Mio Zio Dave

Mio Zio came to Firenze on Friday. I had him join us for a lovely dinner catered by my lovely friend Michelangelo at his lovely trattoria Lorenzaccio on Piazza della Signoria. My favorite Piazza in Firenze. :-) We started out with meats and cheese plate of proscuitto, salami, spicy salami, and formaggio. Then Giuseppe brought out a plate of bruschetta. THEN we ordered our own main course. Dave had a spaghetti with aglio, olio, and peperocini. I had pizza prosciutto. The wine was overflowing the table with delight and humor. Many stories were told and many friends made closer. Carlos, the Brazilian(i like to call him), chatted with Dave for 25 minutes about his life, his family, and how he was introduced into my life.

"Is she an amazing girl?' Carlos said, looking at me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Yes she is." Dave replied with a smile.

We ended up at Michael Collins later that night to see the band, Last Minute Dirty Band play.
Dave was so excited to hear an band that sings in a perfect English accent, and they were Italian. :-)

By midnight, Dave wanted to head on home so Daniella and I drew him a very badly drawn map. He is like ok...if I get lost I will call. Little did he know(and also because I was drinking) I forgot that I didn't get service down in the basement of MC. Opps.

The next morning I woke up later than I wanted to, and so did Dave. "I woke up at 10, I haven't woken up that late in a long time." He said when I finally arrived at his hotel after 12:30pm. He told me the story of him getting lost finding his hotel over lunch at La Guelfa Grotta. I felt so bad, because he called both Daniella and I.

Over lunch, we talked and connected at a different level, which was great. Being my uncle and godfather I was always strongly connected to him. But after that lunch I felt more connected to my uncle. I enjoyed the walk we took to Piazzale Michelangelo and the thoughts we had once we got the top of Firenze, looking down on the gorgeous site that is my home.

We walked back down having a feeling of triumph that we worked off our lunch and had moments I never thought I would have with him. All in all, it was probably the best time I have EVER had with my Uncle Dave. The Uncle that always made us, cousins, laugh historically about absolutely everything. The Uncle that always brought humor to the dinner table at family occasions. The Uncle who has always been there whenever you needed to chat.

As I walked him to the train station, He kept telling me his thoughts about bringing his family here. I was like please do!! I love to have visitors.
"You should, this is your city and now you can show it off." He said.

I hope to see him again in Italia with my Zia Katie, and cugini, Josh, Tara, and Jordan.

A presto