A Winter Treat
January in Florence. It’s cold. The wind blasts me along the cobbled streets and drives my hands deeper into my pockets. Gone are the crushing crowds and endless stream of tour buses and taxis. I can drink in the view of an entire piazza without peering over too many heads and ducking under selfie sticks. I love it!
Friday I planned an evening to soak in the wonder of this city bathed in winter quiet. I parked in a free car park at the beginning of the tram line and hustled onto the tram just as the doors shut. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Santa Maria Novella Station in the center of the city. From there, the guest house run by the Sisters of the Assumption was a quick ten minute walk. This “Casa per Ferie” (holiday house) in a former Medici palace is a hidden gem in the heart of Florence. For E50, and E4 in city tax, I had a spotlessly clean if sparse single room with a comfy bed and a private bath. The ascetic, pared down European breakfast, (with coffee as thick as mud- not one of its selling points!) is a little bonus.
The real treat of the evening was an 8:30 concert of Three Tenors at the Oratoria Santa Maria della Croce. Santa Croce is just a few streets away from the Sisters’ guest house so that was my next stop, to pick up my ticket at the box office, as my reservation email had directed. When I climbed the few steps up to the door af the church’s humble facade I peered through the window to see if I could scope out the box office. I knocked on the glass to get the attention of a young guy in a coat sitting behind a table just inside the door. He opened the door and explained the doors open at 8. As I glanced over his shoulder I quickly concluded that his table and chair was all there was to “the box office”.
Oratoria Santa Maria Vigine della Croce al Tempio….the concert venue, sandwiched in the middle of Via San Giuseppe
With a few hours before the “box office “ officially opened, I strolled down Via San Giuseppe, checking out the menus of the restaurants along the way. The celebration of the “season of the zucca (pumpkin)” at Il Francescano hooked me! The risotto with zucca and sausage, topped with slivers of crunchy, dried pumpkin was creamy and sublime! With a side of sauteed spinach, a glass of chianti classico and slices of the best bread I’ve had here, the meal was perfect. All the way to the tiramisu…one of the best ever. Slivers of walnut were nestled into the cookie crumbs at the bottom of the glass. Unlike American tiramisu, here there are no lady fingers drenched in espresso. The dessert is light and refeshing, just a few tablespoons of marscapone based custard over espresso dipped crushed cookies with a dusting of cocoa powder and a few berries as garnish!
Risotto with pumkin and saugage
Tiramisu…a perfect “pick me up” before the concert.
I was one of the first to arrive for the concert. I stepped into an austere, darkened church. The glow of a few intermittently placed blue spotlights was the only illumination. Easels, holding the work of varied artists lined the perimeter. A center aisle ran between rows of five chairs on each side, a dozen rows in all. Up front there was no altar, no stage. Just a partially faded fresco overlooked a piano, a harpsichord and a chair. Together these simple, stark elements created a serene, intimate setting that complimented but never distracted from the extraordinary music that was the focus of the night.
Inside Oratorio Santa Maria waiting for the Three Tenors
The program featured well known arias mixed with Neopolitan favorites like Santa Lucia. For some numbers, the voices of all three tenors, Claudio Sassetti, Mattia Nebbiai and Leonardo Sgroi crecendoed, filling the entire space. There were solos by each and a variety of accompaniament- always the virtuosa pianist Seonmi Kim, sometime with Antonio Lipari on the double bass, othertimes with Andrea Benucci on a beautiful mandolin.
The acoustics were superb and for 90 minutes I just let the music wash over me to transport me to a place of peace and beauty! I loved the concert so much I may book one more night of their tour before I head for the US !
The voices of the three tenors soar to the rafters of this ancient church!
Accompaniment with the haunting strains of a mandolin