Last night I had dinner at the lovely Castel di Poggio near Fiesole, one of the few medieval castles left standing in Florence. How did I manage this? Well, my current housemate is a great girl named Elisabetta. She is a contract lawyer here in Florence and for the past year she has served as the president of her Rotary club. Last night was the end of the year dinner where Elisabetta officially passed her office to the incoming president, and she very kindly invited me to come. I was a little hesitant since I wouldn't know many people and really didn't have anything to wear, but in the end I decided to go. I did bring one dress with me after all, and even though I didn't think it was nice enough, Elisabetta assured me that it was just fine. She also lent me a pair of shoes and an evening bag (since I didn't bring either of those things with me- I wasn't planning on going to any fancy parties!) which made me feel a little more comfortable. I am so glad she talked me into it, because I had a wonderful time! I was able to meet many of her friends and practice my rusty Italian, the food was great (5 courses, including desert- I was stuffed!), and the setting was beautiful. It was a perfect way to spend an evening out! Unfortunately, as I often do, I forgot to bring my camera. (Sorry Mom!) However, don't despair! I did find a few pictures of the castle online (what did we do before Google?) so here they are:

The castle looked beautiful at night with candle lining the steps up to the entrance!

An aerial view of the castle; the dinner was held in the central courtyard.

This is Elisabetta on the right, wearing a necklace with the names of all the past presidents of the club on it, and on the left is her good friend Maria Giulia, who sat next to me at dinner.

A great shot of the courtyard and everyone at their tables.

This is a picture of Giovanna, one of Elisabetta's best friends, and myself during dinner. She sat on the other side of me and was a lot of fun to talk to. She also made me feel better about not being able to eat all the food because she couldn't either!