Reminiscing Florence - Santo Spirito

I did  lot of sightseeing in Florence. One does, of course. This, in fact, was the whole purpose of going there but when I think about my Florentine holiday I think about other things as well if not most of all. Like food, or our evening walks to Santo Spirito.

Our spunky hostess, the lucky owner of the apartment in the palazzo, suggested that the best, the most original food in Florence is at Santo Spirito Piazza. We were told that this is a fun place, the food is good, not too expensive and not that touristy. So, after the first evening meal which we had on the “better” side of Arno we decided to see what one finds on the other side of the river – in the quarter of Florence called Oltrarno. Oltrarno means beyond the Arno. It is the part of the town we could see from our window. It wasn’t really all that far from our place, walking there we passed many interesting, if not historically or artistically important, places. Like this one. 

This was just a garden behind a beautiful ornate gate. To me it looked romantic and a bit mysterious. I imagined stories about life behind the gate, in the beautiful garden. They must have been romantic. This was a busy street but behind the gate I imagined secrets, romance and mysteries.

Santo Spirito is a church, another master piece of Brunelleschi, the big square in front of the church  is called the same name. Around the square there are restaurants with tables outside which are typically booked out after 7:00 pm but one can always find a table inside which is obviously not the best when the weather is hot. Still OK, as we discovered. There are something like 7 or 8 restaurants around the square. We have not visited all of them but we made a good progress. I think it was one or two restaurants left unattended. The menu in them was not to our liking.

Each meal started with while bread and olive oil or black olives tapenade. The olive oil typically was so fragrant, tasting wonderful that all intentions of not overeating were very difficult to live up to. But this post is not about Italian food it is about Santo Spirito.

A lot happens there. One late evening, when we left the restaurant and were on our way home, suddenly loud, rock music started. One could hear it from each far corner of the square. Couples were coming out to the centre of what became suddenly a dance floor. We stopped, transfixed, watching unexpected performance. An this was dancing of a very high rock and roll level. Those people could earn money for their show. I have no idea who the people were, they were most likely locals but I spotted an older couple who I decided must be American. The gentleman looked to me like Hemingway in his later years. We heard them speak and it was obvious that they were indeed an American couple. They also must have liked the place as we were dining at the same restaurant with them the next evening. 

The American couple is dancing in the background

We never stayed long enough to find out when the parties finish at Santo Spirito, but I suspect that it is very late. From a friend of my niece, Paula, who lives in Florence, we heard that weekend parties finish in the morning. Through open window, I heard happy people returning home at 5 – 6 in the morning. Florence is a place for having fun and live a relaxed life.

If you ever go to Florence, please make your way to Santo Spirito in an evening. They have super gelato there as well. I am not sure if I will not remember this place more fondly and longer than Uffizi with its treasures.