Il Porcellino in Florence

      I usually travel alone. I love it. My husband is a homebody, and besides, someone has to keep the home fires burning and the grass mowed!
    This spring I spent a week alone in my beloved Florence before my daughter and granddaughter joined me for five nights and then three in Rome. 

​     One of my companions when I am alone in Florence is Il Porcellino. He listens to whatever I tell him and never talks back. The perfect companion.  
   Nickname Il Porcellino by the Florentines, he guards the Mercato Vecchio, the old market right in the center of Florence. Visitors drop a coin in a slot at his feet and pat his snout for good luck and assurance that they will return to Florence. It’s not a habit that I’ve participated in; I seem to have returned to this city without his help. This doesn’t mean I don’t love Il Porcellino; it’s just not a superstition in which I chosen to participate. 

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     This trip I visited him at different times throughout the day: in the early morning when the vendors are setting up their carts, during the busy tourist times, in the evening when the carts are being hauled away for the night, and later when the portico is vacant. 

     ​I’ve seen people taking turns having their picture taken with him. 

​    I’ve seen a guard push coins down the slot after calling out a gypsy to stop stealing them.

     ​Hans Christian Andersen writes about him in “The Brown Hog.”

     “In the city of Florence, there is a beautifully crafted bronze pig. Fresh, clear water flows from the mouth of the animal, which has become dark green due to its age. Only the snout shines, as it had been polished.”

      I’ve enjoyed a solitude moment with him. 

Best of all, I shared him with my granddaughter.