Summer

Arm in arm, an elderly couple crosses the Arno River on the tram bridge to reach the Cascine Park, while the evening sun casts shadows on the pedestrian walkway.

Today along the river, one of the old milldams on the Arno River.

The stuccoed façade of Palazzo dell'Antella in Santa Croce square. In the PIP, the square and church from a different angle. Normally, this time of year it would be crowded with tourists despite the scorching heat, but, as you can see, this year we have much fewer visitors, who get to enjoy the city without having to deal with the crowds. Much easier to keep social distances too :)

a glimpse of the sunlit buildings across the Arno river, taken from the pleasant shade under the trees of the riverside garden in Piazza Poggi (where I also enjoyed a tasty panino from the Easy Living Kiosk). The tower of the Palazzo della Signoria looks closer than it is in reality from this perspective. On the right hand side, part of the brownstone building of the Biblioteca Nazionale.

Sun colors and sunlight in an inner courtyard shine through the gate and get reflected on the entrance door. HFF once more!

The Judas tree displays an unusual characteristic, called cauliflory, that sets it apart from most other plants. In spring, its bright pink flowers sprout directly from the bark on the trunk and branches, a strategy that is thought to make it easier for crawling insects to act as pollinators too. This time of year the flowers are long gone, of course, but the rusty coloured seed pods that have taken their place still illustrate this unusual phenomenon. Il the first Pip: a wider shot that shows another bunch of pods within the larger context of the tree. In the second Pip: the Judas tree in spring

A young woman slows her bike down as she prepares to take a shortcut through a pedestrians-only archway. This is one of many city corners where it is still apparent how, in its progressive growth outwards, the city melded with existing rural buildings, in this case probably a farm with an arched carriageway that lead into the court yard (on the same building one can still see the small projecting volume that at one time was the "outhouse"). The medley of fences, gates and balcony railings from different eras also points to this progressive transition from rural to urban that took place overtime and lends this corner of the city its odd character. HFF and Have a great weekend everyone!

Are you thinking of fixing a colorful and tasty fruit salad with real fruit that has not seen the inside of a refrigerator? Fancy a very Florentine "panino col lampredotto" for lunch? Need a summer hat? Want a bouquet of flowers for a loved one's birthday or a new potted plant for your balcony? Hungry for some pecorino cheese? Well, Sant'Ambrogio's open air market is where you want to be! After the Central Market got gentrified and "touristified", Sant'Ambrogio's is one of the very few real open air markets left and the only one near the center of town. Small but kaleidoscopically diverse (see PIPs), it's a feast for the eyes.

On the banks of the Arno River. I find interfaces very interesting. Here the vegetation on the very edge of the river banks finds sufficient moisture to thrive even in the summer heat. A few paces away from the water everything dries out (and Park Services mows it down). For Maurice: no swans visiting this stretch of the river yet this year, but there's a small group that shows up almost every year. For Andy and Maurice: wishing you both a moment of simple serenity as you work at recovery or wait to learn news about the way forward.