A couple of us were talking about blogs over German Olympics coverage, when I realized what an epic fail I have been at keeping up with mine. It has been since October. How time flies.
Three short (but snow-filled) weeks at home and I was already back in Florence. Just last week I rearranged my room, pushed my beds together, and furnished them with big enough sheets that it is almost like I am a real person again. I truly live here. I'm having that panicky feeling already about moving out again, granted there is not really furniture I have to worry about, it but it's just that I am so done with being a nomad! You know, and the fact that here, briefly in my life, I have a room with a balcony overlooking a Brunelleschi original, the quirky but loveable Santo Spirito.
From my limited prior entries you will know that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Santo Spirito. Not the church itself persay, but the characters that seem to congregate on its stoop all day and night. During the day, you will find a mix of students, tourists and locals following a sliver of sun across the steps to enjoy their sandwiches from Gusta Panino across the street. Then there are Santo Spirito's dedicated and decidedly grungy loiterers, crammed in the nooks of its giant doors, their dogs running free somewhere nearby. It's an interesting crowd, really.
At night, and on particularly warm nights, Santo Spirito becomes a multi-purpose hub for late-night bum jam sessions, a 24-hour dog park, drug depot, and a good excuse for drunk and/or crazy yelling. Here you will find your regular explosion of firecrackers, bongos and strewn bottles of Tenets beer (10% alcohol), but in all I wouldn't say I find the square at night unsafe. The guidebooks will tell you it is known for its"bohemian vibe".
The neighbors occasionally protest the noise from behind their shuttered windows, but on the whole I get the impression that the neighborhood is a bit resigned to its status as the square of crazies. The police have a very hands-off attitude towards the nighttime shenanigans; so long as the bums are not littering the most famous and touristed areas they seem to be satisfied.
So here you are, at Santo Spirito, a church already known for its goofy incomplete facade, and you have this whole cast of characters that accompanies it. But in an endearing way, the church and the square it faces has carved a small community out of the larger Oltrarno area (our side of the river), and out of Florence as a whole. There are things I know about it, and things I expect from it only now, months after having first passed judgement on it.
I always see the most beautiful German Shepherd patiently waiting on the threshold of a shop on Via Santo Spirito. The two older women wearing stripes who run the Tabacchi on Via Maggio expect us for cappuccini during class breaks... when they can't break the 10 euro bill I have they just grin and say "domani" (tomorrow). When I open my shutters on Sunday morning it is always a surprise whether the antiques market will be there or not. I will always walk through and look at the antiques when the market is there-- but I never buy anything-- as it is, without fail, always a bunch of crap. I get some kind of mystery cheese from the cheese guy when he sets up his table facing the church, and I feign that I understand his Italian more than I do. The same guys are always in Gusta Pizza across the street, which has become our standard too-lazy-to-cook destination. Our neighborhood gelateria is the best in all of Florence, and I stand by that. The random vending room around the corner broke our hearts when they took the beer out of the vending machines, but no worries... "Asia Market" is not far and the Chinese couple in there keeps a decent amount of very cheap beer and wine chilled, seemingly just for us.
So while I may walk out the front door and find the trash can has been burnt down overnight by Santo Spirito bums, the neighborhood has somehow endeared itself to me over the past couple months. Last semester, I found myself itching to get out of Florence at every possible opportunity, but just last weekend I spent a few days in Venice and couldn't wait to get home. It's become my normal.
I will spend the next two weeks traveling, first for my break then for an academic trip. I'm going to Prague, Stockholm and Brussels, and I couldn't be more excited... but I know that at the end of it all I will be looking forward to coming back to my giant Ikea bed and my pet plant Samantha and my goofy neighborhood :)
0 comments:
Post a Comment