The Unleavened Adventures Continue: Firenze, and the Passover Pisa Pizza

Florence came and went in about two days. On first arrival, we lugged our bags through the leather market to one of the group's friends, Julie, who was studying abroad and had a magnificent apartment overlooking the city, and the central Duomo. After dropping off our stuff, we raced to the gothic Church, but since the line was so long, we just got on another train, for Pisa.



Unfortunately Pisa was also packed, and the tower climb wasn't for four hours form our arrival, so we headed to a pizza place, which we heard was very good. Seated outside, I heard the clanking and bicycle honking of the horse carriages marching tourists by the narrow streets, and the heavenly scents of fresh Pizza, entering my head and begging me to submit to temptation. I decided to take Passover to the next level.

When the waiter approached, I told him I couldn't eat bread, and, taking out my Shmora flat cakes, I told him to make a margarita pizza out of it. He obliged. Ten minutes later, I had two partially burnt, but genuine Italian matza pizzas on my plate. The mozzarella was magnifico.
Back in Florence, I headed to my hostel, but after walking for an hour and stopping multiple times at the address provided, I decided something wasn't in order. One of the local hostels was very helpful and called the phone number I had saved on my computer, directing me to a different address. I canceled immediately, and headed back to the Duomo to meet another friend of the group, en route to Passover restaurant for Dinner. But don't worry Mom, earlier in the day, Julie invited me to stay at her apartment, and while I didn't accept initially, let's just say her place was fantastic.

Dinner was held at a place called Ruth's, next door to the Florentine Synagogue, there was pictures of Woody Allen all over, and because there was a large group of NYU abroad students, we had free Coke and wine. It was the perfect life, and the first time I ordered three courses, all made out of matzah meal: Vegetable lasagna, gnocchi, and breaded tuna thingys. It was expensive but I wasn't paying that silly hostel, so I splurged. Even better, I now knew where the Synagogue was.

*It was at Ruth's, where I used their wifi and found out that Harry Kalas had left Philadelphia , and Baseball, for good. He will be missed.*

On the way back we explored the local nightlife, such as a magic show, and hava nagila.



The next morning, Sarah Caitlin and I were the first people in line to climb the Duomo tower. Breakfast consisted of a meringue, not as good as what Mom makes, though. Right behind us was a group of high school juniors, from Canada, who were traveling all over Europe over the course of two weeks. Their trip was under $100 and I was very jealous. The Duomo tower, like the Church of the Holy Redeemer, consisted of a lot of climbing steps. Unlike the Holy Redeemer, there were A LOT OF STEPS. To be precise, 463. The view, however, was fantastic and serene.



Afterward, we headed to the Synagogue, which was thankfully opened, since the holiday was in swing in the evening. I made a tour while Sarah and Caitlin went to see the tombs of Michelangelo Galileo and others at Santa Croce. There was even a kosher food market nearby, where I stocked up on tuna and muffins for the last two days.

Unlike the Synagogue in Rome, where they tell you not to take pictures AFTER you start, here they collect all your possessions and store them in lockers before you walk through the metal detector. The synagogue is located in the middle of a square, so it's really hard to find an entrance in general, but it adds to the skyline. The Synagogue itself was not built anywhere near the original ghetto of the area, so as to demonstrate Jewish freedom in the area (it was 120 years old). The site was used by the Nazis as a garage, and they then bombed one of the wings, later reconstructed. Also in the 80's a huge flood hit and you could see the 10 ft mark on the walls where the water had been. The interior was enormous and heavily influenced by other cultures and traditions. Since the place was Sephardic, there domes inside and the geometric arabesque designs made the place look like a Mosque. The again, there was an organ (no longer in use) and an elevated pulpit in front. I was told there are about 900 Jews in Florence, of Italian, Sephardic, and Ashkenazic origin, but they all use the one synagogue and have a school nearby. At the bookshop, I found an Italian translation of the storybook written by Gilad Shalit.
Following the tour I went back to Ruth's for lunch, where I got vegetables and rice (screw kitniyot) and met the rest of the group, which had made reservations earlier to see the David, at the apartment. We went to the train station for Venice tickets, and I ran most of the way to Piazza Michelangelo, a neat lookout on the outskirts of the city.



On the way back, I found the Pocono ramahniks studying in Israel, and it was very funny catching them, of all places, in Italy.
Tuesday night I went to services at the Synagogue, hoping to get invited to someone's place for dinner. That never happened. There were about 13 people there, eventually, and the melodies used made me feel like I was watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Sound of Music, or sitting at the Vatican again listening to the men's choir. I was not familiar with the slow pace, but I did find an Israeli visiting, like me, so we chatted. Then I headed back to the apartment, and now I'm on the train to Venice.

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NINA thanks so much for all the facts. You really know your stuff, and I can't tell you how excited I got reading all your tidbits and pointers. I don't know if I'll be able to hit them all, but I'll be sure to save the directions in my scrapbook!

Pictures

Firenze 1
Firenze 2