"...That's Amore"

   Last Saturday night (9/4) my roommate Caitlin and I met our friends Emily and Janine at Piazza de la Republica. The piazza is an 8 minute walk down our street and has become one of my favorite places to go at night. The architecture is stunning and is lit up by a warm gold light, and there is an antique looking carousel that is absolutely beautiful. There are also a bunch of cute little restaurants that surround the square. Here is a picture:

   That night we had dessert at one of the restaurants. Now, I’m not usually a fan of Italian pastries, but the cannoli I had was the most delicious Italian dessert I have ever tasted. The crust was flaky and melted in your mouth and the filling was so rich and creamy. Mmmmm it was so good! I wish this picture could do it justice!

   After we finished our dessert, we walked over to the Mercato Nuovo where the famous bronze boar is located. According to legend if you roll a coin down the boar’s snout and into the fountain, you will have good luck and are guaranteed to return to Florence one day. Even though we are already in love with the city and couldn’t image not coming back to visit, we all took our turns rolling a coin in the fountain.

The next day Caitlin and I woke up early to join Emily and Janine for a trip to Piazza Michelangelo. The Piazza is on top of a hill on the other side of the Arno River and overlooks the entire city of Florence. After we grabbed some paninis we began our trek up the hill. It was a little bit of a climb, but once we reached the top we forgot about how hot and sweaty we were and just enjoyed the amazing view. We walked around for a while, took a ton of pictures and decided that the view would be even more spectacular at night and that we would have to come back. After visiting the Piazza we continued our hike up the hill to San Miniato Church. It was very beautiful and out of all the churches of I have been to in Italy, this one had the best view. 

View from Piazza Michelangelo

Caitlin, me, Janine and Emily in front of San Miniato Church

   After a day of site-seeing, all of the roomies and I went to dinner to celebrate our last night of freedom before classes began. On our way to the restaurant we passed by the Piazza de la Republica. There was a gorgeous sunset that we all stopped to enjoy for a few minutes. As I was standing there taking it all in, I realized for the first time that I was in love with this city. I felt so at home and at peace with my new surroundings. I finally started to realize that I'm not just going to be here for a week or two of vacation (it has often felt like this), but that I will be living here for four months. I will get to experience all that Florence has to offer and will be able to enjoy all of it to the fullest... and I was so excited.