I Vanitosi (The Silly Vain Ones)

Arezzo, July 2013

One of my most favorite outings in Italy is visiting my amici at Prive, my hairdressers of the past 12 years. Without them, I would be a mess, important to keep the Goldwell red hair color going every 3 weeks. And equally as important: Fabrizio, Mino, Ela, and Miri are my dear Arezzo friends/family at this point. Prive is a jewel of a salon, Fabrizio is an amazing artist, along with being a brilliant parrucchiere (hairdresser), he is continually displaying new works he has created in his salon. Whenever I go, it is spa day for me. I am completely at home, I let down, relax, and they all take care of me.

Mino, Fabrizio, Me, Ela and Miri

One of Fabrizio’s paintings that I have always enjoyed

Mino and I bonded a few years ago over our mutual love of our identical Nikon cameras and have been friends ever since. We also share the character trait of being extremely vain and self absorbed ( I vanitosi) when it comes to having photographs taken of ourselves, so we entertain each other in this obsessive quality.

Yes, I admit it. I am hopelessly vain. Una vanitosa senza speranza. Oh well. It could be worse. It is what it is.

After a delightful afternoon of covering getting fresh color on the hair with my Goldwell 8kg, 7K, etc. formula, I headed over to Albero, a wonderful shoe store nearby. Shoes and handbags, another hopeless addiction. I discovered a handbag line last year, 3rd Floor, and since July is saldo month in Italy, where the entire country is on sale, I figure I need to go check out whats happening at Albero.

Naturalmente, I find another 3rd Floor handbag I can’t live without (this makes 3) and it is discounted to a ridiculously low price. Of course I bought it. I haul it over to Mino’s and we take more pictures of each other while we wait for his partner Filippo to get ready so we can go to dinner.

Beautiful bag, isn’t it? Will I stop at 3? Probably not. There is always another saldo, next July.

Ok, I think this is good Mino, lets go eat.

They take me to Olga e Albano Ristorante, one of Arezzo’s best restaurants. A friend of mine had recently recommended this to me, so I was excited to go. It was as good as he promised it would be.