiles, and I, glancing at my phone and my scribbled pages of notes, added an eye roll and a sigh. He laughed, and then began speaking very, very good English. Please note: this is not the introduction to a bad Harlequin romance.
Alberto and I started chatting – about where I was from, what I was doing, etc. etc. He said “I came out to offer you a chair to sit on from the store, but you looked so busy with your business, I didn’t want to interrupt.” Ha. I let him know I was a very big fan of my sidewalk office. No civilized seating needed. Turns out Alberto is moving to New York. The Upper West Side! He is opening a high-end leather shop somewhere between the 60’s and 80’s, and asked me into the store to look over all of his architect’s design proofs. We talked store concept & location – and then he offered me 15 euro for every customer that comes into Michelangelo and mentions my name. Ha!!
Alberto just became an official US citizen (showing off his California license) and is eager to close up shop and get to NYC. He then introduced me to his brother, and invited me to come to the store anytime I want to practice my Italian in exchange for helping them with any English questions they may have. Then he gave me a huge hug and told me to wear gloves while picking olives…
I spent the rest of the day walking and walking and walking. And spent hours wandering through the Boboli and Bardini Gardens. Pretend that I actually had my camera with me today, and insert visual here: The most exquisite view from the south of the Arno, overlooking all of the Florence skyline and the hillsides to the North. Then I wandered to Piazza Santo Spirito and had an early evening glass of Prosecco. Slight glitch: I was seated at table next to three fashion models, their stylist and photographers, all finishing up a day’s shoot and discussing some sort of fabulous dinner party they were headed to. Alas, I was in my clogs and feeling a little gross.
Have now come back to the room to drop off some things, and am headed out for some vino, food, or something? Tomorrow at 10am I meet my host family…the great Binazzi’s...
Quick Addendum: I just went out to the hotel owner to buy a few minutes of internet access, and it resulted in a 20 minute Italian lesson. He teaches to immigrants in Florence, and just went through his textbooks with me. I love this city!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment