Florence Internet

We have a connection to the internet at last! But it was a little difficult to find.

After the superior looks from the big providers .. “WE only do contracts for two years or by the hour!” .. we see a tiny shop next door with a sign which I translate as .. “If you are looking for an internet provider, you cannot pass WIND!!!” ..

We go in and buy a small “thing” to plug into our laptops.

The following day we visit the local tobacconist to charge it up and we are on the internet!

All hotels here have internet. Our one star place had only terminals but the traveller hotel by the station has network connection in each room AND Wi-Fi throughout the hotel PLUS a couple of rows of terminals for those of us who might resent having to lug around three kilos of laptop and power supply.

Contrast this with a population which is determined to live in a very old city where they still do the main Duomo Mass in Latin with Gregorian chant and you have an incredible mix of regulations and life choices.

For example, you are not allowed any house heating after the beginning of April. Condos are only allowed heating for twelve hours a day before that. Access to the city by car is strictly limited. Most people go to work by bicycle or motor bike. Thousands of their steeds line the streets during the day. It’s funny to see people winding their way through narrow lanes on noisy bikes yelling into their mobile phones at the same time.

I have rented an apartment in the Via del Corso almost opposite the lane where Dante lived. When I read that Dante met his lover (courtly?) in the local church, I had no idea that the local church was a mere ten paces from his house.

Nothing seems to have changed that much. I walk out from the apartment up the opposite lane to get all the food supplies I need. The fishmonger fillets a large sole as he explains the ins and outs of his family. The lady, who has supplied our fruit and vegetables, asks me if I want a small honey or a large honey. I answer. “Well, I’d better have the large one”. “Then I don’t have it”, she replies and seems surprised when I buy the small jar. I buy bread in the cheese and dairy shop. Bread is sold by weight. Isn’t that sensible? You just choose your loaf from a pile of mixed sizes. On the way back I see the pizza man rising and rolling his dough in front of his oven. No “prepared before” pizza bases for him!

The apartment is built-in almost immediately next to a beautiful chapel. I pop in during a mass which is accompanied by a choir from Alabama University. The priest seems to be going into ecstasies describing the orgy below Mount Sinai with knowing looks at his audience. The acoustics are amazing. We have a little liturgical music with the emphasis is on more modern music. The choir surrounds us and makes animal sounds. The choir even gets funky and moves like those people on YouTube. Unlike most choirs, their movement almost seems convincing.

The most evident face of Florence is the mass of tourists on the main thoroughfares around the Duomo and galleries. It’s good to see them also attacking the Galileo exhibition with their long processions. Then there are the fashionable outlets of Ferragamo, Louis Vuiton, Amani, Gucci, Prada etc .. But alongside this is a considerable population living or working in the old lanes. They must be there to support the large number of tiny shops supplying the basic needs of life. But some tourists ‘in the know’ do manage to filter into the back lanes and enjoy genuine pizzas and Italian food at a reasonable cost.

My bedroom looks directly at that wonderful Duomo dome.

The bells sound the call to prayer from dawn to dusk from Giotto’s campanile.

From my window I cannot see the tourists – just a view which has hardly changed over the years.