Cioccolato caldo. Hot chocolate.

So on Thursday I had my Art History class and we went to visit the church of Orsanmichele. The church is located on Via Calziuoli and was the center of what was the financial district of Florence.

Now, the church was not originally a church, it was actually the open air grain market for the city. The grain was stored on the first floor (which you know would be considered the second floor in the U.S.) since the city was used to flooding and was sent down by chutes inside the pillars to the ground floor where the citizens would come purchase it.

The fact that it wasn't originally a church is clearly obvious the moment you step inside. The front doors are in the center of the building and when you walk inside you are not greeted by the main aisle, but rather by a row of large stone pillars that are flanked by a set of 2 smaller aisles, each with their own pews. Further, while the church is techinically in a rectangular shape, it is a rather stumpy rectangle and you don't get the feel of a church based purely off of the geometry of the building. Usually when you would walk into a church the center aisle will lead you right up to the altar. Well, not only is there no center aisle, but the altar is not at the center either. In front of the left set of pews is the altar, and in front of the right set of pews is the pulpit as well as the painting of Madonna and child that is surrounded by a stone baldaquin. For those of you that don't know what a baldquin is, it is a ceremonial canopy that covers a sacred object. For those of you that have been to St. Peter's in Rome, they have the largest baldaquin in the world. (It is the large bronze canopy over the altar.)

So you may be wondering why a grain market was converted into a church. Well in 1348 the Black Death was occurring in Europe. The people of Florence prayed to the painting of the Virgin and child and said that if she would save the city from the plague that they would transform the grain market into a church dedicated to her. Well despite the fact that more than half of the city died, the Florentines still believed that the Virgin held up her part of the deal and they began converting the market. The market was an open air market, so it only had 2 walls on the ground floor, so they had to build 2 more walls to close it in. This is why only half of the walls have decorative frescoes on them.

**We were not allowed to take pictures, so I found these from online, so you all can tell what I'm talking about, in case my descriptions aren't helping.**

This is a picture of the baldaquin that surrounds the painting of the virgin and child.

The outside of the building is just as interesting as the inside. When the building was converted the city put the 14 historic guilds of the city in charge of decorating and upkeep of the building. So thus, you will find 14 statues that create a ring around the building. Each statue represents each guild, (their placements are signigicant to the status of the guild) and represents the guild based off of their work and  often their patron saint. It was quite fun playing "guess which guild" as we went around.

After class I stopped at a new panini place-or at least new to me. It is is called 'I Due Fratellini' (The Two Brothers). They have been around since 1875 and make really good sandwiches for only 2.50. If you want to build your own with more ingredients then it is 4 euro. I chose one of the 2.50 paninis. I got Tuscan salame (which has fennel in it) and soft goat cheese. It was absolutely wonderful. I wanted to go back for a second one after I finished my first.

It was a cold and rainy day so I decided to treat myself to a little warm up!

Cioccolato caldo!! Hot chocolate!! Yes, there is a spoon, because their hot chocolate is more like a cup of melted chocolate. It is much thicker, and much richer. It can serve as a meal all on its own. I enjoyed it, so much so that I ended up spilling on myself a bit. Luckily I got it to wash off my coat for the most part. Also, their whipped cream is amazing. You can tell that is the real deal! None of that low-calorie junk, because seriously, if you're going to have a cup of melted chocolate, it's kind of pointless to then have a fat free whipped cream. Go big, or go home. (I went big.)

Just another shot of my hot chocolate. I think this picture makes it a little clearer just how thick the hot chocolate is.

Today for dinner my mother made one of my father's favorite dishes : linguini and clams! When she put my bowl down in front of my face I made a little squeal sound (out of excitement) and she thought I didn't like it. I explained to her that I did like it and that my dad makes it every Christmas Eve, which she approved of as being the right thing to eat. (We may be a few generations removed from Italy, but our traditions are still being upheld.)

It was delicious, I definitely could've gone back for seconds. (Dad, you may have some competition with this dish.) After our pasta then we had fish, which was some kind of cod or other similar fish. (The kind that I like.) She had cooked them in a red sauce on the stove and they were awesome! Usually I only like fish that is fried with tartar sauce, but this recipe is definitely something I will be trying back home.  We also had some spinach, which I was not a fan of. I only took two bites, which I forced myself to swallow. Cold spinach just isn't my thing.

After dinner I had a bunch of homework to work on, because despite the next day being Friday, I had school.