Traveling Band

It’s Saturday night, and I just returned home from having dinner at one of my now-favorite neighborhood trattorie, Osteria Buongustai, right around the corner from my apartment. After a fantastic, and very reasonably priced, dinner of grilled steak and vegetables, I walked out the door. As I did, I heard the uplifting sound of music, coming from just down the street. I just had to follow it to see where it led.

To my surprise I came upon a band of eleven musicians, two on drums and nine on brass, including trumpets, saxophones, a clarinet, an oboe, and a flugelhorn, playing as they walked down the street, with a crowd of eager listeners following right along. They came to a stop in a small piazza, where they proceeded to play a series of marching band songs, all uplifting and jubilant. They weren’t just playing music; they were celebrating life. The crowd cheered, and the music drew an elderly couple to the window of their apartment, several floors above us. We all waved, and they waved right back, seemingly loving the music as much as we.

This was one of those serendipitous “Wow” moments that no amount of planning could ever replicate, one that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

And as I sit here writing this, I can still hear them out there, in the streets of Florence, playing their hearts out for anyone who has the good fortune to be able to listen.