Tuscan Traveler

I have a friend who recently visited Florence for a week with a to-do list that didn’t allow for standing in line for hours – too much to see, too little time. Unfortunately, Florence is the city of lines and, although with some planning a resident or visitor can reserve spots (for a price) in a shorter line at some of the museums, there was no way to avoid the queue at the Duomo. My friend solved her problem by signing up for a 15 euro tour of the cathedral that she didn’t want to take, but this saved her from standing with hundreds of people, waiting to get in the front door.

408 in line for the Duomo at 10am on August 24

I have another friend who is one of those “it’s Tuesday so it must be Florence” type of traveler. He has to see the Uffizi, the David, the Duomo and the Baptistery between 9am and 7pm – no time for lines.

ARTFAST Priority Line Sign

To the rescue comes the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and a Milan-based company called Key Fast. In partnership, they are trying to give visitors (tourists and citizens, alike) the option to skip the lines at the Duomo (visited by over 25,000 people per day), Brunelleschi’s Dome (approx. 2,000 climbers/day), Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistery, the Duomo Crypt and the Museo Opera del Duomo. The cost? A mere 7 euro for a Priority Pass that is good for unlimited expedited entries for an entire year. (To be clear: this card does not get you free entry, just fast entry (see below).)

For the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, this is forward thinking, unexpected of the 715 year-old lay organization that is charged with the conservation of the cathedral. For Key Fast, operating as ARTFAST, it was “simply” seeing a need and providing a solution.

One wishes that listless Ministero per I Beni e le Attivitá Culturali and bureaucratic Polo Fiorentino Museale, which are charged with solving the dual disasters of the never-ending lines at the Uffizi and the Accademia, take note of the ingenuity of the spry Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.

ARTFAST is a gem of an idea of the folks behind the year-old SKIFAST smart card. (SKIFAST allows skiers to get on the slopes faster by skipping the lines at the lift ticket windows.) ARTFAST, using the various sites in Piazza del Duomo as a trial operation, eventually hopes to aid visitors in Rome, Milan and Venice, to move more quickly into venues to marvel at the art and history, rather than roast slowly in the August sun. And, hopefully, ongoing negotiations will result in the service being offered at other museums in Florence (there may be hope for the Uffizi and Accademia, yet).

ARTPASS representative answers questions about the service

Visitors (and residents) can choose to buy the card and then go directly to the Priority Pass entrance (it may be a different door, it maybe a different speedy lane to the original entrance). Once inside, if there is an entrance fee (as with Brunelleschi’s Dome or the Baptistery) the Priority Pass holder will go immediately to the kiosk to purchase an entry ticket. If there is no entry fee, as with the main sanctuary of the Duomo, those with the Priority Pass will merely show their card to the attendant and enter (later, this activity will be mechanized with a swipe of the smart card).

ARTFAST hopes that soon the visit to the ticket kiosk will be unnecessary because of plans to install (at the cost to the Key Fast company of over 100,000 euro) a wi-fi smart card system that will allow ARTFAST cardholders to pay the fee by swiping the same card that allows them expedited entry.

All aspects of the service are not in place yet (wi-fi repeaters and smartcard readers need to be installed in very wi-fi-unfriendly ancient stone structures (something the prescient Brunelleschi never envisioned), therefore ARTFAST is testing parts of the system by using a simple plastic pass that is being sold by company representatives outside the door to the ticket office at the bottom of the stairway to Brunelleschi’s Dome. They can take all credit cards (except Amex), as well as debit cards. In the first ten days of the trial period, ARTFAST has been surprised and gratified by the popularity of the service. The initial supply of cards has run low some days.

Priority Pass to skip the line at 5 locations in Piazza del Duomo

As an American, I could tell them that my compatriots, on a hot (hitting over 100 F this week) museum-filled day in Florence, would be happy to pay 7 euro to be spared 30 to 45 minutes in line. (Today, I counted 408 people in the queue outside the Duomo just before the door opened at 10am.) This is especially true since the card works in five locations and can be used over and over (by the same person) for a full year. Reportedly, tourists from Spain, however, are outnumbering Americans in purchasing the pass.

Italian newspapers, trying to work up a bit of controversy, argue the card discriminates against the poor who can’t afford to expedite entry into the cost-free Duomo. This is an accusation without basis. The ARTFAST service actually shortens the line for those who don’t take part by getting Priority Pass holders out of the queue. When, in the near future, tour operators and their huge groups use it, the pass will make the Duomo line a thing of the past.

Reportedly, the priests are concerned that the marketing the ARTFAST pass makes it look like the Duomo is not open for free visits (please note that fees are charged at Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella and San Lorenzo…). Hopefully, they will soon realize this is merely a time-saving service that allows hundreds of people to be amazed and awed at the wonders of the third largest cathedral in the world, rather than be forced by time constraints (and perhaps, lack of patience) to forsake a visit the Duomo because of the incredible line.

Who says Florence is empty in August?

I don’t know why, but when I truly get burnt to a crisp by the often not-so-sunny life in Tuscany, I think of taxi cabs. I’ve done it before and I will do it again.

Maybe it helps me realize this too will pass.

Right now, we are waiting for the P.M. to ride off into history despite the propping up Hillary Clinton was forced by Wikileaks to do this last week.

So I cheer myself up by the realization that the taxi situation in Florence has, hopefully forever, been changed for the better by a new cooperative of all-female taxi drivers – inTaxiFirenze.

inTaxiFirenze - Florence's new Women-owned Taxi Service

As most visitors to Florence know taxi rides are quite expensive. However, they are also one of the only ways to get home if you’re out past bus hours and far away. Going in groups is one way to cut the cost, but night time rates include an extra fee.

Also, in most instances you can’t just flag down a cab; you must call by phone for one or go to a taxi stand (in front of the train station, in Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza San Marco, Porta Romana, behind the Duomo, etc.).

Two months ago, I had to call for cabs for ten clients in the rain. To call, you give the address where you need to be picked up to a phone operator and wait for the dispatcher to give the name of the taxi which is coming to pick you up (e.g., “Parigi 23”). The dispatcher will also tell you how long before the taxi arrives, which usually is within three to five minutes. To get three cabs, I had to call three times.  On the second call the dispatcher, who had caller i.d., argued with me about whether this was the first cab or an extra. On the third call the operator refused to answer.

Taxi Stand behind the Duomo

Supposedly, women traveling alone in a taxi are entitled to a 10% discount between the hours of 9pm to 2am. There is also a discount of 15% for hospital destinations between the visiting hours of 1pm-3pm and 7-9pm. These discounts will not be applied unless you insist on them.

But back to the good news. There are nine women who have formed an all-female taxi service in Florence that operates from 5am to 11pm daily. All of the drivers in this new taxi cooperative speak English. Word is that they are becoming quite popular and are getting a lot of negative pressure from the good-ol’-boy network in the taxi union. More information about this service (in Italian) can be found at: www.inTaxiFirenze.it, Their telephone number is longer and not as easy to remember as those for regular cabs, but  in a cell phone’s memory it is just a click away:  055 200 1326.

Frequent Rider Card for inTaxi Service

InTaxiFirenze also offers a frequent-rider program. After ten rides you get a discount of 5 euro off the fare for the next trip. “Service with a smile” has never been a thought that entered my head when I entered a Florentine taxi until I met the ladies at inTaxi.

The mayor says he’s going to fix it, but he doesn’t seem to have time while he’s throwing White Night festivities and Blue Night parties and stopping the bus system in its track by creating the fabulous pedestrian zone around the Duomo. He’s having equal trouble with potholes. But potholes and graffiti aren’t sexy and aren’t likely to disappear. So I will stay Burnt To A Crisp about the graffiti destroying Florence.

OPEN YOUR EYES TO comics DAY & Duke of Urbino

The mayor granted a permit to OPEN YOUR EYES TO comics DAY –maybe to glam up graffiti. But it was for only for one day and now the artwork has been vandalized.

OPEN YOUR EYES TO comics DAY on Banca Toscana

Florence has a long history of graffiti. But the graffiti of the 16^th century  now peeks out from behind the graffiti of today.

16th century graffiti meets 2010 graffiti

Scrawls flank my front door.

Burnt to a Crisp about my doorway

The most famous ugly graffiti in Italy is in Verona – along the wall to the fake balcony of Shakespeare’s fantasy Juliet.

Mess in the name of Love

Most of the graffiti in Florence is attributed to teenaged dweebs. Gangs aren’t tagging boundaries inside the historic center. English proficiency isn’t common, which doesn’t necessarily let the thousands of American students off the hook. Italian is the language of choice for these vandals.

Madonna in tabernacle looks down on scrawled walls

But not always … In 2008, a Japanese television crew filming on top of the Duomo caught some familiar scribbles and broadcast them. Unlike the justice system of Florence or, in fact, anywhere in Italy, the Japanese found in this a moment of national shame and came down hard on a high school teacher for expressing his love in ink on a wall.

A 19-year-old fashion student from Japan’s Gifu University was caught in another incident.  She offered 600 euros ($950 in 2008) to repair the damage.

“We accept the apologies (and) we accept the money exceptionally for the gesture’s great sense of civility,” said the Duomo’s chief curator Anna Mitrano, flanked by the university’s visiting rector, Yukitoshi Matsuda.

Except for Ms. Mitrano, Italians have expressed shock and amusement over Japan’s attitude. Perhaps a little more shame and pride and a little less official complacency and public cynicism would help bring Florence’s center back to its historic beauty.

Ben & Jerry's cozying up to the Duomo

I’m not a big “no-global” proponent; so if someone in, say, Vermont, is making great ice cream, I think it should be shared with the rest of the world. Therefore, when Ben & Jerry’s (full disclosure: I have eaten hundreds of pints of B&J’s in my lifetime) was scheduled to open a store in Florence that wasn’t a major issue for me.

But when that storefront is just a few feet from the façade of the Duomo and my favorite flavors (Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch and Triple Caramel Chunk,) of the Vermont ice cream have turned in to a frozen substance made by Unilever in Holland, renamed Caramel Chew Chew and Vanilla Toffee Crunch (because evidently there are no Heath Bars in Europe), then I’m just a little bit burnt to a crisp under this Tuscan sun.

Ice cream is an important part of the American culture, but here in Italy, it is a religion. On a weekly basis more Italians enter a gelateria than a church. They argue about gelato more than religion, too. Florentines, especially, can debate long and hard about their favorite gelateria:  describing the benefits of local gelato-masters vs. the new “foreigners” (from Turin or Bologna or Sicily); asserting that creamy cioccolato fondente is better than cioccolato extra noir that lacks both eggs and cream; and despairing that not only do foreigners commit the sins of eating semifreddo in the summer, granita in the winter, but the tourists also request a 5 euro cone (way too big) from any so-called gelato stand that stacks the factory-made blocks of ice cream, sculpts them into a hill, and drapes fruit all over the mountainous mass.

Italian gelato is a necessity, not a luxury

‘Gelato’ means ‘partially frozen’ or “icy” in Italian and the various kinds of ice cream served throughout the country are all known by that name.  You can order gelato in any little town, in any region and basically know what you will get. But it is important to keep in mind that Italy has only been a unified country for 150 years, so each of the former city states is justifiably proud of its own recipe: in the mountainous North, where it’s cooler, the gelato is thicker and creamier, often made with cream and egg yolks – chocolate, zabaione, and hazelnuts prevail. In the South, the gelato tends to be lighter, using milk as well as and fruits, such as Sorrento lemons, and nuts, like Sicilian pistacchios from Bronte.

To some the cone is as important as the gelato - RivaReno agrees

Florentines have had a 500-year love affair with gelato. Bernardo Buontalenti – architect, engineer and theatrical set designer – supposedly invented churned-over-ice, milk-based gelato for the court of Francesco de’ Medici to impress a visiting Spanish delegation in 1565. Today, there is a rich creamy gelato that bears Buontalenti’s name.

Cone or cup is a personal choice

But getting back to Ben & Jerry’s … it’s one of America’s premium ice creams. If gelato is Italian ice cream, what is the difference? First of all, there is the percentage of butterfat. B&J’s clocks in at around 17%, whereas most Italian gelato averages 5% to 9%. Also, handcrafted gelato is served same-day fresh so binders and preservatives aren’t necessary.

But there’s more … David Lebovitz, chocolate maven and world-reknown ice cream aficionado, author of The Perfect Scoop, explains it best. “… for the most part, the machines used to make gelato move very slowly as they churn, introducing little air into the mixture so the finished gelato is dense and thick. Unlike standard ice cream-making machines, usually the ‘dasher’ (paddle) moves up and down while the canister turns, so little air is whipped into the mixture while it churns. Also the storage freezers used for holding gelato tend to be kept a few degrees warmer (up to 10 degrees F) than a normal ice cream dipping cabinet, so the gelato keeps its silky, creamier texture. Sometimes there are no egg yolks or cream in the base, so the gelato will highlight the highly-concentrated taste of what’s been added, like chocolate, coffee, or whatever flavoring is used, with less taste and texture of fat to intrude.”

Okay, so now you know what gelato is, but what happens when you walk into a Florentine gelateria?  Yes, there is a lot of gelato, but you also see semifreddo, sorbetto, and granita.  Generally these are all classified as gelato … remember? … frozen/icy. Here is a handy guide:

Carapina's Fruit Calendar - no flavor before its time

gelato – most everything offered, but there is also …

semifreddo – means “half cold” and is made from the same base as gelato, but has whipped cream folded in to create a frozen mousse.

sorbetto – is a sorbet, usually made with any kind of fruit, but chocolate and caffé flavors are making a strong showing, as well as herb-infused (basil, rosemary, etc.) offerings. Great as a palate cleanser between courses in an extended multi-course meal.

granita – shaved ice, made with water, sugar and fruit flavors – strawberry and lemon are favorites – or coffee (great with a dab of whipped cream), mint or almonds.  Served in a plastic cup or glass, but also on brioche in Sicily in the summertime.

Tuscan Traveler and Friend in Florence join the debate by claiming that not only does Florence have the best gelato in Italy, but that these are the best gelaterias in Florence:

Grom changes its gelato menu every month

Grom - Via del Campanile – corner with Via delle Oche – Piedmonte-based, consistently great, only the best ingredients, innovative, monthly flavor list online, best cone. Try: Zabaione, Crema di Grom, and Caffè

Gelateria La Carraia –  Piazza Nazario Sauro, 25r – Ponte alla Carraia – owned by the Florentine Innocenti family, creamiest gelato, best tangy yogurt, one euro cone heaped high (best value). Try: Yogurt, Pistacchio, and Nutella

RivaReno –Borgo degli Albizi 46r – newcomer (owners rumored from Milan and Great Britain?), most innovative mix-ins, great fresh fruit flavors, good cone. Try:  Lampone (raspberry), Otello ( chocolate with zabaione, brownie, and coffee), and Sweet Alabama (chocolate with peanuts)

Perché No? – Via dei Tavolini 19r – best name, traditional favorite (started in 1938, surviving war and flood), fresh fruit and nut flavors, best semifreddo. Try: Stracciatella (chocolate chip), Cioccolato Semifreddo, and Nocciola (hazelnut)

Why not? Open until midnight in the summer

Gelateria dei Neri – Via dei Neri 22r – long-time Florentine owner, fantastic fruit flavors, creamy yogurt, best variety of chocolate flavors. Try: Chocolate with candied orange, Chocolate with hot red pepper, and Mandarino (tangerine)

Carabé – Via Ricasoli 60r – Sicilian owners, delicious fruit and nut flavors (ingredients brought from Sicily), best granita. Try: Cassata Gelato, Lemon and Raspberry Granita together, and Coffee Granita with whipped cream.

Carapina – Via Lambertesca 118r – young Florentine owner, trendiest, posts a calendar of ripe fruit and only makes those flavors when they are at their peak. Try: Menta (mint), Ciliegia (cherry), and Chocolate with ginger.

Vestri – Borgo degli Albizi 11r – superb chocolate shop with the best chocolate gelato and incredible thick hot chocolate (served cold in the summer) – mix the two for affogato (gelato drowned in chocolate). Try: Affogato with Chocolate, Pistacchio or Vanilla gelato.

May 28-31, 2010

Those visiting Florence at the end of May are in for a treat. The First Annual Firenze Gelato Festival will turn Piazza S. Annuziata into a giant gelateria where artisans of the handcrafted gelato will compete for the hearts and taste buds of Florentines and foreigners from May 28 to 31, 2010.

In these hard economic times, the best business to have is the guy selling padlocks at the little cart on the Ponte Vecchio. It’s a return business that beats all others in Florence.

Locks of Love circle Benvenuto Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio

Locks of love, or lucchetti dell’amore, are the padlocks fixed by loving couples on to part of the Ponte Vecchio, usually to the fence around the statue of Cellini located in the center of the bridge, to symbolize their eternal love. The symbol is further enhanced by the fact that the bridge unites two sides of the city (unites/joins/attaches/holds together – get it?). The enamored twosome locks the padlock after inscribing their names or initials and/or the date on it and throws the key into the Arno so that their love is locked forever.

Lovers' Locks along the Great Wall of China

Some say the practice started in China where the Juyongguan, Sanbu and Badaling sections of the Great Wall (those closest to Beijing) are the most popular sections with thousands of locks of various sizes attached to the rows and rows of steel chains along the wall. (I’m not sure where they throw the key – an important part of the ritual.)

The lamp poles on Ponte Milvio in Rome can't take much more love

Reportedly the practice in Italy was born in Rome, when in 2006, a romantic movie based upon the novel “Ho Voglia di Te” was released. In the book a young man tries to win the heart of his true love by telling her that their love will last forever, preserved by the lock attached to Ponte Milvio and the key lost forever in the Tiber. Supposedly, the movie – not the book- started a wildly popular ritual among young Romans.

The Italian story I like the best about the lucchetti dell’amore also relates to attaching padlocks to bridges. It is said that the tradition began when young men had to leave their hometowns to do military service. They attached a lock to one of the local bridges before their departure as a promise to return home, essentially a promise to survive their enlistment.

Signed and date with hope of forever love

But back to the mess of locks closing in around the venerable Benvenuto Cellini. About once every four months, a city worker with huge lock cutter arrives to denude the fence. One wonders what happens to the love of those now not so immortalized there. Do they feel a instantaneous heart pang when their lock is snipped? Do they suddenly look at each other for some unexplicable reason, realizing that their love is over/false/fading/mistaken/doomed?

The City of Florence battles lovers

The powers-that-be in Florence have called for more policing on the bridge to stop the locks, which some find unsightly and others claim are damaging historic artifacts. They hung a sign in front of poor Cellini that states in both Italian and English (why not also in Japanese, Russian, French and Spanish?) that the fine for attaching locks to the railing is 50 euros. The threat seemed to work for awhile, but love will not be denied. Also, they failed to stop the vendor on the Ponte Vecchio from selling cheap padlocks and felt-tipped pens.

Is Love recycled still Love?

I have a suggestion for that enterprising fellow: sell locks that come with two keys, but keep one key. With a little soapy water or, at most, a dab of benzine, and the shiny second key, you will be able to lure two sets of lovers to the fantasy of love everlasting, pocketing twice the price.

The Romans are working on a more high tech solution – Lucchetti dell’Amore Ponte Milvio Virtuale – virtual locks of love suitable for FaceBook – never in danger of the lock cutter.

The tourists and the Florentines always hope that the New Year will come in with a bang. For 2010 it came in with a wet whimper.

Fireworks in drier years

The 2010 fireworks were rained out.

To celebrate the end of 2009, the new mayor, who made a splash with the grand pedestrian zone around the Duomo (wrecking havoc with the bus system), wanted to have four concerts at various venues, including one that started at the train station in Bologna and then taking the 37 minute trip on the new Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) high speed train to Florence for the second half of the concert at the train station. Note: this train unfortunately spent 90 minutes in a tunnel the week before. On New Year’s Eve the train made a successful run, but the Florence concert was soggy.

It has been raining for a week. From 9am on the the 31st to 11am on the 1st the rain was non-stop. Thus, the river is rising…

Highest Arno in ten years

The Arno, which flooded in 1966, was never adequately dredged or walled. Therefore, the Florentines are spending the first day of 2010 watching the bridges.

Ponte Vespucci can hardly span the roiling river

This is not a new pastime. Acqua Alta in Arno happens almost every winter. Books have been written about it.

The Arno frozen - January 10, 1986

Another 24 hours of rain is expected and then the temperature is to drop below zero.  Maybe Florence will get the same ice rink it enjoyed in the Winter of ‘85 -’86.

Ice on the Arno in 1985

Dante after all of the celebrations

SUNDAY (October 25, 2009) Dante was worn out after all of the “A Passo Duomo” celebration around the cathedral.

Balloons for all of those young or not so young

The new mayor of Florence had decreed that the entire piazza surrounding the Duomo would become a pedestrian mall instead of a busy thoroughfare where over 500 buses and thousands of taxis round the Duomo every day. To mark the renaissance of the city center, the mayor threw a party.

There were balloons and hot chestnuts and free entrance to the Baptistry.

The other Dante

Notable figures from history – Dante, Galileo, Leonardo Da Vinci – made an appearance and wandered the square.

Ancient ambulance

A parade of costumed flag-throwers, drummers and trumpeters escorted an ancient bus on one last ride down Via Martelli.

The Misericordia (the volunteer emergency medical service), located near the bell tower, displayed an antique ambulance.

The day ended with  Mozart, Bach and Mendelssohn echoing off the walls of the 600-year-old cathedral to a standing-room-only crowd, courtesy of the Maggio Musicale orchestra and chorus, directed by Seiji Ozawa.

Concert for Florence in the Duomo

MONDAY (October 26, 2009) is a different wonderful life for those wandering the historic center of Florence. For one block in every direction of the cathedral, the streets are filled with tourists (and a few locals), not traffic.

New pedestrian mall on Via Martelli

It has been suggested this will increase shopping in the historic center. It certainly makes it more inviting to linger rather than rush along.

No cars or busses to the Baptistry

Some have tried to quantify the environmental impact, saying that it will reduce the 450 kilos of fine particulate matter and the exceedingly high levels of carbon monoxide trapped between the buildings that line the piazza. Florence is one of the most polluted cities in Italy – so every little bit helps. However, with the drastic changes in the bus routes, there are now over 2,000 bus traveling through Piazza San Marco every day.

Temporary bus stop in Piazza San Marco

Maybe the mayor’s other decision to cancel the clean electric tramline routes throughout the city should be reconsidered. And now that the buses aren’t griming the Duomo, the bishop should consider steam-cleaning the back side of the cathedral.

  

The Sun Doesn't Find the Street

Often Florence can bring on an epic case of claustrophobia. When the Renaissance bankers built their McMansions, they did not widen the medieval streets. Although not many buildings in the historic center are much over ninety feet high (note: come visit soon – the Prime Minister is inviting everyone to add a floor or two to their buildings as one of his recession fixes), Florence often feels much more constricted than New York.  This is especially true to one who grew up in New Mexico. Or even to a claustrophobic Florentine who visited the Land of Enchantment for the first time last year.

Wide open geography is not the only reason a visitor feels light and free in New Mexico as opposed to Florence.  There is also the comfort and conviviality of Southwestern hospitality.  In Florence, both the residents and the tourists must gird themselves every day with armor to deflect the petty incivilities of shopkeepers, waiters, government workers, bank tellers and even people walking or driving the narrow streets.

An Italian in New Mexico

Here is one Florentine native’s story:

Big Sky Over the Arroyo

Mi chiamo Francesca. Probably others have written stuff like this before. I need to do it, so I can avoid paying Dr. Palma some euro to listen to it. I hope I can.

I was in the U.S. in [December 2008] – New York, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Washington D.C.
This is about kindness. This is about smiling.
In Albuquerque (N.M.) I was having a nice morning in a café called The Flying Star, looking at magazines (for free) and looking at people, and having brunch. Oh what’s better than brunch in the US?
But this is not about food, it’s about kindness and service with a smile.
When you get coffee in the U.S. you usually are entitled to have a free ‘refill’. I went over to the counter to ask for my refill and the nice smiling guy, while pouring fresh coffee in my cup, said to me, “Is the coffee finished in the pitcher over at that stand?” He made me understand that I could have done it myself, but still it was a pleasure for him to do it, for free, and in spite of the line behind me. I apologized. He said “no problem”, he smiled again, I smiled. I went to my table and cried.

Fill 'er Up!

Why? Because I had a whole movie of the same scene, had it happened in Florence, my hometown.

Same scene in Florence: “Come? La vole che gli riempia la tazza, oh la un lo vede che c’é una caraffa la’ sul tavolo per riempirsela da soli ? Se la vole il caffe’ la se lo versi! E la ringrazi iddio che la un lo paga! Fosse per me…”  

(Tuscan Traveler’s rough translation:  “What? You want me to refill your cup, don’t you see that a carafe is on the counter for you to do your own refilling? And you thank god that you are not paying for it! Were it for me …”)

Flying Star Cafe

Sometimes a little hospitality is all you need.

The Flying Star is certainly a special haven, not only for Francesca in December, but more recently for me.  Last month, I spent a year-long week watching my younger sister die. Each day, I would walk the half-mile along the arroyo, breathing in the crystal clear air, looking up at the distant mountains, making my way to the Flying Star Café for a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade, creamy mac and cheese, and/or a slice of cake with strawberries on top.

People Watching at the Flying Star

For an hour I could hide from the horrible reality in the company of friendly helpful strangers, who had no intent to turn tables, offered both healthy and comfort food (as well as Breakfast All Day), and even had snacks for four-legged friends. The magazine racks and the good people watching are extra pluses for those who needed distraction. I certainly did.

Treats for Everyone at the Flying Star

Tuscan Traveler is looking for a Flying Star in Florence.

As Italy is sucked into the worldwide economic crisis, and the general attitude in the streets of Florence is that of cynical pessimism, it is refreshing to see a write-up in the NY Times about the small Sicilian town of Salemi that gave artists and intellectuals power to remake the historic center of the town that had been largely abandoned after a devastating earthquake.

Salemi in western Sicily

Salemi sold destroyed ancient buildings for one euro to those who guaranteed to restore the structures within two years. The aldermen focused on art and culture to bring visitors to the off-the-beaten-track village.  And now Salemi has saved a collection of over 50,000 movies (videos and DVDs) from a classic shop in NYC’s East Village. The rest of Italy could learn something from Salemi about the type of ideas and idea-makers result in good governance.

A new sign went up in Florence on Via dello Studio two weeks ago. It messes up one of the the best photo vantage spots for shots of the Duomo. It points at the cathedral. It informs tourists that toilet facilities were in that direction.

With 5 million visitors each year – mostly day trekkers – wandering the cobblestones of Florence, such facilities are necessary, to say the least. And they are rare. And hard to find. So a sign is good. Toilets are good. Any tourist, who has been thrown out of the Savoy Hotel because a requirement for using the public restroom is that one has a room in the hotel (thus negating the need for the public toilet), knows that really public loos are good.

The sign went up because new facilities just opened on the edge of Piazza San Giovanni, across the street from the Baptistry. For a mere 80 cents there are seats for those who can find the door. Which brings us back to the sign on Via dello Studio. About 100 feet past the sign, the street ends at the cathedral. There the observant will look to the left and up and find another new directional WC indicator. To Giotto’s Bell Tower.

Following  along the side of the cathedral, the desperate will look in vain for the next sign. One theory some hold is that in Italy there will always be a sign until that moment when you actually need one. Having followed the sign in the direction of the bell tower, the path opens to the piazza between the Duomo and the Baptistry. There is no toilet there. And no sign.

The eagle-eyed will spot small signs across the piazza – on the corner across the road. Sure enough there is a WC sign. BUT it is an old sign and does not point to the new pay toilets. To follow that sign will lead the weary five long blocks (straight, left, right, left again and left again) to the old still-existing pay toilets on the corner of Via Taddea and Via della Stufa, which you will find eventually through no help of any additional signs.

The new facility is to the left of the old sign, through an unmarked doorway with a terracotta baby St. John (copy of statue by Michelozzo) above it, down a hallway where there (finally) sits a large sign to announce your success at finding the toilettes. Now you need change (80 cents) to buy a token to open the turnstile to enter the unisex hand-washing area.

The building at Piazza San Giovanni, 7, is across the street from the entrance door to the Baptistry. It used to be the rectory of the Baptistry and may, at some time in the distant future, become a tourist information office and meeting space.  But now, it is just the place where a large number of new pay toilets are located.