Saturday, November 29, 2014

A Week of Gratitude: Italy and Its Benediction


“And off in the far distance, the gold on the wings of the angel atop the bell tower of San Marco flashed in the sun, bathing the entire city in its glistening benediction.”  —Donna Leon, Death in a Strange Country
I am always grateful for Italy—its gold-winged angels, its bell towers (even in the absence of bells, like Lucca in October), the houses of the composers like this brilliant pink villa of Giuseppe Verdi's, and the more subdued villa where Giacomo Puccini wrote his operas on Lake Massachiuccoli near the Tyrrhenean Sea.  Its colors and its fragrances—onions cooking in olive oil for the noontime pasta sauce, the tart purple of blackberry gelato, that whiff of rosemary.





image:  Christie B. Cochrell, Verdi Villa

2 comments:

  1. i have just been reading every post in your week of gratitude.
    simply exquisite.
    you remind me of a beautiful modern day m.f.k. fisher.
    she could also spin everyday senses with magic.
    xo

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  2. I am grateful, always, to YOU. And I'm honored by the m.f.k. fisher comparison—she was my mother's favorite author. Thank you, and happy ongoing Thanksgiving.

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