Discovering Firenze: A Six Week Immersive Journey in Florence
The City of Florence is known as the birthplace of the Renaissance remaining a major artistic, cultural, and commercial center then and now. Amazing art, well preserved Renaissance architecture, and famous landmarks such as the Duomo Cathedral and the Palazzo Vecchio. A beautiful Italian city with unique handmade leather goods, an eye for fashion, delectable cuisine, Chianti wine, delightful gelatos and those fancy Aperol Spritz’. I spent 6 weeks discovering Firenze, learning and enjoying all that it offers. If you are planning to visit or revisit Florence soon, check out my immersive journey in Florence….
But First…. a Bit of History
Florence was founded in 59 BC by Julius Caesar, then a small Roman town. It did not become a major city until the 14-16th century known for its commerce, finance and the arts. Like most cities in Italy, Florence had its own turbulent political history yet became one of the most influential cities of that time. Much of its fame is mostly because of the Medici family whose wealth enables them to become members of Florence’s governing body. For three centuries the Medici family ruled Florence, investing heavily in promoting the arts, education and commerce, making it the birthplace of the Renaissance. In fact, the Medici family introduced a property tax that enable the city to fund the arts and build palaces, libraries and churches that today has shaped Florence’s cultural and artistic heritage.
Getting to Florence
I arrived at Florence by train having left the town of Arezzo, Tuscany (click here for a story on my visit there). What’s great about Florence’s train station is its capacity to take you through most of Italy. From Florence, it is very easy to do day trips to many of Tuscany’s medieval towns and other Italian cities like Venice. Both the city’s artistic heritage and rail-line to other cities was my reasoning for choosing Florence.
During my six weeks in Florence, I stayed in two neighborhoods. The first one in San Iacopino which I found a bit too residential for my liking and had a 30-minute walk to the historic center of the city. The other, Sant’ Ambrogio, was only 15-minutes from the center where you immediately felt the excitement of the city while residing in a neighborhood. It was also a much better apartment (a story in the making about my experiences with Airbnbs). I stayed roughly three weeks in each apartment between early April and mid-May, allowing me to learn so much about daily life among Florentines.
How Best to Describe the City
No doubt, Florence is a city rich in history, culture, and architectural beauty, unmatched by any city. Everywhere, you will see history in the statues, buildings and timeless masterpieces in its museums and churches. Getting around the city on foot is easy as there are few cars allowed in the historic center. Pedestrians, motorcycles, and bikes dominated the streets. The only congestion to worry about is the tourists. During the months of April and May the city was packed…so much for the shoulder months to get away before the crowded summer travel season.
Historic Center of Florence
The Historic Center of Florence, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is awe-inspiring and timeless as it has largely remained unchanged over the centuries. It is a place that is bustling not only with residents and tourists but also with street vendors, artists and performers. Its iconic landmarks– Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and the Ponte Vecchio among others command the city’s urban landscape. All over the city, you will be walking on its cobblestone streets looking into its many medieval alleyways. There are at least a dozen museums and historic churches you can walk to. There are many piazzas where you can really enjoy the city’s vibrant street life. Florence’s massive retail and dining places, from its stores and vendor stalls to its gelatarias and pizzerias are practically on every street. The shopping experience is pretty intense as leather goods, jewelry, and beautiful clothes will entice you to want to take them home.
Residential Living
I found Florence’s architecture a bit unique. The entire center city, including its neighborhoods seem uniformed in their use of color and architecture design. Most of the city’s buildings mainly were of earth tones. Mostly, a dusty or mustard yellow along with different shades of beige and gray (as you will see from my photos). Many of the window shutters are dark forest green or brown with terracotta roofs. This monotone look does give the city both a timeless and bohemian vibe. Unlike in Rome, where the center city has more of a cosmopolitan feeling. Florence offers a more neighborhood-like vibe as seen by the combination of narrow streetscapes, the architectural design and the mostly garage size retail stores and eateries . As early as April, folks are dining on the sidewalks and streets even on chilly days. Interestingly, there are not many large retail stores or dining places throughout the city. No Walmart or Walgreen type businesses. One can see how small business retailers can do better here than in the US. I especially enjoyed walking the streets and experiencing the vibrancy of the city, especially as it comes alive in the early evening hours.
The Arts
What can I say about Florence’s art culture other than it being the best of the world’s Renaissance art featuring masterpieces by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and Donatello—all to see within walking distance? The artistry is remarkable. You see such precision and detail in much of these works, characterized by their vibrant color and light effects. I must warn you, after visiting a dozen churches and museums, it can get redundant. The vast number of statues with many of them being nude males embracing each other and so many frescos of suffering men and women hoping to go to heaven was at times, a bit overwhelming. After a day of viewing, it was time to get a cocktail, seriously. So much history depicted in these masterpieces, yet we still know so little of what that time period was like, and the many contradictions seen in these works.
What I Did During My Six-Week Stay?
I must say I did quite a bit, including getting sick again. Besides walking almost the entire city, I also visited other cities and towns. Using a combination of tours and the train, I visited six Tuscany medieval towns and two beach towns. None which I am going to share today as this story is about the city of Florence. Accessibility to the train and tours companies in Florence makes this city a likely location for anyone that wants to see more of Italy. It may be less expensive to stay in other cities but unless you plan to drive, check to see that you can access a tour company and a train station within walking distance.
List of sites visited and my quick review….
During my stay in Florence, my sister Carmen visited me for a week of which many of these sites we attended together.
Galleria dell’Accademia: You get to see Michelangelo’s David, along with many statues and fresco paintings. I must say David was perfection, making the rest of the museum’s works less interesting.
Florence Cathedral (Duomo): Actually, we only got to see the exterior of the Duomo. The lines were too long. Instead, we decided to visit the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) which details the entire history of the how the Doumo was planned and built.
Ponte Vecchio: A medieval stone bridge with beautiful wooden structures and colorful store fronts, mostly jewelry shops. I found the jewelry a bit pricey but walking the bridge delightful.
Palazzo Pitti: A fortress-like palace where the Medici family lived, now a museum within walking distance from the Ponte Vecchio. If you love antique furniture and how the very very rich lived, put this on your calendar.
Basilica of Santa Croce: Gothic style highly ornate church much like all the other basilicas I’ve been to. Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli are actually buried there. There is an entrance fee. I would skip it as there are quite a number of churches that you can visit, including the Duomo. However, on Saturdays, the plaza of Santa Croce turns into an impressive outdoor marketplace. Great deals to conquer.
The Uffizi Gallery: Well worth a visit, as it contains an amazing collection of Italian Renaissance artwork. This was once the office building for the Medici before it became a museum. The exterior of the building facing the Piazza della Signoria is surrounded by gorgeous statues and attracts a huge crowd of tourists to the area. When there, you may want to also visit the Palazzo Vecchio Museum next door.
Mercado Centrale: This huge marketplace contains possibly every ingredient you need to cook a meal. It had a great bohemian vibe with a lot to explore and eat. I went several times to pick up produce and fish. Besides the Marketplace there are the thousands of restaurants and eateries and plenty of shops that sell meats, cheeses, vegetables and homemade pastas. On the second floor, you can get a quick and inexpensive meal or just hangout for drinks. Surrounding the marketplace are over 20+ stalls and stores selling mostly leather goods. Yes, I just had to buy that leather camera bag.
Firenze Palazzo Strozzi Museum: I was super impressed with this museum which features a major exhibition on Amselm Kiefer, the second story in this month’s newsletter.
Novo Museum: I would skip it as I found its collection of modern art a bit disappointing, including several of its recent exhibitions on display.
Cooking Class: You cannot come to Italy and not take a cooking class where you get to go to the market to buy fresh ingredients to make aperitivos, pasta from scratch and tiramisu at a lovely farmhouse drinking wine.
Connecting with People: One of the unforeseen pleasures of traveling is connecting to people who you know and don’t know. By serendipity or happenstance during one of our tours, both my sister and I got to meet someone who was from our hometown, Camden. Someone who I have not seen since my early 20s (actually close to 50 years). Neither one of us recognized each other until we started talking. My sister knew of him when he was a councilman. We later got to have lunch together to catch up and stay connected.
A longtime friend and member of my blog who happens to have the same name as I do (we just spell it differently) was going to be in Montalcino with a group of friends. We arranged to see each other a day after her arrival. To my surprise, I got to see several friends who were also down for the trip including her daughter. I was able to spend two days with the group at their place and in Florence.
Let me say, it is a phenomenal feeling when you meet up with folks when traveling for a long period. It is like being back home and just feeling connected with what is familiar to you. These two encounters were delightful and so welcoming along with my sister visiting me. When traveling for a long period especially in countries that speak a different language, it is much harder to connect with people. You yearn to have a conversation in English that last at least an hour (thank goodness for Zoom).
As always, my photos are of what makes this city so enticing and seductive …its art collections, its architecture, its streets, culture and the lifestyle of its people. I try to reflect all of this and more. I also included photos of my sister, friends and myself. As always, click the center of the photo for a full view of each photograph.
One Last Thing…
As always, I want to continue to share my nomadic experiences and mental well-being as I travel from city to city. After a week of being in Florence and having taken my first tour, I started to develop another cough, different from the 2-month dry cough that I developed in Mexico. This I believe was mainly caused by the toxic ashes of the Popo volcano that had been erupting after two weeks living in the city of Puebla. Once I got to Rome, I was rid of it. However, this new cough was more like a cold. I also noticed that I had an earache and was not hearing well in my left ear, feeling like I was in a tunnel. During my sister’s visit, I had arranged through my health insurance a telemedicine call with a respiratory doctor who prescribed me antibiotic drops for my ear and other medication for my cough. After a week of not feeling well and still coughing, I arranged to see a face-to-face doctor. The doctor tested me for Covid which was positive. This will be my second time catching Covid of which I have experienced long-term effects. I checked with my sister, who also tested positive but had no symptoms. The doctor checked my ears, clean them and gave me an oral antibiotic and some other medication. I am coughing less since taking them, but I still do not hear well on my left ear and am experiencing more migraines than I generally do. When I arrive in Venice, I will need to arrange to see another doctor. When traveling, I highly recommend to always carry health insurance to cover doctor visits, medications and possible hospitalization.
On other aspects of my nomadic life, I am still adjusting to keeping a routine although, the days go a lot quicker than expected. One of the reasons I extended my stay in Florence from a month to six weeks was to see more of the city at a slower pace with the possibility of staying longer. I later decided not to as I yearned to be in Venice before leaving Italy.
As stated earlier, not knowing the language limits you from being able to connect with people. I did meet several folks during my tours and when riding on the train I connected on two different occasions with two Spanish-speaking passengers.
I continue to spend time working on the blog, my photography, building a portfolio and preparing a photobook. To my surprise, I’ve been able to focus on these projects and take online classes for the simple fact that I do not wish to be out every day. I try to pace myself, going out mostly every other day to avoid the crowds and to not overwork my lower back. Most of April has been a combination of warm sunny days, with chilly and rainy days as compared to early May being much warmer. The more reason to plan your days carefully.
I am finishing my seventh month traveling in two foreign countries with several more to go. Overall, I am managing what is a bit of isolation and stress that comes with constantly planning where you are going to sleep next. Needless to say, with every change of venue, you hope to get a bit better at it. Let’s see how I do in Venice, my last stop in Italy. Until then
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