It is easy to say that vacationing somewhere and living somewhere are very different experiences. So, while I had been to Italy before, I had never lived in Italy before. It’s an entirely fantastic experience.
I have been living in Florence, Italy for about a month as a part of a four-month study abroad program with Santa Reparata International School of Art where I am working on my degree in Interior design. Living here has been an incredible experience.
There are many ways in which it is not like the United States, and I have found that many of these differences and getting to understand them has not only deepened my appreciation for the Italian culture of Florence but also made me enjoy living a more Italian lifestyle as a whole.
Italian living is slow living, taking your time and enjoying every moment. In Florence and much of Italy, it is considered unusual to take a food or drink item ordered in a bar (café) to go. In most places, if you are in a bit of a hurry, you will just stand at the counter for a few minutes with your order instead of sitting at a table and then pay and continue on. This custom is something I have not fully acclimated to yet, but I greatly appreciate living life a bit more intentionally and taking the time to do everything with purpose. Coupled with this intentional living, it is extremely common to find that most shops are closed for a lunch break in the middle of the day, normally 1-3 pm, and they are also closed for the weekend starting on Friday afternoon.
It seems to go without saying, but the food culture in Florence is exquisite. There are generally no preservatives added to food items, so things do not last as long on the shelf. For this reason, many Italians shop every two or three days, only buying what they can use in that time.
Truffle is a common ingredient specific to Florence that some other Italian cities do not feature as broadly. On a similar note, wine is enjoyed and viewed as a part of the food culture and not as much as an alcoholic beverage. As a result, Italians generally do not drink to be drunk; they drink as a part of food. The region of Chianti is only about an hour by bus from Florence, and I have been fortunate enough to participate in a guided tour and wine tasting at the Castle, which is still the facility for the long-cherished family practice of making Chianti Classico wine.
I have also visited some other cities within a two-hour bus ride of Florence, including Lucca, a city surrounded by ancient fortress walls, and Volterra, a picturesque peak and the first city settled by the Etruscans. A bit further away, two hours by train, is the iconic city of Venice, where I spent three days experiencing the city’s history, monuments, and nightlife and gathering information for my hospitality interior design studio class. It has been extremely interesting to me to see the differences between the cities that are only a few hours apart in the same region of Italy. Each city has its own slang within the Italian language, and some quirks make it distinct within Tuscany.
Florence is an amazing place to ease into the Italian culture, to experience the nightlife and tourist attractions of the city center, and also delve into Italian living outside the city center. Some of my favorite things in Florence so far have been scavenging around the city for famous monuments and landmarks, such as the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore with its infamous dome and the Pallazzo Strozzi to see breathtaking open-air modern art exhibitions.
In the evenings, an amazing little club to visit is Jazz Club Firenze, where there is live jazz music every night, and the band is always different. For a quiet day to study and get work done, the Guinti Odeon Theatre is perfect. It is a historic theatre turned bookshop that plays movies in their original languages free to the public all day, a popular place amongst locals for studying and working out of the office.
One month down out of the four that I will spend here and I already can’t imagine leaving. The friends I have found are wonderful and supportive. The slow intentional living will be difficult to give up when I return to the States. For now, I will soak in every moment and experience as many cultural aspects and cities as I can.
Arrivederci!
