Two Parts Italy

If I were ever made a saint (highly unlikely), I would wish for two things: to have Lucca as my final resting place and to be remembered each spring with beautiful flowers. Alas, that version of sainthood is already taken by someone far more deserving. But at least I get to enjoy that saint’s feast day each spring.

Flowers outside of San Frediano church to celebrate the festival of Santa Zita

Santa Zita is the patron saint of Lucca. She was born nearby, in the 13th century, to a poor but devout family. As a girl, she entered service in the home of a well-to-do Lucchese family, the Fatinellis. Unmarried, she worked for the family for 50 years until her death in 1272.

Memorial to Santa Zita on the street where the Fatinelli home once stood (Via della Fontana, Lucca)

Zita was known for her devotion and good works, especially in caring for the poor. This, however, did not always sit well with her employers or co-workers, especially because her good works often included giving away their bread, leftover food, and sometimes their clothing. It’s also said she sometimes neglected her morning bread baking duties to attend daily Mass (saintly, perhaps, but most annoying to her co-workers).

As the story goes, the other household servants were jealous of her goodness and reported her “theft” of bread to the head of the family. One day, when he asked her what she was hiding in her apron (which was, of course, the bread she was taking to the poor), she answered that it was just flowers (luckily, this little white lie did not preclude later sainthood). When he demanded to be shown, she opened her apron and out tumbled flowers - a miracle!

Santa Zita is remembered each year with a flower market in late April. This display was part of the 2019 market.

There are other miracles associated with Santa Zita, including the notion that angels staffed the Fatinelli kitchen, baking the bread while Zita went to church at nearby San Frediano.

Legend has it that when she died, the bells of San Frediano began ringing on their own. Zita was buried soon after and her legend quickly grew. Several hundred years after her death, her body was moved from its grave to her own chapel in the church of San Frediano (the chapel was built by a later generation of Fatinellis). When exhumed, it was discovered that her body had not deteriorated but had spontaneously become mummified, another miracle. In 1696 she was made a saint by the Catholic Church.

The body of Santa Zita is moved to the center of the cathedral of San Frediano during her annual celebration.

Today, her remains lie inside a glass coffin in San Frediano. Once a year, to mark the April 27 anniversary of her death, her coffin is moved to the central part of the church, where it is surrounded by flowers and candles. Small bunches of flowers are sold in the church and people hold them as they pass by her body, reverently laying their hands on the coffin. Whether religious or superstitious, it seems to me very good luck to join in, lightly touching the glass of the coffin, and wishing to be back in Lucca for the next celebration. So far, that has always worked for me!

As part of the Festa di Santa Zita, there are also floral displays in the piazza in front of San Frediano and a colorful flower market inside the nearby amphitheater square, making the week of April 27 a lovely time to be in Lucca. -post by JMB

Flower market (2018) in Piazza Anfiteatro for the Festa di Santa Zita

If you’ve read this blog for a while you likely know that there are two authors - Judy (the tall blonde one) and Joanne (me, the short brunette one). We have a lot in common, especially our love of travel in general and Italy in particular. But we also have differences, including very different travel schedules. As an example, Judy tends to take more frequent, shorter trips while I go for fewer but longer trips. This means that we don't often get to travel together, but we do try to find a way to meet up in Italy every year, which is always fun.

In spring of this year we had overlapping trips to Italy and were able to spend a week in Lucca at the same time. During this time, Judy proposed renting a car and taking a day trip. Here is another of our differences - I never drive in Italy while Judy, well …. Judy was born to drive on Italian roads. Her skill is impressive; she can drive a standard transmission at Italian speeds and hold her own with all those Italian lane changes. I'm in awe! I like to read maps and navigate so we make a good team.

One morning in early May we rented a car (tip: do not forget your passport when you go the car rental agency) and set off for the town of Arezzo, about an hour and 40 minutes southeast of Lucca. Because this day trip was fairly spontaneous, we’d done only minimal research about Arezzo and hadn’t researched restaurants at all, even though lunch was definitely in our plans. In fact, we were essentially driving to Arezzo for a long lunch and a “get to you know” look around town.

Sometimes you get lucky despite a lack of planning and that’s what happened in Arezzo. As we walked toward the historic center we came down some stairs and straight into a loggia built in 1572 by Vasari (the same architect who built the Vasari Corridor and the loggia of the Palazzo degli Uffizi in Florence).

It turns out that Vasari was a hometown boy, born in Arezzo in 1511, and he graced the city of his birth with some of his stunning architecture. Lucky for us!

Because we'd left Lucca a little later than planned (remember what I said about not forgetting your passport when you rent a car), we arrived hungry and ready for lunch. I was immediately seduced by the beautiful loggia as well as by the sight of a woman standing under it making homemade pasta. She worked on a marble surface, rolling the dough by hand, topping it with generous dabs of ricotta and borragine (borage). She then folded the pasta dough, sealed the edges, and cut it by hand into half-moon shapes (called agnolotti). The filled agnolotti were perfectly symmetric (a pasta-making skill that escapes me). On top of all this, there was a delicious scent coming from the restaurant. We went no further, settling into a table at the beautiful Logge Vasari Restaurant.

The tables were nestled beneath the arched ceiling and graceful columns of the long loggia. The soft murmur of Italian surrounded us, and music played in the distance. Our table faced outward toward Piazza Grande, the central square of Arezzo, ringed with interesting buildings and without the crowds of visitors found in more "touristy" cities. The setting was perfect for a leisurely lunch.

And the food did not disappoint. A basket of warm, house-made breads with imported French Insigny butter (how can butter taste this good?) began the meal, quickly followed by an appetizer (a gift from the chef) of spinach timbale.

As a starter, we shared a plate of melon with prosciutto and mozzarella. The sweet melon was a perfect partner for the salty prosciutto and the creamy cheese. The presentation was artful!

Almost (but not quite) too pretty to eat.

My main course - those ricotta and borage agnolotti topped with a light truffle butter and zucchini flowers - was delicate, fragrant, and delicious. Judy's dish of Parmesan ravioli with porcini was equally wonderful.

Agnolotti

Parmesan Ravioli

A post-meal caffe macchiato arrived with a plate of small cookies. Perfetto! post by JMB

The Miracle of the Flowers

A Lunch in Arezzo