A night at the opera in Reggio Emilia

The women were dressed in their best with jewels, furs, and all the elegance that the opera requires. The men who accompanied them were just as sharp in their suits as they escorted their beautiful wives to their private opera box. The conductor was debuting his new interpretation of the classic opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi. Buckets of champagne were chilling so they would be ready at the conclusion and everyone patiently filed in, ready for a night at the opera. The opera house was gilded in gold, red velvet seats in the private boxes, and the air was filled with the sounds of anticipation. Silence fell as the string instruments tuned in the pit below the stage. Everyone clapped when the conductor emerged. The introduction was the most magnificent thing I have ever heard. Mesmerized by the succinct and precise movements of the violins, the trombones stepped in, bassoon and harp coming in so perfectly that it all become on sound, one song led by the passion of the conductor who held them all with his baton and his exact hands, I knew this was what music is suppose to be like. The set was impressive, but simple and the costumes helped me keep characters straight since I couldn’t follow the words. The evening progressively got better. The plot was complicated and sung in Italian, but even still, the emotion conveyed was undeniable. Every time I thought the best song was over, another would begin. The soprano was flawless and she never faltered. It was really too bad she had to die in the end. The singer who played Ismaele also was a stand out. The chorus was also glorious. I obviously loved it all and can’t say enough positive things about the entire experience. It was all very refined and elegant. Three hours of the most incredible performance I have ever experienced. Where better to see an opera than the country where it was born? The Italians can sing opera. It’s that simple. The curtain call was almost ridiculously long, but who can blame them. They knew that had done well and it was a performance worthy of many bows. Eventually the curtain fell, the lights came up, and we all knew we had truly experienced the opera.

Fashion Day

I love afternoons spent in proximity to the works of Donatello, Michelangelo, and Botticelli as much as the next person, but so much art all the time wears me out. Florence is attributed with the great art of the past so it may be easy to overlook the modern artesian or fashion influence which is also a vital part of the city. This may sound ironic coming from someone who hardly knows Prada from Gucci, shops at Old Navy, and is hardly fashion forward, but Florence is the perfect place to spend a “fashion day.”
Step one: Dress nice. Not too fancy, but dress sharp.
Step two: Start the day with a cappuccino at a café and stand at the bar with the Italians. Step three: Casually work your way towards the fashion district of Florence. Notice how the crowd thins and note the absence of tourists in jean shorts and ball caps.
Step four: Shoe museum (see description below)
Step five: Walk into shops that you have no hope in a million years of ever affording. Tell the sales person how much you love the coat you just tried on, but you just bought one last week and don’t really have room for another. Forget to mention that the coat you just bought was 20 euros and that even if you do look fabulous, you could buy a used car for the same price as the coat you are wearing. A really used car, but a car none the less.
Step six: Take a break from dress up and cross the river to eat the most delicious Tuscan potato soup in a restaurant that is literally a hole in the ground.
Step seven: Buy some new makeup (in the part of town where you won’t go bankrupt just by looking at the display) and a new scarf, because it’s Italy after all and sometimes it’s fun to play dress up. It’s okay to look nice. And don’t worry, you can always go stare at medieval art tomorrow.

Shoe Museum: A great diversion from typical tourist activity is the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo which is located in the fashion district of Florence. For five euros, the shoe museum is one of the best museums I have ever been in. Not only were the shoes incredible, the entire exhibit was a tribute to color and was just brilliantly displayed. At first this may sound shallow, but when standing in front of some of the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen in my life that were created by “the shoemaker to the stars,” I quickly understood this was as fine an art as any. All of the shoes were one of a piece works of art created for icons like Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, the duchess of Windsor, and Sophia Loren. What stuck me most was that shoes created almost sixty years ago would still be considered high fashion today. There was even a shoe made out of 18K gold! Even Marilyn Monroe’s classic heel that we all recognize was a product of Ferragamo. The museum included many wooden shoe forms of famous people, a photo gallery, and three rooms of shoes. More than a display, the museum is a tribute to Ferragamo and his dream and his accomplishment of creating the most beautiful shoes in the world.