Tuesday, 12/27

• breakfast: cappuccino, brioche
• lunch 1: mozzerella and soppressata sandwich
• lunch 2: mozzerella, tomato, and lettuce sandwich
• dinner: risotto with vegetables; meatballs with mashed potatoes and tomato sauce; panna cotta with chocolate sauce; wine (from Cipolline Rosso)

The soppressata is similar to what I get in Brooklyn, except that this one was about half meat and half fat. I prefer the Brooklyn version.

The mozzerella in my second sandwich wasn't up to Italian standards, but the tomato was really good. Italian tomatoes in December are better than American ones in August. If I could have combined my two sandwiches--mozzerella and bread from the first, tomato and lettuce from the second--it would have made a really good sandwich.

In the Uffizi, I spent about fifteen minutes staring at Titian's Venus of Urbino. In the background, there's a domestic scene: a woman and a girl with their backs turned, the girl looking through a trunk. In the foreground, there's a dog and a nude woman looking very comfortable. I was sad to leave the painting, but when I was in the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David, I noticed a sculpture that was an exact copy of the woman in the painting. It was in a room that you could peer into but not enter, so I have no idea who made it. Someone must have liked the painting too.

We asked the woman who ran the hostel to recommend a restaurant for us, and she sent us to Cipolline Rosso. Risotto came incredibly hot--possibly it had been microwaved. It was good anyway, getting a lot of flavor out of peas and carrots. I though I had ordered octopus (pulpo in Spanish), but polpette turned out to mean meatballs. They were light, both in texture and in flavor, and were delicious. The mashed potatoes were ethereal, incredibly light and fluffy. They seemed not to weigh anything on my fork, even. The panna cotta was delicious; the excellent chocolate sauce was its main flavor.