The zebra-striped Duomo is one of my favorites in Italy so far.
The interior shifts between solemnity and a sort of brilliant goofiness, as if people just kept adding pretty things without knowing when to stop.
This is probably what a cathedral would look like if Strange Tree Group decorated it.
Of course, there are marvelous pieces of art...
...and vertiginous views of the city from the top of the arcade above the Duomo museum, on the wall that would have been part of the Duomo's nave if the Black Plague hadn't wiped out half the city and the cathedral-building workforce.
There's also food. The ceiling of this shop is thick with wild boar sausages, hocks of prosciutto, strings of garlic, and everything else you could want. Behind the counter are ten different kinds of pecorino. The air is redolent with cinnamon from the bakery on the premises. The owner--of course--wears a tall white paper hat and has a wide, curling moustache and gives you slices of salami his sister has made.
The other wonderful thing I tried--and it was probably made exponentially more wonderful by the freezing weather--was a traditional soup called acqua cotta. It's vegetable soup (broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, celery, and something--probably peperoncini--with a kick) that has been put in the broiler for a bit, and is then served over grilled bread, all topped with a poached egg. This, too, I will be making in the depths of the Chicago cold.
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