Compared to, say, Barcelona, there’s not a lot to do in Florence, at least not available — or advertised, anyway — to us tourists. In Barcelona, we went to the movies in our neighborhood three times, all to newly released American films with Spanish subtitles. Does that sound boring to you? It wasn’t. It was interesting, us laughing at “Nope” while the Catalans in the audience must have figured, maybe this part doesn’t translate.
But here, the only place like that didn’t screen until 9 p.m. Sculpture, art, medieval architecture — we had that in spades. But in those venues, you heard more English than Italian spoken. It was the Ghetto of the Center, as they call the old part of the cities in these parts.
So yesterday, Alan spelunked way down on the internet, and found a place we could check out. It was the Manifattura Tabacchi, an old cigar factory being, um, revitalized. We took two buses to get there and found a place that’s still getting going. There was lovely signage, a place to have a drink — there’s always a place to have a drink — but not a lot else. This sight is familiar to anyone from Detroit:
Yeah, that loft living will be a while getting here, sorry about that. But at least we were out of the Center. Wandering back to the bus stop, we heard thumping techno music, and what appeared to be a crowd of people gathering a block or two away. So we checked it out, and came upon a parade of trucks carrying gas-powered generators, powering ear-splitting speaker arrays, each blasting the sort of generic techno you can hear every year at the Movement festival in Detroit: WHUMP thumpa WHUMP thumpa WHUMP thumpa, etc., each truck followed by a dancing crowd of young people dressed in goth black, tatted up, technicolor hair, the usual.
In between the trucks, people pushing wheelbarrows advertising BIRRA for two Euro — I told you, you can always get a drink — and then the next one would roll by. It was, we would later learn, the Wish Parade. Run this page through your English translator and you get an idea:
The Wish Parade will wind through the streets of the city, an event organized by the Florentine collectives two years after the entry into force of the ‘anti-rave decree’. The street parade, which will begin on April 27 at 4 p.m., aims to bring a note of color and music to Florence. It will start from Via Forlanini to end at the Ernesto de Pascale Amphitheatre passing through Piazza Giacomo Puccini, Ponte alle Mosse Puccini, Porta al Prato, Ferris wheel, Lincoln avenue, Quercione avenue and Aeronautica street.
“In a city that is increasingly hostile to its inhabitants – we read in the widespread note – we feel the need to give a signal of presence, claiming our practices as an active part of the social and cultural fabric of the city. Florence is not only mass tourism but also a forge of ideas, initiatives, connections and networks that work every day to stay united and give an alternative to the commification of the city. We want to dance and sound the city to make our voice heard.”
Of course it had its detractors:
Of a different opinion Sheila Papucci, candidate for the city council for Fratelli d’Italia.
“The so-called artistic event – attacks Papucci – will be nothing but a traveling rave party, a discomfort announced for the Florentines between deafening music, paralyzed traffic. They will take to the streets complaining that they do not have the right to be able to meet and express themselves when in reality it will be totally the opposite”.
Papucci adds that it is an event “marked by excesses: we have already seen them in previous editions, when the procession passing through the center scared tourists and families” underlining that “Florentine citizens will have to endure situations of disorder and an increase in urban degradation with which our city is already saturated, together with a widespread disturbance of public quiet throughout the afternoon and Saturday evening”.
Oh, relax, Sheila. It was just some kids having fun. And two tourists, at the very least, weren’t scared. We followed it for a while, until we figured it was time to peel off and head home, only Sheila was right about one thing: The traffic was paralyzed. It took forever to get back to the apartment. We ended up on a packed tram, but made it in one piece.
You’ve probably heard someone, at some point in your life say, “I don’t want to be a tourist. I want to be a traveler.” I’ve come to think of the difference as similar to the one that distinguishes pornography from erotica, i.e. if it turns you on, it’s porn, if it turns me on, it’s erotica. If I’m doing it, it’s traveling. You? You’re just a tourist.
Well, most of this week has been tourism. But the Wish Parade felt more like travel.
Today we climbed the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, definitely tourism. But the view from the top was worth it:
Clarice Starling: Did you do all these drawings, Doctor?
Hannibal Lecter: Ah. That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. Do you know Florence?
CS: All that detail just from memory, sir?
HL: Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.
A similar view. The Belvedere was off to the left.
Last night in Firenze, this. The final leg of the journey starts tomorrow, and I fear it will be the worst, tourist-wise, but at least the art will be different. Stay tuned.
Jeff Gill said on April 28, 2024 at 1:12 pm
I smell Paris in the springtime…
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Little Bird said on April 28, 2024 at 1:39 pm
When Deborah and I were there we met up with my stepsister and went one place for Bellinis (sp?) first, then this fabulous hole in the wall restaurant called Baldovinos, which had AMAZING food (and never ending wine carafes). Then we went to a night club. Not exactly our thing. And then step sister just left us there. We didn’t know where we were! But we could see the Duomo, and our hostel was on one of the streets that come off of that plaza. So we were able to get there with very little trouble.
We tried many different restaurants and were rarely disappointed by them. But Barcelona was much more interesting to me. I got to have calamari like five times! Fresh calamari!
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Sherri said on April 28, 2024 at 4:59 pm
I’m really tired and frustrated. We’ve spent the last several years being lectured about how cancel culture and woke have gone to far, with all sorts,of excuses being made for outright Nazis in the name of free speech, and then the minute college students start protesting, the very same people are cheering on the police arresting them.
We’re headed towards authoritarianism not because of Trump, but because too many people like the way it keeps people in their place. They’d prefer Trump and the Nazis to be less vulgar and uncouth, but at least they don’t upset the status quo.
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David C said on April 28, 2024 at 5:33 pm
I saw this on Balloon Juice this morning. I think he’s right. There’s no difference between corporate hacks and university administration hacks.
The other big news is all the protests occurring all over the country regarding the War in Gaza. I’ve been saying this for years, but I’ll say it again. There is fundamentally NO DIFFERENCE between the majority of college and university administrations and every corporate hack out there. None. That’s one of the dirty secrets about colleges that Republicans, in their 60 year war on the academy, don’t want anyone to know. There may be faculty and students with liberal sensibilities, and a smattering of actual radicals, but the majority of administrators could just as easily be lying to congress about whether tobacco is addictive or that climate change is a hoax. The only real difference is that university admins are versed in the language of liberalism, but only enough so that they can brandish it at as a weapon against their enemies, which is usually faculty and staff and students.
So am I surprised that the gut instinct of all of these assholes is to immediately call the cops on students? Not even remotely. All they care about is that the donor cash keeps coming in and their record is not blemished with the people who matter- their corporate donors, fellow administrators, and Republican politicians. Are there some bad actors who have said inexcusable things and peddled anti-Semitic tropes? Of course. Are they the majority? No. Not even close. I’ll just leave it to you to parse why the most ardent critics of trigger warnings and safe spaces are now cheering on… the arrest and violence inflicted on them in the process of those with whom they disagree.
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Sherri said on April 28, 2024 at 7:06 pm
In some cases, university administrators have been replaced by corporate hacks. The reaction of university administrators isn’t surprising, but it’s the reaction of the very serious and centrist above it all pundits that demonstrates why I can’t ever take them seriously. Like Caitlin Flanagan, who’s been beating the drum of how free speech at risk on campus, then tweets begging the NYPD to arrest Columbia faculty members who are out protecting the protesters. Such a move would give me whiplash.
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Deborah said on April 28, 2024 at 8:46 pm
After living in Florence for 3 years my husband’s younger daughter hated Italy and couldn’t wait to get out of there. She said everything was 10 times harder to do than in the US, like paying utility bills and there were lots of strikes etc. I never really understood what exactly was so hard but then I never lived there.
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Suzanne said on April 28, 2024 at 8:51 pm
Our daughter works at an Ivy League uni. She’s always said that the administration is very conservative and that the reputation they have of being a bastion of liberalism is not true by a long shot.
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Brandon said on April 29, 2024 at 2:18 am
@Suzanne: Brown?
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Kristen said on April 29, 2024 at 5:50 am
The worst, tourist-wise…my guess is Venice.
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basset said on April 29, 2024 at 10:12 am
“Ghetto of the Center” seems a good way to put it. Been running into that as I plan our do-over trip to England this fall… I got sick the last time we were there, the worst of it at the James Herriot museum in a little rural town in Yorkshire, so we’re starting from there. Might just chill in the village for a few days and come home, we’ve seen all the old buildings we need to.
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Julie Robinson said on April 29, 2024 at 1:17 pm
It’s hardly the Yorkshire Dales or Italy, but we are planning a couple trips back up north in October, for our 50th high school reunions. I’ve been tracking tickets for a few months, and they keep getting pricier so we’ll be flying the budget airlines, Allegiant and Frontier. Not our favorites, but the flights are pretty short. I haven’t been back to Fort Wayne since we moved here in 2021, nor have I been back to my hometown in Illinois.
BTW, if you’re looking for domestic rental cars, Costco travel had the best rates both times. They also include a second driver in the price.
Did anyone else watch Mr Bates vs The Post Office on PBS? It ended last night but IRL they are still having hearings right now. I did some reading about the whole thing and it made me too angry to sleep. And if you didn’t watch and have no idea what I’m talking about, never mind!
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Suzanne said on April 29, 2024 at 8:58 pm
Brandon @ 8, not Brown but Columbia.
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jerry said on April 30, 2024 at 2:24 am
Julie@11
The Mr Bates programme is excellent and has caused a stir in this country. Indeed there are hearings going on which are just showing what I, and many others, have known to be a scandal – my experience in IT made it obvious that there were system problems. Senior Post Office managers are all claiming ignorance. Many of the victims are still waiting for compensation; senior managers should be on trial.
For any of you who haven’t seen it I can recommend it as an excellent watch with some first class performances.
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Dexter Friend said on April 30, 2024 at 11:11 am
https://www.travelitalianstyle.com/blog/2016/1/26/real-life-italy-living-and-working-in-an-italian-restaurant
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