This morning when I woke up, I was surprised to hear such stillness in the air. The city streets below were empty with only a few cars passing by. I left the house before 9am this morning and was happy that the rain had stopped. I ran under the thick layer of grey clouds along the lungarno (road along the Arno river) away from the Ponte Vecchio.

For Sunday lunch with my suoceri (in-laws), they surprised me with bruciate (roasted chestnuts). It’s one of nature’s sweetest gifts in the autumn that I adore. I remember the first time I tried marroni (chestnuts) at one of the street vendors many years ago. I didn’t particularly like them, and found them dry and peculiar tasting.

I was a little nervous when a woman called me saying that she was from the prefettura (prefecture) earlier this week. There’s only one reason someone would call me from the prefettura: my Italian cittadinanza (citizenship). I hoped that she had good news for me, but I knew that good news would only come in a letter.

This morning when I left the house for my run, I looked up at the dim, but clear, sky and saw the sun peeking from behind a cloud in the distance. Since we still haven’t set our clocks back, the sunrise is quite late. I peered at the gold outline around the tops of the clouds in the East.

On my walk up the viale (large avenue) to Piazzale Michelangiolo this morning, I was happy to see more leaves of all different colors: brown, yellow, orange, and even red. I love seeing autumn at its peak. While I hiked up the viale, cars and motorini (scooters) passed me by in both directions and a few leaves fell from the trees quietly. I kicked up some of the leaves on the path even though the sidewalk was rather tidy.

On the day that The Florentine publishes my “Expats in Florence” article, I send the next one to the editors for the upcoming issue. I recently realized that today’s article is the thirtieth one published about an expat in Florence. It seems almost unbelievable to me since I feel like I’m just getting started. Since Florence is home to thousands of expats from around the world, I feel that I have so many more expats to meet and interview. I always love hearing how their lives have unfolded and led them to Florence. Even though we share the same city, our stories are always different.

Early this evening, Alessandro and I went out for a walk. I usually enjoy strolling the streets by myself so I can stop and take photos when I want, but being with someone else, especially my marito (husband) adds something to the experience for me. Because the streets were crowded with people on their Sunday walks, we initially decided to head away from the negozi (shops), and head toward Piazza della Signoria.

This morning I had to walk to an appointment near Piazza Tasso. I was running a little late, but I didn’t forget to bring my camera along with me. I had been wanting to take a few pictures from that part of town, but I can never plan what inspires me. After my appointment, I strolled along the Arno. With the grey sky above, I enjoyed my walk along the fiume (river), looking for something to take a photo of.

When I was out this morning, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the Arno. I had seen the Adige in Verona last week and found it quite beautiful, but for me it didn’t have the same charm that the Arno holds. Aesthetically, one would probably choose the Adige over the Arno. The clear, rushing water in the fiume (river) is enchanting. However, the beauty of the Arno lies not in its appearance, but in its personality.

I haven’t had the time to just walk around Florence lately to see what changes have been occurring. Today, with only a half hour before lunch, I decided to walk along the Arno to take in my beloved city. Since autumn is one of my favorite seasons, I wanted to see how it has been progressing in Florence. I hadn’t noticed many leaves on the trees turning color or leaves on the ground, although in the centro (city center) there are so few trees. Across the fiume (river), the trees still look rather green with all their leaves intact.

For my birthday today, we decided to go to Verona for the day. Even though the weather reports for Verona had announced rain, I was determined to go no matter what. In Florence, we had a terrible storm last night, so when we woke up to clear skies, I thought we could get lucky. And we were. When we arrived in Verona, we were greeted with blue skies and a few dark, grey clouds lingering above us. The threat of rain was present, but not a drop fell.

It’s the first of October and fall is certainly in the air. The temperatures have cooled down, the sun is weaker, more clouds float across the sky, and the days end earlier. Nevertheless, I love the fall. Just like I love the spring. For me, these are the two active seasons of the year. It’s probably not by chance that in American English, the two seasons are also verbs.

I realized only this morning why I am slow to start my week when Monday arrives. I’m usually motivated Sunday to get the week going, but I wake up and don’t feel motivated to go out. Besides the hairdressers being closed all day, many of the shops around town are also closed in the morning. It’s as if the city is still slumbering until well after lunch. I thought I was just having Monday blues, but I think now that it has to do with the city not being completely awake yet.

At 9:30am, thousands of people met in Piazza della Signoria for the 8th edition of Corri la Vita. When we began the passeggiata (walk), we were barely moving. I met up with friends, but after ten minutes they left because we were going so slow. It took at least 10 minutes to walk to Ponte Vecchio with the large crowds and people walking with bambini (babies) in passeggini (strollers) and cani (dogs).

This evening as the sun was setting, I ran outside to Ponte alle Grazie to take a few shots of the tramonto (sunset). I wish I had my camera on the first night we returned because the sky was an incredible shade of pink and orange. I was happy to catch tonight’s tramonto because I hadn’t had time since I returned to see it.