Florence is filled with meandering streets and layered with the history of over 2,000 years. A city this old is not only maze-like, but also built in layers with one age building and living on top of another. By way of not only the beauty, Florence also gives its people and its visitors a unique taste of what it is to live truly. Florence is an old woman who has so many secrets that are just waiting to be discovered. Every road and every bend are new encounters waiting to be experienced. She is daring and fashionable. The people walk in their fashionable clothes along streets filled with the sounds of honking and motorists. She is dynamic and genuine. Florence is a city that never sleeps or strays from its roots.
It is a marvel how Florentines themselves navigate through streets that seem to go on forever. Maybe, they don’t know either. When asking a shopkeeper or restaurant hostess, directions are simplified into taking a series of left and rights, or sinistra e destra. It’s common for a Florentine Italian tell you how to go somewhere incorrectly because answering the question is better than looking like a fool.
Tourists have a hard time getting from one landmark to another. Streets often change their name when merely going around a bend, while Piazzas are ancient crossways where more than three streets meet. Via(s), Borgo(s) and Calle(s) all meaning different things. Via(s) are long roads where cars, motorcycles, and bicycles coexist with pedestrians. Please be careful when crossing the road since vehicles stop for anyone and make sure to look left; traffic is opposite to the states. Borgo refers to a district or borough in Florence; they are mostly residential. Calle in Spanish is simply street, but in Italian, the word specifically means a narrow street where most pedestrians are found.
Street names are found on the sides of building on ceramic tiles. Sometimes it's best to look at names of shops and restaurants because they often use the name of the road for their name. Tourists can often be seen holding their maps up in the air trying to navigate around the city. For the tourist, it’s hard to navigate a landscape that is so much different than their own; frequently it’s the vantage point of being on the ground walking around compared to the traffic and driving rules that dictate the movement of the urban center. Look up and look down to find what you are looking for.
Among the bustle of a Conad Supermarket, Amy Burgin of Lexington, Kentucky, had a few tips for tourists. Formerly stationed at Aviano Air Force Base , she felt that understanding parts of Florence in a grid-like pattern could help people getting around. Via(s) often cross other Via(s); if you’re lost in Florence, find a Via, head to the nearest intersection and gain your bearings. Burgin also stated that by having a local marker for your hotel and such was also helpful. Find out the names of shops and restaurants, and understand where you are staying around them. She passionately stated that flexible and comfortable shoes like the Ecco sandals she had on were the best way to avoid painful blisters and soreness. Burgin also felt that it was best for tourists especially those with small children and elderly in their group to pick a few key spots that are close together each day to not only minimize walking but to reduce the stress of all those involved.
Getting lost becomes part of the process when trying to get from the Duomo to Santa Croce. One of the main tricks is to gain your bearings of where landmarks are given your location. The Duomo soon becomes the landmark for one direction, let’s say south while the looming tower of Palazzo Vecchio becomes east. Santa Croce becomes south, but these landmarks only function when north of the River Arno. Apps like Google Maps become difficult to use due to the lack of cell service and because they often jump ahead since all the streets are so close together, try to download a map offline. Most of the Historic center is filled with winding brick-paved streets, but most of the time there are helpful signs to help show you the way. Here’s to learning Italian by a street sign. The closer you get to Santa Croce, the more the kind and texture of the brick changes. Be mindful that the elevation of the physical road changes, but so does the nature of the pavement. Always watch your step, hence why Burgin suggests flexible and comfortable shoes.
6 Tips for the easily lost in Florence:
1. Gain your bearings, not north, south, west, and east but where you are in a location to landmarks like the Duomo
2. Via(s) intersect other Via(s). Follow a Via until you find a street name you know
3. Feel free to ask another tourist. Other tourists are your friends; they know where they just came were.
4. Retrace your steps, go back the way you came until you know where you are.
5. Pay attention to your surroundings not only for safety reasons but so that you know how many doors down you are from that bar across the way.
6. Don’t be afraid to get lost, you never know what you will find just around the corner or what you will find on the street.
The reality of Florence is that you will get lost, even Florentines get sometimes lost, too. You never know what you will discover around the corner or what experience is awaiting you around the bend. Walk every brick and enjoy every moment, even the not so good ones. Be Italian and take your time. As the saying goes “Che sarà, sara” or what will be, will be. You are in Florence, soak in the Tuscan sun for the time of your life.
tourist feeding bread to pigeons at Piazza de Santa Croce