Italy: Remembering

Was it less than a year ago? I was strolling along the streets of Venice, feasting on ribollita in Florence, taking a dip in the ocean at the Amalfi Coast, and eating zucchini-topped marina pizza in Rome after a day of visiting the Coliseum and the Forum?

My Italian literary travels have me reminiscing about by actual visit. How I remember...

The sun setting in Venice.

Nuns interacting with the famous residents of St. Mark's Square.

A contented Burano cat.

A cozy bar in Venice.

A man with his dog.

A cheerful table at our bed and breakfast in the outskirts of Venice.

Wanting to take a dip myself in a Venice fountain.

A fruit market in Venice in the evening.

That laundry hangs out to dry everywhere in Italy, from the tiniest apartments to country villas, we yet think it's impossible to part with our dryers.

Wondering if I was in Italy, or Norway?

The road in Tuscany outside our country inn.

Mushroom parpadelle eaten...

....under the stars in Florence.

Always finding a little bit of France wherever I go. These biscotti were made by a French baker at a street market in Florence.

Snoozing among the souvenirs in Capri.

Finally trying campari, and realizing I don't like it!

A garden paradise by the sea in Capri.

In the land of lemons, a lemon Vespa.

Lemon risotto.

Have my Marge from the Talented Mr. Ripley moment (before Tom Ripley entered their lives).

Wishing I could express my enthusiasm for life the way this Tuscan cat can.


Over fancy jewelry, over pricey clothes, over flashy cars, over expensive gadgets, I take travel.

Life Under the Vegan Tuscan Sun

Florence, home to Michelangelo's David. Being in the birthplace of the Renaissance, I couldn't help be hopeful for a dietary Renaissance.

Speechless. The Cathedral of St. Maria del Fiore.

Cross the river, get spectacular views.

The little dots: cats on the rooftops of Florence, viewed from my hotel. At one point, I spotted 10 cats!

These cute little Fiats are all over Italy, as were Smart Cars.

Ribollita, a Tuscan soup containing bread, cannellini beans and vegetables. This hearty soup, for 6 euros at an unmemorable restaurant, was filling enough for a meal.

This was the basic house salad I found. One notable difference from here: it was always just served with oil and vinegar. The waiter or waitress didn't rattle off a choice of 10 dressings like here, "Would you like French, creamy Italian, blue cheese, honey mustard, thousand island..." and so on.

Rick Steves' Italy travel book recommended Tratorria la Burrasca, which he described as "Flinstone-chic." Their tomato bruschetta, 3 euro, was the best I'd tried in Italy.

With the chunks of bread, this almost resembled a stew rather than what is was: mushroom soup, 5 euros, comforting on drizzly night.

A perfect ending: plum sorbet, 2.60 euro. I carried a reusable spoon in my purse so I could avoid plastic ones. I'd prefer a cone (less wasteful), but mostly everyone I asked said the cones contained dairy.

So many sorbet flavors! I tried apricot on another night. A humane alternative to gelato if you can't find the soy variety, which is scarce.

Even on a vacation when trying to 'leave it all behind', animals are still always on my mind. The looks of these poor souls outside of a market in Florence just reinforced my committment to veganism.

Also upsetting: seeing horse carriages here as well as Sorrento and Rome (although thankfully hardly anyone seemed to be patronizing them). Stomach-churning: seeing horse meat on the menu at a restaurant outside of Venice.

Fortunately, I do not contribute to any of that suffering. Making kinder food choices is easy, such as ordering a vegan eggplant, zucchini and tomato panini on the train ride (instead of a meat or dairy option). Sacrifice: none. Satisfaction: endless.


Off to the coast next.