Il gelato e` una metafora...

Gelato, in my opinion, is more than what it seems.  It's not just simply a dessert.  It is a metaphor.  Gelato can teach us many things.  It can teach us, for example, about sweetness and the importance of looking for sweetness in every way possible.  Allow me to extend this metaphor.  There are, in the world of gelato, many different flavors.  Strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut, just to name a few examples.  All of these flavors are sweet, but they are sweet in different ways.  This is just like sweetness (the intangible kind!) in life.  Sweetness, or la dolcezza in Italian, comes to us in many different ways, and from different things, people and experiences.  Furthermore, there isn't just one definition of the word.  Something that gives me a sense of sweetness, for example, does not necessarily have to provide the same feeling for someone else.  It's just like gelato flavors.  My favorite flavor is strawberry, but there is no law saying that everyone has to eat strawberry gelato!  If I get strawberry, and you get chocolate, we have both found dolcezza.

Unfortunately, life does not consist of just sweetness.  In life, there are bitter things.  If we move forward with this gelato metaphor, an example of one of these bitter things would be dieting.  A diet, in this sense, is the decision to abstain from a certain type of sweetness in the short run in order to obtain a different kind of sweetness in the long run.  In life, there are going to be moments when we have to abstain from sweetness, and there will be times when it simply just doesn't come our way  However, it is from these momentary lapses in sweetness that we come to appreciate it more strongly.

...We had to write a one page composition for our Italian professor about gelato.  The original assignment was to go get some and to ask "il gelataio" about the ingredients and process of making gelato...and about the calorie content.  I never ever want to know the calorie content of gelato.  Ever.  I had already had a gelato earlier in the week (and that was my first since arriving in Florence), so I didn't want to have another one- I'm trying to be good!  So I came up with that little passage on gelato being a metaphor.  Sometimes I really don't understand how I think of these things.  

Perhaps it's because I've been in a more serious need of some dolcezza this week.  Adjusting is a lengthy and rather exhausting process, and I was not prepared for how difficult it would be.  I'm not saying I'm not up for the challenge.  I am up for it.  I just wish I'd have known in advance just how challenging it would be.  

Luckily, for when I'm feeling blue, I have my friend Rachel to organize enjoyable distractions.  I don't know what we'd do without her.  She's always doing research on good places to go, and genuinely enjoys planning trips to them.  Today, she organized a lunch for us at a small place called Salumeria Verdi.  There is also a sign in the window that says "Pino's Sandwiches".  We've been trying to stay away from places with translated menus and the like, but we heard plenty of Italian being spoken inside and went on in.  The man behind the counter- Pino- was energetic and very friendly.  He heard us doing our best to speak Italian, and asked what school we were in Florence with.  We replied, almost in perfect unison, "Smith College".  His face implied that he was unfamiliar with it.  So I preceded to tell him, in Italian, that our school has had a program here in Florence since 1929, that we'd be here until June, and that all of our classes this year would be in Italian.  His response was not directly related to what I'd said.  Instead he said "ma tu hai origini Italiani" (you have Italian origins).  It was really more of a statement than a question.  I said yes, Neapolitan.  Pino's face lit up.  "Lo sapevo! Hai una faccia Napoletana.  Anch'io sono Napoletano!"  (I knew it!  You have a Neapolitan face.  I am Neapolitan, too!).  

*Quick digression/reference to previous post: the friendly man behind the counter is not Florentine.  Just saying.*

Anyway, he asked us some more about our program, and then took our orders.  The panini were PHENOMENAL.  Definitely deserving of the great reviews Rachel had read online, and the prices were more than reasonable.  Pino then asked us if we like wine.  Obviously we replied with an emphatic SI.  Turns out he also owns an enoteca (wine bar) not too far from his salumeria.  He organizes and hosts wine tastings, and said he'd love to have us for one.  I have a feeling we will be seeing Pino again very soon.