La Vita è Bella

Preface: Please excuse the corny title for it has been selected with good reason.


Alright now we can begin. Gio and I went to Arezzo for the day with some of her friends to visit the Citadella della Pace (the little city of peace), where young people from conflict zones around the world live and study in community. Imagine an Israeli and a Palestinian on kitchen duty together! It really puts our world's problems in close perspective.

We lunched at their "castle", toured the grounds, spent some time tapping in to our inner children by the Arno, and also took a peek around the historic center of Arezzo.

I had had no idea how much "cultural stuff" overlapped with this quaint Tuscan area. First, we visited the Ponte Buriano that crosses the Arno, which Leonardo da Vinci showcased in his eminent Mona Lisa. I kept expecting someone to ask to paint me while we were relaxing by the bridge, but apparently no one brought their oil and canvas that day.

Ponte Buriano

Ehm, ehm: Mona Lisa
Emerging from her left shoulder you can see the arches of the bridge.

Our absurdly international group

There was lots of fun stuff to do by the river, like eat cotton candy and ride the kiddy train.

Gran and Gramps turning the train

Choo choo!

The second interesting pop cultural reference to Arezzo is, (you guessed it!), the film La Vita è Bella, which used Arezzo as its setting for a multitude of scenes. I had never seen the film until I buckled down yesterday after our trip and watched it. On the surface level, it was so neat seeing Roberto Benigni run and twirl through the piazza in which I had just done the same, and on a deeper level, the film was simply magnificent, so bittersweet. I can't believe I had never seen it--it even won three Academy Awards. Please do yourself a favor and watch it. If you've already seen it, go watch it again!

Piazza Grande, Arezzo