A few weeks ago, Silvia from Magnolia Wedding Planner contacted me through my blog to let me know that she was organizing a fiera (fair) called Handmade Weddings and Life. Shortly after hearing about the fiera, I found out that my friend Rebecca would also be one of the artigiani (artisans) to display her work. I thought my sister would enjoy it because when I was living in California before, we used to go to the Arts & Crafts fairs in our area.
After watching the afternoon partita (soccer match) yesterday, my sister and I hopped in a taxi to go to the fiera, being held near San Lorenzo. I didn't feel like walking there because it was almost 6pm, and we only had two more hours left of the fiera being open.
We didn't know how big the fiera was going to be, but were happily surprised to see a large courtyard with stands and displays all around. Even though we are both married, we enjoyed browsing all the stands displaying handmade jewelry, clothes for both adults and children, stationery, fabrics, and other unique items. I also enjoyed seeing the flower arrangements and wedding cakes. There were also a few things more geared toward weddings, like a make-up artist and a wedding photographer.
I was happily surprised to see a woman that I know displaying her silver jewelry. I had no idea that she made jewelry, and it made me think about how little we know of the people we run into around town. I also bumped into another woman, who contacted me through my blog and just moved to Florence. She had emailed me about meeting up earlier this year, but she didn't email me back to tell me that she had arrived. She said she wanted to read all my blog entries before talking with me, but I told her it wasn't necessary. Especially since she's still reading the blog entries I wrote in 2006!
I was especially happy to meet Silvia because we hadn't met before although we did exchange a handful of emails. She was as sweet in person as she was over email. We discovered that we had a girlfriend in common, which happens a lot, but was completely unexpected.
I'm looking forward to Silvia hosting another fiera soon because I certainly enjoyed myself, and made some purchases as well.
NOTE: I have posted more photos from the Handmade Weddings and Life fiera. Become a fan on FaceBook to check them out.
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