Florence- The city of romance. And Tourists.

My trip to Florence is admittedly very different from any other trip that I’ve taken, which means my review of the city will be different from my others. Rather than fly in, spend 2-4 days hitting every site recommended by TripAdvisor, hitting the restaurants recommended by Yelp (who I’m currently disenchanted with, but more on that later), and racing from one thing to another, I’m spending some extended time in Florence. I’m not quite living like a local, but I’m enough of a familiar face that some of the panhandlers don’t bother asking me for money anymore because they recognize me. Or they look at my shirt and figure that I’m just as bad off as they are. Regardless, they leave me alone, which is the desired result. 3 weeks into this experiment, it’s been very interesting to say the least.

Florence is a beautiful city in the heart of Tuscany, with the Arno river running east/west through it. Most of the tourist stuff is on the north side of the river, and the south side is mostly locals and residences. There are a fair number of exceptions to that statement, but if you were to visit Florence for 3 days, you could stay north of the river and not miss much. (The key exceptions would be the Piazzale Michaelangelo and the Boboli Gardens) The river itself, while an easily identified dividing line, is a great place to stroll and see the bridges crossing the river, the occasional sunbather on the shores of the Arno catching a tan, and, as you slowly meander down the sidewalk, you’ll assuredly get run into by tourists who are looking at their phone instead of where they’re going.

Having lived in DC, I’m used to tourists, or tourons as they’re sometimes called. They swoop into town for a few days, with a checklist of places to go and a list of photos that they want to take. They don’t know the layout of the city or how to get there, so they walk with their faces in their phones; sometimes every person in a group of 5 or 6 are staring at their phones, running into tourists, trash cans, and parked mopeds alike. It would be funny if I wasn’t trying to get past them while they walk side by side. Although I did walk behind one group for several blocks, just to watch the chaos…

Since gas goes for close to $7.00 (USD) per gallon and because the streets were designed for horses and not Hummers, small cars and mopeds are the norm here. I don’t think I’ve seen many SUVs in Florence, but every third vehicle is a moped. They’re inexpensive, fuel efficient, park anywhere, and they zip in an out of traffic with ease. They’re a much more practical means of transportation in a town like this. I’m not sure what they do when it rains, though.

One issue that I’m still trying to deal with here is the meal times. Italians, or at least people in this region, will have a large meal for lunch, but they won’t have dinner until 9P or later. That’s fine for them, but I’m more of a 5:30P blue-plate-special kind of guy, and when most restaurants don’t open for dinner until 7:30P, that’s a bit of a problem. However, the Italians predicted my dilemma and started a tradition years ago that I wholeheartedly endorse: the Aperitivo. Starting around 6:00P, many bars will lay out a spread of food for a nominal cost. Some bars, it’s free if you’re drinking, and at others it’s just one or two Euro. The spread can vary from bar to bar. The worst one I’ve seen was potato chips, olives, and a block of cheese. But the bar at the Hotel L’Orologico had a full spread, that included crostini, small bite-sized pizzas, mixed nuts, bread with prosciutto and cheese, etc, and it was free. You buy a drink, and you can eat all you want. If I remember correctly, I made that my dinner that evening. From the bar’s perspective, they get guests to come in with the offer of free or cheap food, the patrons don’t get too drunk because they’re eating while they drink, and since they’re not getting too drunk, they buy more drinks. Everyone wins (except for the customers’ livers, but they were going to lose this game anyway.)

All in all, Florence is a great place to visit for a few days or a few weeks. July is hotter than I expected, with some days getting into the mid-90s. When you’re walking several miles per day, that gets really old, really fast. August is a little cooler, but apparently that’s when all of France shuts down and goes on vacation (which makes me wonder, what month did Germany invade France? Was it really just as simple as waiting for everyone to leave the country?), so Florence is full of European tourists. Skip July and August, but check it out. Bring a significant other to enjoy the romantic sites and to watch your back while you’re reading your map.