Fra il cielo e l'Arno

When Alessandro and I arrived in front of the Arno to run this morning, I noticed how the cielo (sky) and the Arno were the same dark blue color. As we were running, I kept looking at the Arno and then the cielo because they were both so enchanting to look at.

It had been almost a month since I went out in the morning to run, so it was such a pleasure to see my city in the early morning light. We crossed paths with many runners for the first time, which was nice because at times we don't see anyone on the streets, only people in cars.

From our apartment, we run away from the city and toward Ponte da Verrazzano, which is the ponte (bridge) after San Niccolò. The area we run toward is more residential with cars and buses frequently passing us by. As we cross over the Ponte da Verrazzano, I looked down the Arno river and caught glimpses of the city.

The best moment of the run we have in the morning is when we run toward the city and the monuments, like the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and Ponte Vecchio, begin to appear in the distance. The buildings along the Arno hide them when we are far away and as we get closer, the monuments seem to pop up behind the buildings.

By the time we reached the Ponte Vecchio, the Arno was a dark grey just like the cielo. While we walked back to our apartment, the cielo and Arno lightened up and once again they seemed to be the same color as if they were blending into one another. I felt so much peace as I looked back at the Arno before heading upstairs to our apartment. I felt as if my city gave me an abbraccio (hug) and all day I felt happy inside.

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