On Sunday, the team met Daniel Bentle, CEL associate director, at the Florence train station after two train rides from Verona. That afternoon, we took a stroll through the city where we were privileged to witness a historic flag throwing presentation outside of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Later that afternoon, we were to meet with Sauro, our Artex connection. Little did we know— the man is a legend. Some say that he once asked for his wife to be completely covered in the best (and incredibly expensive) leather in Florence. Some say he frequents the discoteque at least four times a week. Still others claim he has a gold leaf tattoo in the shape of the local Duomo on his arm. All we really know is that, Sauro Servadei, his wife Maria, and their daughter Chiara are some of the most welcoming and happy people you could ever meet. (Their dog, Titta, is also a cutie.)

Pausing by the Arno with our host Sauro.

That evening, Sauro and Maria provided us with a wonderful, and extensive, home-cooked meal. There was an antipasto platter of meats, liver, and cheeses, along with Prosecco, followed by what we thought were the main courses of pasta and a potato dish with red wine. In actuality, it was the primi piatti (literally translating to first plate).

It was soon followed by the secondi piatti (second plate) of a dish reminiscent of meatloaf and rosemary potatoes. Just when we thought we couldn’t have another bite, out came Maria with il dolce, a bread dessert called Colomba and chocolate covered nuts. The evening was full of good laughs and tips from Sauro on the best places to eat in Florence; after all, that is usually the most important thing to learn when visiting a new city!

Mr. P.E. Peroni

The next morning (Monday), the team headed to Artex bright and early to meet with Sauro and our other Artex connection, Maria Elena Angeli. The morning was spent much as the evening was, with the team listening to Sauro talk about the city, the artisans, and the beauty of Italy. After a morning filled with lively discussions, we headed to Peroni, a local leather workshop known throughout Florence for its high-quality leather goods.

P.E. Peroni (yes, his initials and last name spell peperoni) founded the workshop with his brother, Roberto in 1956. Peroni spent the afternoon showing us around his workshop and sharing with us the history of the company and demonstrating his handicraft still performed in the traditional way. Although he is retired, several team members were able to get the once-in-a-lifetime experience of Peroni personally embossing their initials onto his coin purses.

On Tuesday, we met with the president of Artex and a representative from the innovation and development division. Following that, we listened to interesting presentations from two Italian trading commissions, CNA and Confartigianato.

In the evening, we had dinner at an excellent trattoria. The amount of food consumed was similar to Sunday night. Thankfully, we were able to walk off the food during a personalized guided tour by the legendary Sauro himself. In the late hours of the night, we retired to our accommodations, heavy with excellent Italian food, wine, and history.

Josie Gutierrez,MBA’15 contributed this post on behalf of her CEL team.

For more information on Artex or Peroni, please click on the links below.

Artex: http://www.artex.firenze.it/en

Peroni: http://www.peronifirenze.it/