A Cottage by the Sea
  • Home
  • On My Mind
  • Quotes
  • Secrets of an Old Woman
  • A Solitary Traveler
  • Compassionate Reading
  • Comfort food
  • Books
  • Suggested reading
  • Poems
  • About me
  • About me and my blog

Remembering Santo Spirito

3/31/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Whether you are a solitary traveler or love to travel with others, I am sure your heart breaks when you see pictures of the empty streets of your favorite European city. The other day this Piazza Santo Spirito in Florence appeared on my news feed. It haunted me then and the hollow in my heart remains. 
    But memories bring joy, and so I decided to retrieve the pictures that I took during my many visits from 2012-2019.  I don’t know how many cups of cappuccino or pieces of brioche vuoto (without filling) the two bar tenders at Café Ricchi, Piazza di Santo Spirito, 8 served me, but I know they were the only two that waited on me all those years. I wonder what they are doing now!
     Every morning I would leave my rental apartment by 7 grab a quick cappuccino along the way as I wandered across Piazza della Signoria, through the Uffizi courtyard to the Arno, across the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace, pass Casa Guidi, the home of Elizabeth and Robert Browning, to Piazza Santo Spirito and Café Ricchi. 
I soon became a regular: the cashier would ring up my order as one of the men put a saucer and spoon on the counter and started my cappuccino; I would take it and the brioche to the adjoining room, wallpapered with children’s imaginations of Santo Spirito. There I would write and savor my breakfast. Sometimes It was the best part of my day. By 9:30 I would go out into the sunshine, spend a little time in the church, and then wander the streets until I came across just the right church or museum to visit. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

         I love to travel alone, and so I do. My husband of 54 years loves to stay home and garden, and so he does. But he knows I love to go off by myself for extended periods of time. For five years (2009-2014) I rented a cottage by the sea, an hour and a half from our home, and spent the weekdays there alone. For the past twenty years I’ve been traveling by myself, primarily to Scotland (Iona, the Highlands, and Edinburgh) and Italy. When I say Italy I really mean Florence, with occasional short stops and excursions around Tuscany and Umbria and to Rome.
        A Cottage by the Sea is about my longing for silence, solitude and simplicity. When I travel I post my thoughts and experiences “On My Mind”. This section, “A Solitary Traveler” is where I post articles about my travels.
         You may be thinking, “If she’s been married 54 years, how old is she?” I’m 77. Maybe my next article will be about how to keep traveling alone as one gets older.

    Archives

    November 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All
    Churches
    Day Trips
    Edinburgh
    Florence
    Museums
    Rome
    Solitude
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.