Splendido Splendente
Hats off to the Renaissance
Florence. A city as picturesque as they come. The bread may lack salt, but the maze of charmingly weathered streets, supremely decorated palazzos, and stylish locals more than make up for it. The evidence of obscene wealth invested in art, science, and architecture during the Renaissance is everywhere you look. And above anything else, Florence’s showstopper of a cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, will awe you no matter how many times you see it. It’s just stunning. There’s a story that to keep things rolling along with the construction of Brunelleschi’s Duomo, ovens were installed in the dome so workers wouldn’t have to descend hundreds of feet to make lunch. I couldn’t verify if this is actually true, but I love the lore all the same.
When I was freshly twenty-three, I spent a summer studying abroad in Florence. I lived in a third floor walk up just down the street from Mercato Centrale, and took classes focused in photography and anthropology. It was a blazingly hot summer, as is every summer in Tuscany, and I ate most of my meals via aperitivo spreads. I spent uncountable hours wandering the city, camera in hand, trying to capture the culture I was experiencing. I was obsessed with the old men who hung out chatting in piazzas all day. They were well dressed, convivial, and incredibly spirited. One particular group was game to be my subject on numerous occasions and let me click away as they rattled on about who knows what. I’d always return a few days later with a handful of black and white prints to give to them in return. As much as I was impressed with the grandeur of Florence, I was fascinated by the people who called such a place home.
Back then, I took for granted many things: my youth of course, but also the fact that it was still the days when you could casually wander into the Duomo and have a look around without waiting in a queue for over an hour. This isn’t a story about mass tourism, but it is something you are conscious of when in Florence. Large groups following a little flag hoisted above the crowd are unavoidable. Cheap, generic souvenir shops are aplenty. But it’s still possible to be transformed by the beauty of Florence. It’s elegant. It’s seductive. It’s swimming in artistic treasures. Ever since I returned for the first time since college in August 2022, and several times after that, Florence’s enduring legacy and allure has been on my mind.
Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement roughly two thousand years ago, Florence became one of the richest cities in the world in the 15th century thanks to the obscene wealth and power of the Medici family. Possessing enough capital to lend money to kings and popes, Cosimo de Medici transformed the city state into a center for banking, trade, and textile production. It was Cosimo’s support of an unknown architect that made Brunelleschi’s Duomo a reality. He regularly commissioned Fra Angelico and Donatello to paint what are now iconic works of art. He built the first public library in Florence, curating a collection of humanist texts that became the foundation for new interest in the classical world and its philosophies.
Cosimo’s successor, Lorenzo de Medici, met a teenage Michelangelo while he was working in a sculpture class and invited him to live in his palace and study under Donatello. Lorenzo had established something of an academy for artists: a sculpture garden filled with ancient Greek and Roman statuary alongside living quarters so artists and poets could live in commune with the art they were studying. It was here that da Vinci and Botticelli became enmeshed in the family’s influence. As perhaps the greatest patrons of the arts ever, the Medici ushered in a new era: art produced for art’s sake, something to be enjoyed rather than a means to educate. Such a concept had not existed since antiquity. Within a few decades, Florence had hundreds of artisan workshops. By the end of the 15th century, more woodcarvers were in business than butchers.
The Medici helped make Florence an aesthetically theatrical city, awash in gorgeous architecture and lavish decoration. Just like Rome, the city is rich in artifice with plasterwork and paint skillfully depicting ornamental flourishes and endless variants of faux marble. The level of craftsmanship required to execute this visual splendor is not to be underestimated. For me, the draw of many of Florence’s notable sites is the plasterwork and frescos that decorate the walls and ceilings. Now, I do give the masterpiece parade of paintings and sculptures my full attention, but where I linger is spaces that usually require my head to be craned back to take in what’s been created.
Few things excite me more in Florence than frescos. From the extravagantly detailed and varied paintings adorning every inch of Palazzo Vecchio to the faded remnants of embellished arches, pillars, walls, and ceilings found throughout the city’s churches and palazzos, I find myself drooling at the handiwork of craftsmen long gone. There’s some magic in each fresco’s ability to have survived centuries, to still inspire and awe well after they were first commissioned. I’m an easy target for frescos anywhere, but given how many exist in Florence, it’s what I’m always seeking in this city.
Down the street from the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella sits the most fantastically opulent store for luxurious soaps and perfume, Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. Founded by Dominican friars in 1221, the space that Santa Maria Novella occupies was donated to the friars in 1334 after they healed a rich merchant who expressed his gratitude by gifting them the Chapel of San Niccolò. It then transitioned from a convent to a storeroom in 1612 and has been peddling herbal remedies and cosmetics ever since. What you’ll find is a store that houses the perfect cocktail of vibrant medieval frescos, an apothecary museum, elegant displays of perfumes, and a sales hall that makes your jaw drop as you take in the ornate details. Upon walking down the hallway to enter the boutique, you can go straight to the sales hall, but are encouraged to take in the frescoed sacristy of the original chapel first. Perhaps only in Italy would salespeople direct you towards centuries old art before guiding you towards their merchandise. It’s an extraordinary wonder of a shop that makes buying a simple bar of soap an elevated, novel experience. So much of Florence feels that way.
Even the locals have a sophisticated vibe that I envy and aspire to one day achieve. You spot them, impeccably dressed, sipping cappuccinos upon marble countertops, sauntering down streets for their evening passeggiata, spilling out of wine bars established in converted palazzos. There’s a coolness to the Florentines that you can’t help but admire. Everything seems to be done effortlessly, and in style. I can’t help but assume this comes naturally from living in such a beautiful city. Why wouldn’t you try to dress as well as the buildings?
My favorite ritual in Florence is to have a caffè latte and pastry in the morning at Caffè Gilli on the Piazza della Repubblica. Sometimes it’s my breakfast, sometimes it’s my late morning snack. But I will always stop there to savor their delicious confections, eaten upon a serpentine counter and expertly prepared by someone in a crisp white shirt and vest. Half of the pleasure is the food and drink, half is the exquisitely classy environment. Beneath hand-painted, corniced ceilings and chandeliers rest beautiful display cases filled with pastries that truly deserve their own work of art designation. After insisting my friends Megan and Stuart join me on my beeline from the train station to Caffè Gilli, I was swept up in the visual feast before me and ordered a fancy pastry for us to share. As I selected which delight would be ours, the staff behind the counter rejoiced in my decision. I have never encountered something like this and it made the occasion all the more exciting. What we ate was decadent, delicious, and perfectly indulgent.
I harbor two dream scenario fantasies about living in Florence. 1) I’ve fake married my dear friend Tyler who has successfully become an Italian citizen by descent. We live in a wildly adorned palazzo, wear only tailored linen clothing, and have a standing reservation for the best table at Rivoire for aperitivo. 2) I’ve somehow become a countess and wear only Gucci as I wander from one glamorous soirée to the next. I spend my days making and devouring gluttonous amounts of art and food, and in the summers, escape to my villa in Lake Como to swim, eat, and rest. Neither scenario is likely to happen, but the extravagance of Florence is wonderful for the imagination.
When my friend John told me he would be traveling to Italy next month for the very first time I was filled with excitement, and quickly went to work on compiling a waterfall of recommendations to send his way. This is something I have loved doing for friends my entire adult life. Undoubtedly, if you tell me you’re going somewhere and I’ve been too, I will be sending you a list. And not just a run-of-the-mill bullet point agenda, but a list that is annotated with my thoughts and guidance on each item of interest and why I think it’s worth your attention. My love for travel and all the exciting things that come with it are an integral part of who I am. I’ve rejoiced in helping others plan their trips so they can have a memorable experience, and am eager to dive into that passion all the more.
And so, a new project will launch next weekend: the Fresh Grapes Travel Guide. Each edition will be resplendent with food, art, shopping, and cultural recommendations. This felt like a natural evolution to start writing within the travel guide format and make it my own. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be helpful. What I put together will definitely ensure you eat exceptional pizza, take in some art, and frolic in a garden or two. The first few editions will focus on Italy. Not all that surprising of a place to start, but I love it so, and I know you do too.
And finally, I couldn’t help but make another playlist of fantastic Italian music. It’s a fun listen with plenty of sass and contagious melodies that progresses from cheerful dance vibes into more mellow classics. Something delightful to take you from cocktails to dinner with your favorite friends.
Till next time, ciao ciao!
— Katie