Firenze: Week 4- Mountains and Friends and David, Oh My!
Week Four in Florence saw reunions with three old friends: Nora, whom I met in Vienna and with whom I have often performed and who is like a sister to me; Laura, whom I also met in Vienna and with whom I have shared many silly adventures, including in Rome; and Filippo, whom I met at the Marlboro Music Festival in 2021, (sort of) performed with at the same festival in 2022, and who kindly let me interview him from my Italian class this year when I spoke about five words of Italian. In 2021, Nora founded a program called Lied the Way for women pianists, at which time I stealthfully contributed as a kitchen wench (singers were barred from participating until last year so that the pianists did not have to deal with our egos!). Since then the program has grown into a song festival, is seeing support growing in the music community and has moved from Germany to Florence, Italy- lucky for 2025 Marie! Laura was in town (as a kitchen wench), and we managed a good and silly catch up over pizza before joining the women of the program for a moon ceremony. I also got to see Nora perform for the opening concert of the festival, which was really special. AND I reconnected with Nora’s mom, Julie, who quickly commandeered me as a (very bad) translator. Nora and I also managed to get lunch before the festival as all said and done and I feel so grateful to be able to reconnect with friends in such an organic way.
Filippo lives in Italy, so I had wanted to try to reconnect with him during my 6 weeks here this summer. It ended up working out for me to take the train to Milan, where Filippo’s dad picked me up at the train station and then we drove to pick up Filippo from the airport. From there, we drove out to Dorga, a beautiful village in the mountains East of Bergamo. Thinking I would make things easier for myself, I packed like one and a half outfits for a one and half day trip. We ended up going on two hikes: one before dinner Friday and one for most of the day Saturday. I did not bring enough clothes, but the hikes were fantastic! It was so refreshing to be in the mountains: nature, quiet and probably 20 degrees cooler than Florence. It was cloudy, which meant not all of the mountains were visible, but it was also pleasant for not hiking in the blazing sun, and there were short bouts of rain that were very charming. Filippo made delicious casonceli for dinner, a particular mountain dish designed to keep your energy up!
For dessert, Filippo’s mom cut us each big chunks of watermelon. I watched with some amount of consternation as everyone around the table started to cut into their watermelon with a knife and fork. I had never eaten watermelon that way before, which I then shared with the table. That usually I would be eating a slice of watermelon outside and spitting out the seeds. Filippo’s mom looked a bit alarmed at the idea of that, but Filippo’s dad seemed to think this was quite funny and after trying my hand with the fork and knife on the first slice, he told me I should eat the second slice the way I was used to. I found this whole thing quite funny!
It was very easy to sleep after the first hike on Friday. Saturday we were up bright and early to eat some biscuits (cookies) for breakfast and pack sandwiches for our trek! We stopped to pick up some bread and torta della nonna for the road and then we were on our way up towards Presolana. It was such a great hike! Challenging, for sure, especially after not having done a hike quite like that in quite a few years, but such a great workout and a great pay off! THe views were amazing, the air fresh and there were hardly any other people- AND only one other non-Italian person the whole time. Along the way, we stopped at several huts, where you could get coffee and other treats, including a wheel of mountain-made cheese! This was one of those times that I perceived the vastness of the world in which we live. I had no idea you could buy cheese in the mountains!
We continued our hike post-cheese and at the next hut, we tried caffe coretto, or corrected coffee, since the original does not include grappa! I really liked it, and since it was a bold take on a traditional flavor, I finally got the guts to confess to Filippo, an Italian, that I, in the privacy of my own home, have been enjoying affogatos that I have made with moka brewed coffee and lemon sorbetto. I did not make this up! In fact, I thought it sounded disgusting when I first heard about it in Brooklyn, but I tried someone else’s and it was delicious. So while I would never dream of ordering such a thing in Italy, I did finally admit this to my Italian friend and he gave a great reaction without fully disowning me.
We started back down the mountain and I only fell on my butt twice- nothing broken! Towards the end, I could really feel my knees- in a sore way, not a WHATHAVEYOUDONE way. But I was proud of myself for braving the 25,000 steps and 5 hours on the mountain and so, so chuffed to have had the wonderful experience of doing that and the company of a dear friend.
Because of my frugal packing, after the post-hike shower, I had to rewear some of my sweaty clothes, but it was not the end of the world. I will prepare better next time.
Then Filippo and I were off to Bergamo, for a very quick stop before I got on the train. We managed to see Donizetti and get gelato before I departed. I am so grateful for friends- for reconnecting and for getting to share with each other. This time I was greatly on the gratitude side of the sharing!
When I got off the train in Florence, I could hardly move- but that was the worst of it. After a crickety fifteen-minute walk to my apartment, I again slept like a baby.
Yesterday, I got to see David (the real one)! LOTS of people, but it was a pretty impressive piece of marble.
Marie in Italy
