They have time

I am still reminiscing Florence, I have experienced and observed so much that the town and the way of its people influenced me.

I have bee traveling with my young niece, Martyna, who has friends living in Florence. One of the first days of our holidays the young women were talking about Florentine men. It happened to be a fashion week in Florence and we were passing many very well and interestingly dressed people. What surprised me was that men caught my eye the same way as women. I appreciate beauty and I notice good looking people when I see them. For some reason men rarely catch my attention when in Australia or in Poland. Women do. Not so in Florence. I wondered what the reason was and then I realized that in Florence more men take care of themselves in similar way women do. They must spend some time in front of the mirror to achieve this nonchalant look which is appealing. I was told by my young fashion guides that a Florentine man who wants to be noticed, and many of them do, take care of their weight, skin, outfit and hair. He is dressed according to a new fashion, the colours are bright and he typically wears a scarf. On hot summer days as well. At times he wants to make an impression of a totally relaxed and seemingly not caring how he looks and in such cases his beard is very well shaped or his two day stub is carefully modeled. He looks at you as if saying – this is how I am, I do not care really. But he cares and a lot. I was told that when you talk to such a men, the depth of conversation is not impressive. Still they look very ornamental.

                                                   

One day we were in Santo Spirito for a drink, we were served and ready to move away to sit down with our wine on steps in front of the Brunelleschi’s church. I wanted to pay and stretched my hand with a note but the man who already served us the drinks was so engaged in conversation that he did not care about accepting the money. It took a while. Paula, the girl who lives in Florence, said “They have time”. She took the note from my hand, made an impatient gesture in front of the waiter’s nose and the financial transaction was completed with a smile and without further delay.  

On steps of Santa Spirito (not in a gutter!) having the wine I had problems paying for

Few days later when I was sitting in a restaurant wanting to make my order, the waiters hearing music played in the neighbourhood started to dance ignoring their customer. My first reaction was impatience, but then I thought “they have time”. It was pleasant to look at happy dancing people so  I turned my attention to the performance in front of me. It was fun. A couple of minutes later smiling, happy waitress came up to take my order in the most polite and courteous way. It perhaps never occurred to her that the order of a client may be more important than a moment of joy.

When I was telling the story to my coaching friend with whom I practice centering she said: “You know, they really live in the moment, they are present to joy of life”. And then I though: Hmm… this is something to think about. And maybe learn?

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.