When I visited Florence, Italy’s Palazzo Vecchio last spring, its’ walls seemed to hold a whiff of mystery. I lingered in the grand hall meeting hall, Il Salone dei Cinquecento, soaking up the sort of spooky ambiance, picturing the De Medicis holding court with foreign potentates and generals returning from battle. It’s the kind of […]
Florence
Local Flavor: Grom Gelato in Italy
The gelato shops lining the main pedestrian thoroughfares of Florence are akin to the bordello windows of Amsterdam’s red light district – bawdy, curvaceous mountains of ruddy chocolates and flushed berry hues, decorated like rococo bell towers with flirty berries and winking pansies. It’s enough to give you a visual toothache. These heathen heaps dazzled […]