CASA VALENTINE…

………WHEREVER WE ARE TOGETHER, WE ARE HOME

A Winding Road?

Written By: Arlene Ridolfi Valentine - Aug• 03•22
Winding Road, Vermont

Winding Road, Montpelier, Vermont

Nothing like a winding road to lead you somewhere…..and in our case, it did.  Back to Italy.  Florence continued to call to us and so after six years of traveling between Vermont and Italy (with winter made glorious each year by four months in St. Croix), we decided to make Italy more permanent.  Maybe it was the pandemic, maybe it was age, maybe it was some unspoken sense of something unfinished, but we just knew it was time.

Vermont Living Room, May 2022

We left our sweet apartment in Montpelier, put our things in storage, and packed our bags…..

Vermont Living Room, June 2022

Vermont Living Room, June 2022

We arrived in Florence in the midst of a heatwave and as most Florentines headed to the sea, we settled into a top floor flat (with air-conditioning and a rooftop terrace).  What comes next?

Rooftop Terrace View, Florence

Rooftop Terrace View, Florence, Italy

We’re not really sure what will come next, but we’re happy we’re here and I’m very happy to be posting again!

Maybe we are just attracted to domes………….

Written By: Arlene Ridolfi Valentine - Jul• 24•22
Florence Duomo

Florence Duomo

It’s always a little awkward to pick up on a project that’s been left idle for a while…..even if the blame can be laid at the pandemic’s door.  But that wouldn’t be the whole story and this blog, ever since I started it back in 2014, has been a pretty honest and contented recounting of our life as it unfolds in Italy and the US.  

To some it seemed strange that after retirement we embraced life in a small New England town after living and loving our life in Florence Italy for the previous 15 years.  But it didn’t seem strange to us.  Florence, for all the astounding wonders it offers, is just a small home town to those of us who choose to live there and like all city dwellers, your neighborhood is the nexus of your life and all the other attributes it may offer are just icing on the cake.  

Vermont Capital Dome

Montpelier Vermont Capital Dome

The comfort of small-town USA as personified by Montpelier, Vermont was a fine….in some ways perfect… place to live out the constraints of pandemic lockdowns.  We had farmstands for food, a good library for books, an internet connection for movies and communication and since we were used to spending lots of time together, it wasn’t a difficult transition.  

Also, being in the same country as our two daughters and their husbands after all those years of seeing each other only once or twice a year was very sweet.  We were finally able to get a chance to share in their lives  (one north and one south)……and what a joy it was to see that they are all thriving.    So………we got to experience the comfort and peace of small town life in the mountains of Vermont and during the long winters we decamped to experience the comfort and peace of tropical life on the island of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands.

Christiansted, St. Croix

Christiansted, St. Croix, Clock Tower Dome

Like I said……maybe we’re just attracted to domes!!