Getting settled in here.  Have been ferrying in food and wine, and now quantities and varieties of each are such that I can sit back and relax. Had a very surreal time today finding and claiming the box of completely unnecessary and frivolous stuff I'd sent to myself prior to leaving NY. Met some nice and helpful people, was able to carry on the needed conversation(s) in Italian, and, in following the serpentine path to the box, discovered a new-to-me street beyond the tourist zone that has lots of useful things, including gelato and coffee cafés. 

 Photos of my 'front yard': Santa Croce, taken this evening at sunset from my terrace, and of the equally lively 'back yard', looking out the bedroom window to the rolling hills above Firenze to the south, taken tonight.