One of my aims in being here, apart from a historical project, was to practice Italian, and the old father in the family I rent from, a retired professor at the University of Florence, has become a genuine friend. He tolerates my mistakes and has many suggestions for navigating the bureaucracies of the libraries. Whether it is through his help, or just because everyone here is so nice, I am off to a truly enviable start, and the "sabbatical home" has a LOT to do with it -- Thank you!