Christmas in Florence

Pandoro & Panetonne

                For this Christmas in Italy, I had many firsts.
1) Pandoro, a traditional cake in Italy in the shape of a star.  It is a very tall cake, and we sprinkle icing sugar and shake the cake in the bag to make it look like snowing.

2) Panetonne. With the supermarket shelves displaying all those festive pastries, I absolutely have to try the panetonne. Another tall Christmas breadloaf, traditionally with raisins and canditi (candy crystals). Both are not my favourites in a confection, so I chose the Panetonne from Verona, an adapted version with just chocolate chips and almonds. Che buono! (How delicious in Italian)

3) Roasted the first chicken of my life. Hmmm, it turned out pretty good! Crispy and well-cooked, yet juicy and succulent. That's with the help of googling the simplest recipe I can find and innovating a little.

4) Made my first successful tiramisù after my 6th attempt. That mascarpone turned out well! Whipping that egg white without an electric beater was no feeble effort, my arms ached the next day after all the action. It was the combine effort with my flatmates and we had fun crushing that amaretti, taking turns at whipping and layering the tiramisù. When it was time to check out the results of the previous day efforts, I was almost in tears. At last! There was no drenching of the savoiardi (pastry of ladys' fingers) with excess coffee or insufficiently beaten eggs at the bottom of the tray. In my previous attempts, there were always a puddle at the bottom of the container. The recipe was from a friend from Verona and it was well-received by everyone from Japan to Nigeria to Sudan, not to mention my folks from Singapore and even Italians from other regions. So kudos to my Veronese friend's mom, who so generously shared the recipe.

            There is still one major thing not yet fulfilled. Seeing my first snowfall and having my first walk in the snow.  Building my first snowman, having my first snowball fight. Skiing on my first snow slope, or skating on a real frozen pond. Anyway, like many things, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.


Façade, Bell Tower, Baptistry and Dome

           "Il Duomo" is the Italian word for the main cathedral of a city. So every Italian city has a Duomo. There's also the Duomo of Milan, Duomo of Siena and the Duomo of Naples just to name a few. This is my 6th and 7th sketch of the Duomo of Florence and also the only ones that I kept. The main architectural features of most cathedral or churches in Italy are: the dome, bell tower, façade and baptistry. Sometimes the smaller churches do not have a separate baptistry and not all will have a large dome.

           The Italian words for the features are:

1) dome = cupola

2) bell tower = campanile (bell = campana)

3) façade = facciata

4) baptistery = battistero. 

         Several names in the Italian Renaissance period or earlier are associated with the Duomo of Florence. The Florence cathedral is named Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Basilica of Saint Mary of the flower. The huge dome is commonly known as Brunelleschi's Dome as the city waited for years before a genius like Brunelleschi emerged to have the intellectual capability to architect the great dome. Giotto's bell tower as seen from the second sketch below. Usually cathedrals or churches are named according to the patron saint. The patron saint of Florence is St John the Baptist, hence the unique octagonal building of the baptistery is the Baptistry of Saint John. Here's the view of the cathedral showing part of the dome from the north side.

               There is one angle, towards the west side of the Piazza del Duomo where one can fit all 3 buildings in one single shot of the camera. It's just the eyes get too busy all at once, as they are presented with so many details. Here, the bell tower is situated right in the middle with the octagonal baptistry on the right, and the main façade of the cathedral on its left. Known as Giotto's bell tower, as he devoted himself to its design and construction after the death of his predecessor Arnolfo di Cambio.

               I did not wish to crowd the sketch, so I attempted the bell tower with pencil instead of the usual ball-point pen to give it a lighter shade. Drawing is really the best way to appreciate every detail of these Florence icons. I get to examine closely each tile of the cathedral, the number of sides of the polygon of the bell tower's buttresses, the rigid geometry of the Romanesque style of the baptistery.

                We went for the mid-night mass at the Florence cathedral. The streets were rather quiet, but it seemed like the whole city had crowded in silence in one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. I could see nothing, only hear the chanting. As I looked up at the high ceilings, I wondered at all those that have stood under them over the centuries, silent witnesses to the changes over the generations.