Il Monasteraccio

We spent two nights in this villa on the hill across the river from Florence, and the space and comfort we wanted were there. It was after nine and raining when we arrived. Each house is detached. The owner offered to make cold cuts, but we declined, so he contacted a restaurant in the town down the hill for us. The following night, we wanted to eat at that restaurant, but found it was closed on Monday or Tuesday. We had breakfast both mornings and talked quite a bit with the owner. He isn’t eloquent, but he is sincere and friendly. The house is 700 years old. It was a seminary for the first 300 or 400 years, then a private residence for the last 300 or 400. The owner’s father, Milo, is a local painter with some reputation, and the house is full of his art. The owner showed us paintings of his mother and childhood, and how his father’s colors changed from lots of bright yellow in his early years to much more blue later on. There were also sculptures made of cardboard, with cement and paint on the outside. The owner said this was the first of its kind at the time. It was my first time hearing of and seeing the idea. We offered to buy Milo’s picture album, but they seemed to have only a collector’s edition and weren’t selling it. We remembered to photograph paintings by non-famous artists in their homes, but forgot pictures of the outside, yard and iron gate. Looking back, that meal and the owner are what we remember most from the Italy trip.