Positano Day 8 & 9

Positano is as beautiful as we remember.  The abundant bougainvillea, wild sage, pink and purple petunias, and crisp, blue water is truly remarkable.  This is a very special place, literally carved out of the mountain.  It is a little piece of heaven.  The town itself has a population of roughly 3000 people, whose main business is tourism.  This used to be an extremely poor fishing village during the early 20^th century, but soon began attracting tourists in the 1950’s with special guests such as John Steinbeck (some say he made Positano famous with his article in harpers bazaar in 1953), Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sophia Loren and current celebrities like The Rolling Stones (they wrote “Midnight Rambler” here) and Justin Timberlake.  We actually spotted celebrity chef Curtis Stone, who was a guest at our hotel! It has also been featured in “Only You” and “Under the Tuscan Sun.” 

There are a few sites here such as the church of Santa Maria Assunta, which is a small but beautiful church located near the beach.  Inside this church above the main alter is the famous Byzantine Black Madonna.  Legend has it that this was a statue stolen by pirates in the 13^th century.  The pirates encountered a very bad storm and the crew said they were haunted by voices saying “Posa!  Posa!” which means “Put Down!  Put Down!”  Being incredibly superstitious, the pirates left the black Madonna in this fishing village (known as Positano today) and it is now housed in the church. 

Besides the few sites and lazy shopping, there is really not much to do here but lay back, swim suit on, and sip a glass of vino bianco while enjoying the view.  This is how we spent the last 3 days.  We sat by the beautiful Cove dei Saraceni pool the first afternoon before venturing down to the beach for a swim and some shopping.  The Beaches here are rock, not sand, so the tip of the day is to wear sandals….do not go barefoot!  The locals lounge on the rock, just like we would do in the sand.  I thought it may be like getting a hot stone massage, it’s definitely not!  HOT! HOT! HOT!  Candace and I bought rafts and floated out in the sea for a good 2 hours.  It was so relaxing the Candace even fell asleep with her hand wrapped around a buoy!  The water was the most perfect temperature and you could just watch the day go by as we drifted along the water.

The next day was full of the same, with the exception of a boat ride over to Capri.  Unfortunately the blue grotto was closed due to high tide, so instead we opted for a stroll through town and a boat ride around the island.  The boat ride was roughly 90 minutes and it was a small wooden boat that sat approximately 15 people.  We saw the white grotto, the green grotto, and the red coral that is only visible when the tide goes down.    

The food in Positano was remarkable.  Our first night we ate at Chez Black, which is a local restaurant right on the beach.  It was packed as the Italians watched and cheered for the Euro 2012 match.  The restaurant cleared out very quickly as they soon realized that Spain was going to win.  Nonetheless, it was a trip watching the excitement they had for the game.  Tonight’s winning dish was the rigatoni with eggplant/smoked mozzarella.  The next night we ate at Al Palazzo.  This is a 2 Star Michelin award winning restaurant.  The restaurant sat in the courtyard which is beautifully landscaped and each table was candlelit.  It was a clear night, so you could see the stars.  Jeff ordered the winning dish here, Filet Mignon with pepper corn sauce.  It was cooked absolutely perfect.  Tom and I had the pappardelle with parmesan cheese and black truffles, this was also very good.  This night would not have been complete without a stop  at Jeff’s favorite bakery at the top of the hill – they have the best cannoli’s in town!  

For our last night in Positano, Candace and I wore our more formal dresses and we dined at Max’s Wine Bar.  You would literally miss the entrance of this place if you weren’t paying attention.  Located at the top of the hill, there is a little sign and alley way that leads you back to this restaurant.  The ambience was unique and quaint.  It’s housed in an antique art gallery.  The tables are all different sizes and are tables that you would see in a living room.  We sat at a huge, oversized wooden table that very comfortably sat the four of us.  We dined on the suggestion of stuffed ricotta and salami zucchini flowers and grilled calamari stuffed with smoked mozzarella and spinach.  We then split two pasta dishes – the best being the ricotta tortelli and pan seared eggplant.  As for entrée’s, Candace won this round with a beautiful display of homemade pasta and lobster.  She was very happy with her choice.  The night ended with one of the best crème brulee’s we’ve ever had, as well as a Positano lemon cake, and espresso.  This was a great night, with great wine, wonderful food, and ever better company.

We are leaving Positano today (even though we don’t want to) and heading back to Rome.  Our hotel in Rome has its own private art collection and an incredible pool, so we will probably spend most of our time there since we’ve already seen most of the sites.  It will be a nice, relaxing afternoon and it will give us time to reflect on a beautiful and memorable trip.  

Positano - Day 7

We arrived in Positano, which is in the Amalfi Coast, around 2PM yesterday. We were just in time to watch the Italians anticipate a win against Spain in the Euro 2012....unfortunately it was not the Italians night.  They lost 0-4.

It is so beautiful here....I can't spend another minute in this room typing!  I will post pictures later this evening.

Florence - Day 6

Today was our last day in Florence.  We had pre-arranged tickets to the Accademia Gallery where the famous “David” is located.  The museum itself not only houses David, but it’s also home to many other great works of art, including 15^th and 16^th Renaissance paintings, High Renaissance plaster work, as well as a handful of Gothic-style paintings. 

David is the main attraction here.  He is magnificent, standing in the center of the museum at 17 feet tall.  He represents a biblical hero, who is a symbol of “strength and youthful human beauty” for Florence.  This version, completed by Michaelangelo, is quite unique when compared to other versions of David that were done by Donatello or Veroccho.  Most other versions show David standing victorious over the head of Goliath.  Michaelangelo’s version is said to portray David not after the battle, but just prior.  Scholars believe that his facial expression and body position depict this timeline.  His face is tense, the veins on his neck are out, and his arm muscles appear to be flexed.  His head is also facing left with a rather intense look in his eyes.  Juxtapose his face to his stance, which is rather relaxed, with a sling casually thrown over his left shoulder.  I read that it is typical in Renassaince art to depict their subjects  in calm positions just prior to battle.  This is why Michaelangelo’s version is unique to the others – it is a “representation of the moment between conscious choice and conscious action.”   

It is also interesting to note the history of this sculpture.  David was originally commissioned in the early 14^th century to be 1 of 12 large Old Testament sculptures to be housed at the cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore.  It was originally commissioned to Agostino di Duccio (a student of Donatello) in 1463.  When Donatello died in 1466, the association ceased the project.  Agostino had already been provided with the block of marble and had began to shape the legs, feet, torso.  The commission was then transferred to Antonio Rosselino for a short period of time when, again, the commission cancelled the contract.  David (which was really just a big block of stone, sat idle for 25 years in the cathedral’s workshop.  Eventually the commission became eager to revisit the sculpture, especially considering that it was sitting outside in the elements.  Famous artistis such as Leonardo da Vinci were consulted to finish David, but it was Michaelangelo who convinced them that he should be the final creator of David.  Michaelangelo was a mere 26 years old when we took the statue over and completed it after 2 years of long and intense work.  David was originally located at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio.  He was moved in 1873 and placed in the Accademia Gallery to protect him from further damage. 

When you see David, you will notice that he is somewhat unproportional (large head, strong right hand, overly slender torso).  This was not typical of Michaelangelo.  There have been several ideas as to why this occurred:  1) the statue was originally intended to be placed on the cathedrals roof.  The most important parts of the statue would need to be seen from a long distance.  2) some of the work had already been done by Agostino, which interfered with Michaelangelo’s final masterpiece.    

We spent a few hours at the museum, not only looking at David, but reading the descriptions and history on the other beautiful paintings in the gallery.  It was quite fascinating to read how these canvas and wood-painted pieces have been restored and how colors and other elements were revealed during the cleaning.  In some instances, the restoration uncovered the artists original intentions and changes they had made to the painting while being completed. 

After the museum, we strolled towards Ponte Vecchio, stopping in a few leather shops to check out the goods.  We then made our way over to the Piti Palace to tour the Boboli Gardens.  This is a HUGE place, we probably only got through a third of it.  It was a VERY hot day, so we decided to just see a few parts of the garden before finding a nice, cool place for lunch. 

The rest of the day consisted of LOTS of eating and vino!  Lunch and dinner were fantastic and so was our stop at the Gigli café, which is a famous café in Florence.  We sipped on a Campari and crushed strawberry cocktail and an assortment of fine Italian-made candies…DELICIOUS!

Tomorrow we are taking an early train to Positano.  We are very excited to show Tom and Candace the beautiful Amalfi Coast!

Till Tomorrow.

XOXO