Healing Not Broken a Commemorative Issue We Hope You Enjoy Our Interactive Digital Edition

April 2020 266 The English-speaking news magazine in Florence www.theflorentine.net

Healing not broken A commemorative issue We hope you enjoy our interactive digital edition. Everything you see in blue is clickable, as too are the Healing advertisements. This is The Florentine into the future, not broken a brave new world of A commemorative issue publishing in Florence, Italy.

Editor’s letter: Healing not broken / Helen Farrell

Contributors

Florence will rise again / Dario Nardella

The future? / Marco Badiani

Voices of tomorrow / Giovanni Giusti

Empty Florence / Francesco Spighi

How to help Italy + Florence

The empty ballroom / Perri Klass + Larry Wolff

A message / Benjamin V. Wohlauer

No more chances after today / Marisa Garreffa

The best and the worst / Sarah Crowe

Retreat into your home, not into yourself / Harry Cochrane

Opportunity / Alexandra Lawrence

Family life in lockdown / Jane Farrell

Il British during lockdown / Amanda Lowe

2 TF266 April 2020 The next adventure / Simon Gammell

A sense of community / Eugenio Giani

A different world / Luigi Salvadori

The wisdom of farmers / Paolo Chiappini

Full city, empty city / Carlo Francini

Tuscany, together for tomorrow / Francesco Palumbo

An opportunity to change direction / Carlotta Ferrari

The meaning of “home” / Kamin Mohammedi

Neighbourhood spirit in San Niccolò / Lisa Brancatisano

So, so special / Nardia Plumridge

Thoughts from just another girl in Florence / Georgette Jupe

Living in a today which never seems to end / Ela Vasilescu

The “adopted home” of so many / Gabrielle Maria Taylor

Florence, that grande dame / Deirdre Pirro

Lost Verse / Kirsty Jane Falconer

My One and Only / Aimelie Moen

Thoughts from young readers / Téa Mijatović, Sofia Lydia Barbieri, Liam Danilo Barbieri + Allegra DiFlorio

My sweet quarantine / Vincenzo d’Angelo

Making pasta in lockdown / Emiko Davies

Radiant, lethal Italian spring / John Hooper

April 2020 TF266 3 the English-speaking news magazine in Florence

editorial office + advertising via dei Banchi 4 - 50123 Firenze

[email protected] theflorentine.net theflorentinepress.com

EDITORIAL TEAM editor-in-chief Helen Farrell deputy editor Jane Farrell photo editor Marco Badiani editorial assistant Harry Cochrane

MANAGEMENT director Marco Badiani deputy director Giovanni Giusti graphic & art design Leo Cardini advertising Giacomo Badiani digital + web Alexandra Korey accounting Deborah Bettazzi founding editor Nita Tucker

WRITE TO US AT: [email protected] events [email protected] advertising [email protected] classifieds [email protected] [email protected] direttore responsabile Silvia Bini editore B’Gruppo srl via Valentini 10 - 59100 Prato partita iva 01715830970 iscritta al registro degli operatori di comunicazione (ROC) al n. 14773 del 17/11/2006 - Reg. Trib. di Prato n.4 del 12/09/2006

FLORENCE AS IT HAPPENS News and events online, all the time. theflorentine.net

CLASSIFIEDS Looking for an apartment, appliance or even an elephant? You never know… If it’s in Florence, you’ll find it here! theflr.net/classifieds

WEB TV see hundreds of videos ldmnews.it

SOCIAL CONTENT facebook.com/tfnews @theflorentine instagram.com/theflorentine youtube.com/theflorentinenews

Cover image: Francesco Spighi www.francescospighi.com

Healing not broken

The Florentine has been with you since 2005: 15 years of news, events, arts, culture and stories of international living in Florence. Now, in the spring of 2020, just before Easter, we are privileged to publish He- aling Not Broken, a commemorative issue documenting the emergency we are all enduring, wherever we are in the world. Propinquity is the word that keeps coming to mind, a poignant noun that made me fall in love with Florence a smidgen more on reading Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient. Never before has humanity been so united in a shared cause. Never before has our magazine received so many messages from so many people, expressing their closeness to Florence and concern for our team. It was this feeling of nearness that drove us to make a new commitment to our readers around the globe during lockdown: TF Together (www.theflr.net/ tftogether), a weekly line-up of digital events to keep you company in the interim. This sense of camaraderie can be felt throughout Flo- rence as schools have switched overnight to online learning, associa- tions have changed their events to virtual platforms and museums accompany us on tours around their collections. Humanism, of course, had its home in Renaissance Florence and, now more than ever, rational thinking, collectivity and experience inform a code for us to live by. In this special edition of The Florentine, we witness an outpouring of a renewed humanism in Florence, of learning, words, thoughts and creativity, with articles, poems and short stories scribed by our international community, some a product of our literary competition launched to keep you company during quarantine, plus ideas and considera- tions for the future from Tuscany’s leaders and institutional figures, all interspersed with iconic photography of Florence at its most restful. To our readers in Florence, please continue to document this unusual gift of time, albeit tragic, and to reach out to us with a view to publication. To our readers all over the world, please postpone, not cancel your forthcoming trips to this magnificent city. The joy of Florence and Tuscany changes with the seasons and will amaze you just as much in the autumn, winter and beyond. The city we love so deeply has endured the plague, conspiracies, flo- ods and bombings. Florence will endure this challenge too and with time, perseverance and your support, our Fiorenza will flourish once more.

Helen Farrell, editor in chief Please continue to support The Florentine at this critical time for Italy: www.theflorentine.net/support

6 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 7 Contributors

Dario NARDELLA mayor of Florence

Benjamin V. WOHLAUER Consul General of the United States in Florence

Eugenio GIANI Carlo FRANCINI president of the Regional head of the World Heritage Council of Tuscany and UNESCO Relationship Office of the Municipality of Florence + site manager of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Historic Centre of Florence”

Luigi SALVADORI president of Fondazione CR Firenze Paolo CHIAPPINI director of Fondazione Sistema Toscana

Francesco PALUMBO Simon GAMMELL director of Toscana director of The British Promozione Turistica Institute of Florence

8 TF266 April 2020 index Amanda LOWE deputy director of The British Institute of Florence Mattia MARASCO photographer based in Carlotta FERRARI Florence director of Destination Florence CVB + President and Founder of the Italian Francesco SPIGHI Convention Bureau photographer based in Florence

Larry WOLFF Julius Silver Professor of History at New Sarah CROWE York University, the former international executive director of journalist, who has the NYU Remarque worked for the UN/ Institute, + co-director UNICEF for the past 16 of NYU Florence at Villa years, + currently lives La Pietra and works in Florence Marisa GARREFFA writer + performance Perri KLASS artist living in Florence Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University + co-director of NYU Florence at Villa La Pietra

Alexandra LAWRENCE professor and private Deirdre PIRRO tour guide who has columnist of The Florentine + author of Italian lived and worked in Sketches: The Faces of Modern Italy, published by Florence for over 20 The Florentine Press. She’s an international lawyer years who lives and works in Florence index April 2020 TF266 9 EUROPASSITALIAN.COM

Aimelie MOEN Nardia PLUMRIDGE artist born and raised Kamin MOHAMMEDI 20% OFF on next course in Florence published author + in South Florida. She published author, if you book before JUNE! freelance travel and studied Fine Arts and journalist, broadcaster, lifestyle writer who Art History at Marist editor and public regularly contributes Georgette JUPE College in Florence, speaker to print and online digital social media and currently lives publications in the UK, marketing strategist, between Florence and US and Australia editor of Italy Los Angeles Magazine + founder of the popular Girl in Learn Italian Online Florence blog

Ela VASILESCU Online now, Lisa BRANCATISANO story hunter translated in Florence next year! founder of This into a writer, editor, Tuscan Life magazine. + teacher, based in Gabrielle Maria TAYLOR Born and raised in Florence, Italy Melbourne, Australia, president of Club she lives in Florence Tornabuoni Kirsty Jane FALCONER writer + translator living in Poggibonsi. Her work has appeared in The Tablet, Times Literary Supplement and the Honest Ulsterman

Vincenzo D’ANGELO Emiko DAVIES John HOOPER works as social Australian-Japanese Italy + Vatican media manager food writer, correspondent for at The Florentine’s photographer + The Economist. He is communications cookbook author, who also the author of The company flod + is a Online courses has called Italy home Italians and The New LGBTQIA+ advocate for over a decade Spaniards GROUP CLASS +39 339 840 4773 ONE-TO-ONE LESSONS +39 055 247 9995 [email protected] 10 TF266 April 2020 index EUROPASSS AGILE PLATFORM EUROPASSITALIAN.COM

20% OFF on next course in Florence if you book before JUNE!

Learn Italian Online

Online now, in Florence next year!

Online courses GROUP CLASS +39 339 840 4773 ONE-TO-ONE LESSONS +39 055 247 9995 [email protected] indexEUROPASSS AGILE PLATFORM April 2020 TF266 11 Dario Nardella Mayor Of Florence Florence will be Florence again, for everyone. That’s my promise to you. Florence will rise again

We need to be clear-headed and strong to overcome this phenomenally difficult time. It’s an epochal challenge for the whole world; nobody can be excluded, nobody can say they feel truly safe. I am certain that, together, we will win this terrible battle. Florence, in its long history, has always known how to rise again after even the most ruinous losses. I’m thinking of Florence destroyed by the fury of the Arno in Novem- ber 1966, when the city appeared to be on the brink of losing all its beauty and uniqueness. I’m thinking of Florence shocked and speech- n these days of profound solitude and unin- less when a Mafia bomb struck the heart of the terrupted work to guarantee essential ser- historic centre in via dei Georgofili in 1993. I’m vices to our citizens, confined like everyone thinking about the resilience shown during I the Second World War and the hard-fought fi- else to my own four walls, I observe the ebb ght that led to Liberation on August 11, 1944. and flow of life in Florence from glimpses on the news, in photos and on social media, and On this occasion too, Florence will not lose its from police reports as our forces continue profound spirit and will rise again from this moral and physical test, something that today their patrols. seems too great to overcome. Seeing Florence so desolate is overwhelming; Florence will rise again, of that I am certain, this is Florence as we have never seen the city and the city will welcome back all citizens of before, silent, mournful, yet composed in its the world, our international friends who so sorrow. Where there was the bustle of touri- love these streets, who have always found a sts who walked and gazed at our monuments, second home here. Florence will be Florence the laughter of students, the busyness of the again, for everyone. many artisan workshops, and even the sound That’s my promise to you. of much-reviled traffic, now there’s nothing, and all that nothing is a stab to the heart. more here

12 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 13 The Future?

t’s hard to say what the future will hold, but my dream is that Iit will be different and better, like all of us. Many people are saying that we’ll never be the same again, that we won’t be able to go back to doing the things we did before, like we did before. This idea doesn’t scare me; instead it intrigues and excites me as if I were a teenager again. This time is precious, distanced from normality, and its excep- tionality accelerates our evolution. It’s a luxurious and arduo- us standstill, which I hope will work like the flames of the pho- enix. The Florentine is in full revolution; the rules of our reporting already have a new dynamic. The war against this virus is transforming the media scene ba- lanced on a knife edge between the growing need for news and the fragility of the system that produces it. Printed newspapers, web and television have increased their audience in dizzying numbers—this March alone, our web and social analytics were up by 2000%. This multiplying of news consu- mers is sparking two trends: higher-quality journalism, based on real stories, live broadcasts and fact checking; and a stop in the mobility of society, which is what sped up the production and digital use of contents in the first place, and in this instance there will be no going back. But here’s the paradox: the economic slump, and therefore the plummeting in advertising caused by the containment measures of the pandemic could have lethal consequences for today’s media companies, which are essential in keeping people informed. The only means of survival is to trust in readers and their support through subscriptions and donations to the newspapers and magazines they find useful. Now more than ever, as a publisher, I urge you to support the news sources that you love. The Florentine is adjusting to this new habitat. We are changing and will continue to change our dynamics and the chan- nels and methodology with which we bring Florence to your homes. With intelligence, creativity and your support, I know that we will find a way. We’re not alone. Together, we will build a new, better future.

Marco Badiani, co-publisher of The Florentine + photo editor

14 TF266 April 2020 index shop.medicivilla.com index April 2020 TF266 15 Voices of tomorrow

ve criticism and declarations of love for Florence and our journalism. Now, they drive us to do our best. We feel the need to understand what is happening in Florence, which for so many conjures up memories and elicits plans to study abroad, move here for work or take a vacation. This has generated a growing sense of responsibility in our team. For 15 years, we have had the privilege to report from Florence. Now we must do so with renewed integrity as we make our own humble contribution to its revival. Our readers do not just want to be informed; they feel a debt of gratitude to this city and for what Florence has given them. They ask us what they can do to help; they urge us not to give up; they reassure us that they will return as soon as they are able to do so. Their words fill our hearts with hope. For this special issue of The Florentine, in addition to articles written across our community and striking photography, we have decided to listen to the people who are not exempt from what is nfection, fear, emergency, crisis, death: these are happening, but who, by the nature of the institu- Ithe nouns we keep reading in the news. Surreal, tional roles they hold and their positive attitude worrying, difficult, uncertain, absurd, distant are to life, are already able to glimpse the seeds of the adjectives. Then there’s the rhetoric: heroes, rebirth and revival. We have decided to focus on war, sacrifice, battle, courage, symbols. individual qualities—vision, ability to analyse, solidarity, practicality—which are required to with- Magazines exist because of their writers and re- stand the storm and, when the time is right, start aders. Our editorial team, columnists and con- over. We asked for these people’s thoughts and tributors have always nursed a deep love of Flo- they agreed, enthusiastic to say their piece. rence, Tuscany and Italy, but more than that they have honed the art of writing to convey their I’ll finish with a personal consideration: we should experiences. A greater awareness has been spar- have stopped and we couldn’t. This virus has ked among our community. The city we love now forced us to halt. What’s the lesson as we move more than ever has revealed its fragile beauty. forward? To live with confidence, not seeking as- Desolate photographs, a far cry from mass tou- surances about our existence and simply being rism, from the everyday bustle, restore Florence grateful for the life we lead. The only way to do to its age-old glory. These iconic images pose this is by becoming our own rulers, recognizing historic questions that are pertinent and pres- the essential values to which to aspire, through sing. How can a city find its true balance? What discipline and dedication, seeking inner awake- price must we pay? What’s the right equilibrium ning every day. If we manage to accomplish that, between residents and visitors? The hope is that then #andràtuttobene (everything will be alri- the imposition of this emergency sparks expert ght). answers to these issues. Giovanni Giusti, Our readers have always been attentive and lavi- co-publisher of The Florentine + director of insti- shed us with comments, suggestions, constructi- tutional relations

16 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 17 Empty Florence

he first time I went out to photograph TFlorence, Italy still wasn’t in lockdown, and there was no way we could have imagined the scale of things to come. That first photographic outing was aimed at telling my customers what was happening in our city. I didn’t know that The Florentine would contact me that very evening to act as their lens. The following day, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the lockdown to the entire country and two days later even tighter measures were added. These new measures closed restaurants and non-essential shops; the media has always been exempt as newsstands remain open and journalism is more essential than ever in keeping ce: in the full light of day, sharp and harsh, people informed. in contrast with the deafening emptiness of streets usually filled with life; the sound Initially, I wanted to focus on the last re- of footsteps; the sea-sawing squeak of a maining tourists as they left the city— bicycle wheel; the echo of a whistle that their fearful faces covered with the earliest reverberates under the arches now bigger masks—but Florence emptied faster than than ever. expected. Then a different idea came to mind. As a born and bred Florentine, who It’s a bittersweet feeling to immortalize has been privileged to enjoy every corner Florence like this. My eyes greedily feast on and season, all hours and weather condi- all the bare beauty freed from superfluity tions, what struck me the most was the si- as they fill with tears at the consequences lence. The volume was absent from ground of all this for Florence and its citizens. to head height in a space that usually bu- That’s why I set up a fundraiser. People all stles with busy lives in pursuit of art to fill over the world can purchase these photo- the eyes and Instagram. Florence stood in a graphs and, in so doing, make a direct do- vacuum with the full force of its art and hi- nation to Florence’s main hospital. Please story that have made it great over the cen- help our city by donating here: https:// turies. All of a sudden, my city was how it donate.fondazionecareggi.org/-floren- had never been seen before. What we had ceforhospitals/gallery. taken for granted up until a few days before now revealed itself in all its uniqueness: In the meantime, I look forward to pho- treasures normally reserved for night owls tographing the city as it slowly reawakens and early morning risers were there shi- from this unexpected hibernation and re- ning peacefully in the early spring sunshi- turns to its usual vibrant self. ne. So, that’s how I chose to portray Floren- Francesco Spighi, photographer

18 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 19 How to help Italy + Florence

Here is a list of fundraising campaigns and charities in Florence and Tuscany that require help during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Civil Protection Department Italy’s Civil Protection Department is coordinating the nation’s response to the Covid-19 emergency. Donations can be made by bank transfer from Italy and abroad using the following bank details: Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Spa, Via del Corso, 226, Rome; IBAN: EN84 Z030 6905 0201 0000 0066 387; BIC: BCITITMM. www.protezionecivile.gov.it

Red Cross Italy + Firenze The Italian Red Cross have been active since the very start of the Covid-19 alert and their resilience needs our support. The local branch, the Italian Red Cross-Florence Committee, is working tirelessly to implement the CRI for you service, which delivers food and medicines for elderly and immunosup- pressed persons. www.cri.it www.crifirenze.it

20 TF266 April 2020 index Support A Nurse Help Veneto Nurses are arriving in Florence from all over Italy Ruffino Wines are running a Go Fund Me cam- to assist in the Covid-19 emergency. This crow- paign to raise funds for the healthcare system in dfunding campaign aims to provide financial the Veneto, one of the areas worst affected by assistance to the healthcare professionals recru- Covid-19. The beverage company, Tuscan-based ited to respond to Coronavirus patients in Tu- and American-owned, will match every euro scany. The initiative was launched by the Claudio donated. Ciai Foundation, with the support of the City of bit.ly/RuffinoCaresItaly Florence and Fondazione CR Firenze. www.gofundme.com/f/sostieniuninfer- Support local artisans miere The Creative People in Florence group inspires with the support that is being rallied amongst Helping cancer patients creatives and supporters. Give to small creative In this time when efforts are multiplied in order businesses by purchasing their creations and re- to deal with the Covid-19 emergency, cancer aching out to find out how to order their designs patients are at high risk. In order to give increa- directly. You could also make a donation to the sed assistance, the Associazione Tumori Toscana Creative People in Florence association. (Association against cancer in Tuscany) is raising www.creativepeopleinflorence.com funds for reinforcement nurses and hospital beds. Support The Florentine www.associazionetumoritoscana.it At this time of uncertainty as Covid-19 lays siege to Italy’s health, culture and economy, The Flo- Florence photos for hospitals rentine needs your help to continue our mission Order one of Francesco Spighi’s iconic photo- as an international magazine to keep our com- graphs of empty Florence, taken on commission munity strong, optimistic and informed. We’re for The Florentine, during the Coronavirus epi- asking Florence lovers, in Italy, in the US and demic and make a donation to the city’s main wherever you are in the world, to pledge what hospital, Careggi. you can to guarantee coverage in the short- and www.donate.fondazionecareggi.org/-flo- mid-term. renceforhospitals www.theflorentine.net/support

index April 2020 TF266 21 Special wistfulness The empty ballroom

by Perri Klass Larry Wolff

The opening of the spring semester at NYU Florence began with orientation at the end of January on an unexpectedly springlike day, when the sun was shining and the new students were visiting the gardens. We greeted them all in shifts in the ballroom of Villa La Pietra, talked about how thrilling it had been for us to come to Italy, and Florence of course, for the first time when we were college students in the 1970s; we tried to give them some idea of the range of beautiful and interesting things that they would discover over the course of a semester in Florence. We explained about the Acton Collection that surrounded us in the ballroom, pointed out the magnificent 18th-century Aubusson tapestry, Palace of Circe, which came out of restoration and returned to the ballroom wall last fall. You see the empty throne of the sorceress Circe in a setting of classical architecture, inhabited only by the animals which were once her lovers but were then transformed by her magic. Only stone statues and no human figures appear in the tapestry.

22 TF266 April 2020 index The empty ballroom

ver the next few days, we held an opening symposium on Italian po- Olitics, so the students would know something about political life in the country that would be their home for a semester; we held an intro- ductory session on the European Union, so they would know something about the continent as a whole, at the very moment that the UK was making its historic departure. We personally led small groups through the masterpieces of the Bargello, through the amazing new Museo dell’O- pera del Duomo, took them up into Brunelleschi’s dome and looked out over the city. “It’s all yours for this semester,” we said to them. “You’ve never lived in such a beautiful city, you’ve never taken classes on such a beautiful campus as Villa La Pietra.” And less than a month later, to all of our amazement, their semester was brutally cut short by forces beyond our control, and even perhaps beyond our imagining. We feel a deep sadness for the people all over the world who are living in fear, living with illness, many of them dying, but we feel a special wistfulness for the students to whom we promised a semester of astonishing beauty and new knowledge. When we think of the piazzas of Florence empty, without Florentines, without tourists; of the gardens of Villa La Pietra empty, without students, without faculty; we also think sometimes of the empty ballroom and the empty throne of Circe. We remember the tapestry in which, mysteriously, there are no human figures, only architecture and animals. Somewhere in the gardens of Villa La Pietra there are statues and olive trees, a pair of pheasants and an occasional errant deer. And we will return.

index April 2020 TF266 23 t is in times of trouble that true friends are most needed. And at this moment Iwhen the world is facing a serious public health threat, Americans and their friends in Tuscany are standing together to confront it. As President Trump made clear in remarks on March 14, the United States loves Italy, and the friendship between our two countries is stronger than ever. We see concrete examples of this friendship across the country. For instance, in Cremona U.S. NGO Samaritan’s Purse donated a 68-bed Respiratory Care Unit to help care for those infected with COVID-19. Here in Tuscany, Camp Darby donated hospital equipment and supplies to Lombardy, the region hardest hit by this crisis. From its production facility in Sesto Fiorentino, Eli Lilly donated a million euros worth of insulin to the Italian medical system. Meanwhile, alongside Lilly, American investors like Baker Hughes continue to provide employment to many thousands of Italians. Although we are experiencing a global challenge, the foundation of our economic partnership remains as strong as ever. We are confident in Italy’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak and grateful for Italy’s tireless work to administer care to those affected by the disease. As I said many times during the 2019 celebration of the Consulate’s bicentennial: “Italy has no better friend than the United States.”

Benjamin V. Wohlauer, U.S. Consul General in Florence

24 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 25 26 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 27 Florence before lockdown No more chances after today by Marisa Garreffa

It takes me a while to realise I miss the car horns. Traffic still flies by, the emptier roads mean Italians take pleasure in speeding along, but what’s missing is the conversational trumpeting of beeps and long-stretching blows. The rhythm of my mornings is changing; I’m no longer woken by the congested chatter of thick traffic headed out to start the day. Instead, birdsong fills my window, a clearer symphony across the softened soundscape.

to cross town to collect my forth in front of a store. “Boh. Comunque. Io rientro I HAVEfinal paycheck, one last task to a casa.” In the time of lockdown, there are very few close my work with the study abroad programs valid reasons to leave the house. But Florence has that have now been evacuated. So many of us always been a magnificent city of dogs, and now are now out of work.I walk fast with my hands these local heroes are the ticket out. The dogs deep in my pockets, aware not to touch anything are walking their owners. I arrive at the office and to keep my distance from anyone I see. There where I collect my pay, and my colleague makes are more people than I am expecting, not many, an enthusiastic fuss over his dog, who is jumping but enough to notice. They walk in singles but and excited. “I brought him just in case. I know I there is also the occasional couple. I watch a man had to come in for work, but still, he’s my extra and woman kiss, lingeringly, along the edge of reason for when I’m heading back.” the Arno. It seems a radical action, this public I set a brisk pace home. Having finished my task, expression of touch and intimacy. I feel a strong responsibility to restare a casa, to A tourist couple, looking very lost, walk briskly by. do my part in the Italian solidarity. On street level, “Maybe we should get a travel agent from here, the stores are almost completely closed. A few from this end, to help us get home.” The city is restaurants stay open, empty, or with one person now for construction workers, couriers and other nursing a beer and pizza alone, or with the staff delivery people. “Where do I park my truck?” one sitting outside to take the sun, nothing to do, at calls from his window. “Wherever you want. You safe distance from each other. The bottles of hand can park anywhere.” sanitiser still wait in the pizzeria doorway, from Passing the strip of designer stores I see attendants an earlier phase of the restrictions. Now there is waiting inside with masks and gloves. Waiting for almost nobody around to use it. By tomorrow, who, I wonder. An Italian woman paces back and a new ordinance will be declared, closing down everything but the most essential stores. Police

28 TF266 April 2020 index Florence will take to her upper floors and to her windows. There has always been another secret life in this city. The one that exists above ground level.

will monitor the streets more carefully and take the sun, and speak to each other through encourage people to go back home if they don’t shutters, over railings, calling down, calling up, have a valid reason to be out. calling in every direction to reach each other. And yet, there are still the sounds of life. They are Almost home, in my local piazza a small handful coming from above. Music from a window drifts of people are spread at great distance from each through the quiet streets, and the sound of voices other, sitting quietly or laying in the sun. I pause filters out through the shutters. A woman walks on an empty and isolated bench, it seems ok alone down the street, Palazzo Pitti looming to take a last moment. We are allowed to leave up behind her. The square empty but for a couple the house for a walk, for some exercise, but we of sunbathers, laying close and risking trouble, are unsure if this solitary pausing is allowed. An but there’s no one around to catch them. Voices artist calls across the distance, would I mind if he shout from a high window and the girl on the drew a quick sketch of me? I nod permission. It street laughs. She stops and calls up to her two is the kind of exchange that Florence is known male friends. A reverse Romeo with two Juliets. for. There will be no more chances after Florence will take to her upper floors and to her today. When the sketch is done, we pass slips of windows. There has always been another secret paper with contact details to avoid drawing too life in this city. The one that exists above ground near and touching each other. “When it’s over,” level. There are those who know Florence from her we promise, “we should take a coffee.” rooftops and from her windows. While the Vasari I nod my head to this last moment of shared time Corridor allowed the rulers passage, it is not the - I have no dog, no more work, and no reason to only place where life unfolds in the air. People call go out again until it’s time to buy more food. This to each other across streets, window to window, quiet journey home is a last goodbye to the life rooftop to rooftop. They lay on balconies to we share in the streets. Just for a little while.

index April 2020 TF266 29 But that doesn’t mean we won’t share life. Already fill the time. People write thoughtful articles and at home, people are finding ways to reach out. A messages, with important information to share. brother and a friend send money to help me pay Psychologists are posting in groups, offering free the rent. Later, a friend will tell me how her family short consultations for people struggling with are struggling, now in sudden debt. We will share anxiety. the money. She has helped me before. What one A friend and collaborator makes plans to has, one shares. launch our open mic night online, providing In WhatsApp groups, friends are translating the entertainment and a place to share our creativity latest rules to help everyone understand the while we’re in lockdown. This isn’t just about changes. We watch the video of Conte outlining fun, but a serious mental health support the new measures. Just before I go to bed, plans strategy. High stress environments, like a police are made for an online aperitivo later in the monitored lockdown during a pandemic, are week. All I have is a dusty old bottle of Baileys. a huge challenge for mental health. Finding A friend sends a recipe for espresso martini, but alternative ways of creating social support I don’t have all the ingredients. The next day, systems is vital. a care package is left at my door. A thermos This is the time that we look around and see what full of vodka, the missing ingredient, and three we can offer to those who may be struggling. I books: Love in the Time of Cholera; Guns, Germs, publish a letter of love from Italy to my friends and Steel, and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely around the world. As Ela Vasilescu so poignantly Fine. I send laughter in thanks. Another package said, “You are us two weeks ago”. While in social arrives: health essentials, plus vinegar, wine, and isolation, we will continue to work creatively so ice cream. “I know you’re doing it tough. Please that no one is alone. There are many who will don’t pay me. Just enjoy.” Tears fill my eyes. need help. We know what we have to do. It Online networks are quickly being converted into is a time to come together, to confront the social and mental health support hubs. People challenges as one. It is time to think of others trade tips, helping each other to translate the new more than ourselves. We must learn the lessons regulations so that the rules are clear, offering from this crisis, and let an outbreak of sickness shopping and medicine collection help to anyone equally become an outbreak of love. Empty living in their area. We send suggestions for streets are the sign of full hearts. We are in this things that can help keep children occupied, and together.

30 TF266 April 2020 index “I want to help you fall ONLINE CLASSES in love with Italian via Zoom or via Skype from as you learn this anywhere, small groups beautiful language.” or individuals

SPEAKING ITALIAN WITH VALENTINA www.speakingitalianinflorence.com index April 2020 TF266 31 Speaking Italian In Florence With Vale Like a bolt out of the blue, it became deadly serious The best and the worst

by Sarah Crowe

First, there was racial distancing: locals taking a wide berth around Chinese tourists. Then, there came the jokes: Italians having a good time when the world thought they were in the midst of a plague. Locals scoffed when one after the next the foreign universities and colleges in Florence closed. “It’s just like the ‘flu,” many said. Others cringed at hysterical headlines about their beloved country. That was late February and there were only a handful of Coronavirus cases in northern Italy.

hen, like a bolt out of the blue, it became deadly February 27: 655 cases, 17 deaths... March Tserious. It was as if a war had been declared 1: 1,694 cases, 41 deaths... four days later, and every day the frontline shifted. All schools 3,089 cases, 107 deaths... and universities closed and the quarantined area expanded as the cases of infections shot up.

32 TF266 April 2020 index Last weekend, the red zones turned orange as the This was vibrant bella Italia. Imagine Italy without closed-off area expanded from 50,000 people to bars and cars, restaurants and museums, without 16 million people in the north. Across the country, church bells ringing. places of art and beauty joined places of learning March 13: 17,660 cases, 1,266 deaths in lockdown. Yet, on Sunday, the Tuscan spring sun shone gently, Florentines poured out onto This virus has plucked out the country’s social the streets wandering across the Ponte Vecchio soul, a society founded on the family, la licking gelato, hanging out around Palazzo Pitti nonna and love of the good life, a genuinely in bars and restaurants. It was as if, once again, generous and warm people. Up until a week ago, they could claim back their magnificent city as you were greeted with a “ciao bella”, downed their own. Some reminisced nostalgically about the world’s best coffee for one euro and sipped how it was when they were young, before the aperitivo on someone’s terrazza. In normal times, tourists came, before the likes of Airbnb made our street around the corner from the Duomo them foreigners in their own city. They basked in is so thronging with locals and tourists that you the warmth of the empty streets. cannot ride a bike, and often you cannot sleep March 7: 5,883 cases, 233 deaths with the noise from people having far too much fun in the bars March 8: 7,375 cases, 366 deaths These are not normal times. Every day, we read On Monday, March 9, at around midnight, we the heart-wrenching stories of grannies not being learnt that Italy was to become the first country able to hug their grandchildren and children for in the world to lockdown entirely. Stay at home the last time as the virus takes them “as if they and stay apart (minimum one metre) came the were drowning,” one doctor is reported to have strict government decree. One day later, the stated. We see pictures of nurses collapsed with decision came to close almost everything, except their masks still on. And every day the infections food stores and pharmacies. Silence. Emptiness. and deaths go up and up. Order. This was not Wuhan. This was not China. index April 2020 TF266 33 March 14: 21,157 cases, 1,441 deaths I’ve spent my life covering disasters, civil unrest, The same sentence is South Africa’s turbulent apartheid years, South Asia’s terrorist wars and the migration crisis in repeated time and time Europe as a journalist and UN/UNICEF worker again as a mantra: around the world. This is my second “biological war”; I covered the Ebola crisis in Liberia in andrà tutto bene 2014 and for those of us who were there, it is a (everything will be nightmare from which we never fully awoke. These times have shaped and enriched my life in alright). unimaginable ways, a learning that only comes from living. But these experiences have also shattered a base for family and firm friendships. Ironically, when I had the opportunity to work in Florence and fell in love with the place, I decided I could not do another field post and stayed on. Who would have thought it would have come to this, here. Crises bring out the best and the worst in humanity: the crazy panic buying, stocking up on Covid-19 hops about unseen and unprejudiced toilet paper, fighting over a bottle of sanitizer. In from the young to the old, killing them first. With Italy, there is little sign of that; instead there’s a this virus, you are only as well as the next person. tangible sense of “we’re in this together”, keeping You could be a super-spreader; you could be one meter apart in the shops, no hugs, no asymptomatic. The masks and the tests must be handshakes, no aperitivo. In Italy, there’s somber kept for those in real need. solidarity: children across the country have been bravely hanging out signs from their windows This is about trust in each other that we will do the right thing collectively: trust in a public and the same sentence is repeated time and time health system to deliver; trust in knowing the again as a mantra: andrà tutto bene (everything food stores and pharmacies will remain open. will be alright). Other countries around the world are fortunate On Friday, March 13, after a week that uprooted that they now have some time to learn from Italy. They must be prepared to help, not to hoard; to life as we know it, I held a digital drinks party obey orders; and to change, like Italians have with colleagues as much of Italy threw open their had to. It is for the greater good and for the good windows, came out onto their balconies to sing of everyone. their hearts out, bang pans and drums, and shout Life as we know it in Italy has changed beyond out in defiance, evoking the same spirit of the imagination, but la dolce vita will rise again, Italian resistance to fascism, against the cursed bars and churches will fill again, and friends of virus. Florence will return. This I know. This is not just about a medical response: testing, * The data for Italy includes deaths, positive cases and tracing, treating, hand washing and social the clinically healed, and is taken from the Protezione distancing are all lifesaving. This is not a virus Civile website. April 8, 2020, 94,067 currently positive, like Ebola, which destroys most of its hosts. 17,127 deaths, 24,392 healed; total cases 135,586.

34 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 35 TASTE THE NEW ROSE FROM RUFFINO

THE PERFECT WINE TO CELEBRATE EASTER AT HOME WITH YOUR FAMILY

To have the wine directly to your home go to: winelivery.com or Vino.it

36 TF266 April 2020 index HELP US TO HELP ITALY

Let’s help Italy to stop Coronavirus: all of the money pledged will be doubled by Ruffino and donated for healthcare purposes. Ruffino participates with a donation of250.000 euro. Together, we can do it! Click below to go to our page on GOFUNDME to make a donation, small or large. The report of the collection and use of the funds will be audited by auditing company KPMG.

index April 2020 TF266 37 If #iorestoacasa is having an effect, it is because it appeals to one’s sense of shame as much as to one’s social conscience.

38 TF266 April 2020 index Shame and social conscience during lockdown Retreat into your home, not into yourself

by Harry Cochrane

I was at a birthday party when the news came through. Italy was under lockdown. It was 11pm or so. Buoyed by other people’s wine and other people’s cigarette fumes—I have always been the most passive of smokers—I took it with gung-ho optimism. Well, social gatherings might be banned, but that’s exactly what we’re having right now, isn’t it? Cin cin, ragazzi. Here’s to self-isolation.

he real last hurrah, I now see in hindsight, was on Wednesday March 11, when I went to my Tlocal bar for a light lunch and then returned a few hours later for a cocktail. I talked to the owners, Marco and Daniela. “I was optimistic a couple of days ago,” Marco darkly omened, “I’m not now.” Little did I know, though I might have suspected, that the next morning his door would be closed. A week later, I have learned the simple truth. Solitary confinement is rubbish. I am a habitual fidget, and #restareacasa for a whole day has been impossible for me ever since my parents indoctrinated me with daily country walks. “Exercise is a curse,” my old Kung Fu instructor told me what I already knew. “You get used to doing a certain amount, and then you need a little bit more.” This last week has forced me to go cold turkey. I drink up the few minutes of sun on my way to the bins or the supermarket, which I wish were further away. Everybody knows everybody in my piazza, and they take it on trust that if you are out and about, you have a good reason. But if #iorestoacasa is having an effect, it is because it appeals to one’s sense of shame as much as to one’s social conscience. Pedestrians give each other wide berth—all to the good—but eye contact seems harder to come by than it used to be: certainly, I catch myself dropping my gaze, shying from the glares of my fellow sinners. This, I realise, is decidedly not the right course of action. Human contact is now so rare, so etherized, that I should be grasping it whenever the chance arises. Apart from the few inevitable busybodies, nobody relishes the great guillotine that has come clanging down through the social fabric, especially with days of sun and warmth promised by the BBC. Stay at home, do, but to you lucky people with terraces and balconies, I hope you’re out on the deckchairs, lapping up the rays. Raise a glass to your neighbours, chat with them from a safe distance, let them know you’re alive and well. Let them see the whites of your eyes.

index April 2020 TF266 39 In his extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” homily on March 27, Pope Francis spoke of the ills in our society prior to the pandemic, gently pointing out that “we carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick”.

It is time to admit that our little world in Florence was sick, too. We had given this magnificent city over to mass tourism and it was a sickness that no amount of money could cure. The center—save perhaps the Oltrarno—had lost its residents and, as a result, its soul. We all knew it and together many of us tried to counteract it within our own communities and by working from our consciences, yet we felt powerless to change things in a more substantial way.

But then, suddenly, the change came. The streets went from heaving to empty in a matter of days. No more buses, no more masses. The change is here, the slate is clean. What an amazing opportunity we have been given—to make ourselves and our city well again.

What will we do with this opportunity? What will our leaders do with it? What will you—resident, traveler, lover of Florence—do with this opportunity? Please, let us dream big for the future health of our city—let us dream sustainably, collaboratively, creatively, joyfully—together.

Alexandra Lawrence professor and private tour guide

40 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 41 Reflections from a confined mum Family life during lockdown by Jane Farrell

I get up at 4am—uncharacteristically, I can assure you—and make a strong cup of coffee. Sitting on the still-dark balcony, I wait for the sun to rise, breathing in air that has become notably cleaner these last few weeks, and attempting to extract some sense from this strange new world we’re living in

y husband is awake too, having never really gone to sleep, brain kept in constant agitation by Mendless streams of news coverage. The only sound I can hear is that of the birds, also surely trying to figure out what has happened to all the humans. I know that, in a few hours, my three-year-old will wake up and the working day will start from my makeshift office in the study/playroom. We have breakfast together and then I retreat to the desk, feeling a degree of guilt that I’m not dedicating myself to replacing the activities he’s used to enjoying at scuola materna, yet also an undeniable relief that I have something to distract me. Being present in the house, but also not, means there’s a certain amount of confusion for my toddler. Every now and then he comes to the glass door to where I’m working and just stands behind it, knowing that he shouldn’t disturb me, yet curious to find out what I’m up to. I can’t resist and take a five-minute cuddle break, a perk of working from home. He looks up at me, hopefully asking “Have you finished working now?” It’s only 9.30am, but I say, “Nearly” and lead him to his own table and chair beside mine where he sits dutifully concentrating on colouring a picture of blue skies, vast fields and roaming animals. We’re trying to eat better, exercise more and making a conscious effort to keep upbeat and cheerful, but I can’t help worrying: Will my son’s development suffer? Is he missing his friends? What effect will this

42 TF266 April 2020 index have on him in the long term? My worries must be the same as every other parent’s because the school WhatsApp group becomes filled with songs, video messages, hugs and kisses from his classmates, who are missing their jokes, games and running around gleefully laughing. My son’s face changes as he watches them, a beam spreads from ear to ear and he asks to watch them again and again, imitating their videos later and singing their songs. I miss my friends too. Video chats fill every other moment as we share updates on the crisis and talk about how surreal everything is. Surreal, surreal, surreal. And yet what else can we do except get up, get dressed and create new routines. While I’m immersed in some particularly devastating news piece, I hear my child’s laughter as he delights in his toys and the time in this safe space we’ve created. He seems very accepting of this new reality, happy to have us ever by his side. But then there’s the rest of the family, the aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins whom we are missing and who are missing us. Skype calls tend to turn to frustration that a virtual hug can’t be a physical one and more often than not I finish a call fighting against what feels like a wave of grief. We’re lucky to have these people to call, to have those who miss us and to love so many people. We appreciate each other more during this enforced separation and we look to our close circle for support through these times, leaning on each other and valuing others more than before. We wave to the little girl who lives in the apartment across from us. We’ve never met these new neighbours, but now they’re our closest thing to a human connection. My son sings on the balcony and neighbours peer out windows to observe and smile, grappling to find joy themselves. We try to figure out what the birds are saying, and then join in. We watch a bee gather pollen, we nurture the herbs growing and we look to the distant hills to see if we can make out what lies on them. We evaluate how we’re feeling, and I try to teach my son how to process emotions related to missing his friends and not being able to go to the park, before realising it’s me trying to teach myself and that it’s his young strength that is the support for mine. index April 2020 TF266 43 44 TF266 April 2020 index

The new normal of online learning Il British during lockdown by Amanda Lowe

I’ll go back to Wednesday, March 4. I was administering Cambridge exams in the small, beautiful Tuscan medieval towns of Monteriggioni and Colle di Val D’Elsa. Halfway through the first session, the news came through that the Italian government was thinking of closing the schools. We continued with the second session, got back to Florence and went into the office at 5pm. Still no official news. The phones are ringing. Students and staff are asking for information and we wait glued to our screens until it is finally announced at 7pm. The schools are to close with immediate effect. My mind is whirring. Colleagues are asking, “What are we going to do?” I can’t remember what time I got home or how much I slept, but by Thursday 5, I had a plan.

46 TF266 April 2020 index t The British Institute of Florence, we be moving the lessons to an online platform. We currently have running over 200 English also advised them to leave Italy. After that I had Acourses with about 2,000 students of all a trip to the supermarket where the shelves are ages starting from age five. We suspended all looking suspiciously empty. courses on March 5 and set to work contacting everyone, explaining the plan and getting permission to pass their mobile phone numbers on to the teachers. In the first instance we would set up class groups on WhatsApp to hold the lessons. We worked flat out on Thursday to get the first ones set up for Friday. Then Friday for Saturday. Some teachers and students needed support as they weren’t that familiar with the messaging platform. I remember the sense of euphoria in the staffroom at 4.30pm on the Friday after we had held 20 lessons via WhatsApp. It was our biggest test. The students loved it and the teachers, too. That was when I realised the plan could actually work. Then at 6pm we received communication from Monday 9th. Half of the British Institute is Cambridge English that all exams would be closed. We are going to try and keep the language cancelled with immediate effect. We had three departments operating as much as possible. All exam sessions at 9am the next day, so we set to staff come in to collect what they need because work to contact all of the candidates. we have decided to have everybody working from home. Teachers wheel in suitcases to take Saturday March 7 and we were back in the home their books. It’s a hive of activity until office for 7.30am. Saturday is one of our busiest lunchtime but the wave of tiredness hits as I say days with lots of adult courses—all of them to goodbye to one colleague after another. Florence be moved online. Some adults weren’t happy; a is deserted and silent like you have never seen couple were rather aggressive. But never mind, it before. I arrive home just in time for another we work to get those who want to join into the announcement from the Prime Minister. The “lessons” and try to ignore the small minority who whole of Italy is on lockdown for 2 weeks. With want to complain. Saturday comes to a close. hindsight, we had closed in the nick of time. We Exhausted but feeling a sense of achievement took the decision before it was enforced and had and the thought of a day off on Sunday, I head for time to prepare for it. home, where the Prime Minister is making a new announcement. More restrictions. All cultural Now accustomed to the full lockdown, all activities have to close. That means the library and this has become the new normal. Nearly all the Italian and Art History departments. Sunday, our students have taken to the online lessons March 8 is spent contacting our non-Italian with enthusiasm. We have switched to video students to say that their face-to-face course is lessons and the teachers are revelling in the new cancelled and the school closed, but that we will opportunities they are finding.

index April 2020 TF266 47 Comments from teachers and students of The British Institute of Florence

“Video conferencing has helped my classes to work as a team and one of my students said, ‘it’s just like being at school’. I can share videos and audio instantly and we laugh a lot and learn from each other in a more intimate way.’ Peter Dulborough, Advanced English teacher

“This uneasy state of emergency has sadly cooped us students up at home. Not only have the online classrooms allowed us to keep on moving forward with our studies, but also feel human connectedness as if we were physically together.” Giulia Borri, adult student The next “We made a Father’s Day card from a distance! Mika enjoyed the lesson a lot and her father was really moved by the beautiful surprise. It’s indeed the best part of the week for Mika. adventure Parent of one of our younger students, aged eight by Simon Gammell

“The Covid-19 pandemic has completely changed The British Institute of Florence was founded our life, especially our daily routine. I’m an at a time of global crisis: the First World War. In ICU doctor, so I have to come face to face with 1915, following extended negotiations, Italy the terrible consequences of Covid-19. In this had finally entered the war, siding with Britain context, spending two hours twice a week with my English class and my teacher, Lee, gives me and France, against former allies Germany and the possibility not to lose my dream of learning Austria-Hungary. Two years later, when a group English.” of prominent citizens from the Anglo-Florentine Lucia, First Certificate student community decided to celebrate the deep friendship between the British and i Fiorentini by setting up an institute to study the two languages

48 TF266 April 2020 index and cultures, the proposal was warmly again, for just the third time in our 103-year supported by the authorities on both sides. history. We have, of course, had to close both For 20 years, the new institute flourished, our buildings: Palazzo Lanfredini, which still settling into Palazzo Antinori at the top of via houses the library together with our burgeoning de’ Tornabuoni, offering language lessons and programme of cultural and social events, and cultural seminars, and establishing a notable Palazzo Strozzini, our language school. But library. With the advent of the new war, the this time we are still able to deliver part of our institute was in real danger despite (or because programme. Because, though we have had of?) the fascist sympathies of the then director, to suspend our rich programme of lectures, Harold Goad. Goad departed in a hurry, as the seminars, business forums and concerts, our institute closed its doors and it was left to the brilliant teachers are giving all our English and redoubtable librarian, Giulietta Fermi, to arrange Italian language classes as normal, working for the library to be safely packed away and from home and connecting to the students stored at the Swiss Consulate. The institute was through video conferencing, using platforms thus able to re-emerge with confidence as soon such WhatsApp, Google Hangout and, especially, as peace was restored. Zoom. The next major crisis came in 1966, when the Using ZOOM videoconferencing, we have even institute had relocated from Palazzo Antinori reintroduced some cultural meetings, which to Harold Acton’s beautiful Palazzo Lanfredini began with my own talk Portraits & Selfies on lungarno Guicciardini just days before the about the evolution of international tourism in devastating flood of 4 November. Sadly this Florence from the days of Shakespeare through time, a part of the library collection, in boxes on to mass tourism. the ground floor still waiting to be unpacked And so il British sails on, determined to weather following the move, was lost. this storm and emerge on the other side in good Fifty-four years on, The British Institute is closed shape, ready for the next adventure.

index April 2020 TF266 49 50 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 51 A sense of community

This is a difficult period. The pandemic has forced us to take time to be responsible, but we will succeed and we will all learn something from what we are experiencing, just like our grandparents who rolled up their sleeves at the end of the war to build a better country. We will do the same, for our community. It’s from that sense of community that I’d like to begin because that’s what politics has taught me.

uscany is a community that is based on dynasty’s entire legacy was bound to the state, at essential qualities to the extent that it shines that time the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, upon her Tas a beacon in the battle for civil rights. Our demise in 1743. region was the first in the world (it was a state at We cannot disregard our history, especially those the time) to abolish the death penalty thanks to of us who hold public office. During my years of Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, who wrote history political appointment for the Tuscany Region, for global criminal law on November 30, 1786. I have visited all of our 273 municipalities and There are so many things I’d like to mention, become acquainted with even the smallest of which make me proud to be Tuscan. August 27, places, which are by no means less important. I 1569 comes to mind, the day on which Pope have grown to understand their requirements Pius V bestowed on Cosimo I de’ Medici the title and received confirmation of the depth of our of Magnus Dux Etruriae, the historical validation history. I believe that politics means spending of what previously had been Etruscan land and time with people, comprehending their needs, which we can regard as modern Tuscany. I think conveying a feeling of closeness and respect for about guiding figures like the Palatine Electress, who we are, for our identity. who made a fundamental contribution to the conservation of the artworks that belonged Eugenio Giani, to the Medici family: the very existence of the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany Uffizi is owed to Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici. Her invention of the “family pact” ensured that the

52 TF266 April 2020 index A different world

I wasn’t accustomed to spending entire days at home, and it hasn’t been easy to adjust to that fact. Like many of my colleagues, friends and acquaintances, most of my time was dedicated to meetings, travelling and work lunches. A whirlpool fuelled by adrenaline that makes you feel alive and important, but which leaves little time for reflection and silence.

ow we have plenty of time, and we must try not to waste it. My first thoughts are Nabout my family, our health and our future, and what our lives will be like when all this is over. Most of all, I think about the younger generation and my children, who I’ve spoken with many times during these days, about how they and we will face a profoundly different society. Although I am an optimist by nature, I freely admit that I cannot be optimistic at the moment. Florence, Italy and Europe will find a way, but right now it is hard to see which route we should take once we leave the tunnel. I am deeply fortunate to lead a robust institution, which is already showing how much it can do to help the local area during this tempest. As a foundation we will be able to do much more when the storm has passed, but I am certain (after all it’s something we’ve been saying for days now) that we will all see the world differently. Once we leave our homes again, savouring that freedom of movement that we have lost, first we are likely to be swamped with serious financial problems. Notwithstanding this, I hope that we will remember to preserve the friendships and personal ties that we had set aside too quickly, which we have now retrieved, precious and strong, to help us endure these long days of fear and anguish. Luigi Salvadori, President of Fondazione CR Firenze

index April 2020 TF266 53 The wisdom of farmers

This isn’t the first epidemic and it won’t be the last. We don’t know when it will end, but it will, sooner or later.

e are living in a time that we would have never expected, to the beat of the Wmelancholic bookkeeping of infection, as the lampposts of our social life are switched off one by one, one shop sign darkening after another. We are alone, albeit “im-media-tely” diluted by the multitude of the web. Our lives are inexorably global and interconnected, always. We say that we’re all in the same boat, but we know that’s not the case. We don’t all suffer in the same way. There are some who pay the price and lose much more than others, those who have chosen to row or those who are forced to do so in our stead. We say that we’ll all come out of this better and stronger than before, that nothing will be the same as it once was, that we’re ready to rethink our lifestyle, for the common good, and focus on the important things: health, family, friends and hobbies. Are we sure? Are we really sure that we will be wiser and less greedy? That we won’t make the same mistakes? Will we have learned a lesson? Or is all this destined to come undone after the intense wave of emotions we’re riding? Given that we’re still the same handful of people who clutch at straws, instead we should make notes for tomorrow. I’d include the importance of words in a handbook for a different philosophy of life. “Those who speak badly think and live badly. You need to use the right words: words are important!” to coin the words of Michele Apicella in Palombella Rossa, the 1989 film directed by Nanni Moretti.

54 TF266 April 2020 index Crisis is one of the dominant words at the In so doing, we will discover that, in Tuscany, we moment. It has acquired a negative meaning in possess a natural and cultural habitat best placed everyday use, whereas its true significance comes to enrich ourselves with renewed knowledge. from the Greek κρίνω: to separate. It was once Loving our region, our land, will increasingly mean used by farmers to refer to threshing, when the earning the privilege to live here while drawing grain was separated from the straw and chaff upon centuries of civilization and translating this after the wheat was harvested. In recent times, into the capability of welcoming visitors from all reference is usually made to the Far Eastern over the world. We must recognize the value of etymology of “crisis” composed of two Chinese good policy, strive for greater consideration and characters, signifying danger and opportunity. fewer insults, more study and tender care of our We should bring back to the forefront the unparalleled biodiversity, appreciate expertise meaning that is closer to the origins of our and overcome the technological middle ages culture, reflecting on the essence of the word inhabited by serial haters. Going back to that “crisis” in Greek civilization, embracing the handbook for a different philosophy of life, this positive nuances, separating life’s grain from means making good use of old farming wisdom, the weeds of bad habits, choosing personal and separating the things which we truly need for our social resources best suited to starting over, given return to the future from those that make us feel that, as Einstein advised, “We cannot solve our good about ourselves. problems with the same thinking we used when Paolo Chiappini, we created them”. Director of Fondazione Sistema Toscana index April 2020 TF266 55 “In the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid cities.”

Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell.

Full city empty city

by Carlo Francini

The natural or unnatural evolution of the virus that we are enduring values. In some ways, the full city and experiencing in our cities, in our the empty city seem to be two sides of the same coin. country and all over the world Florence, like other world cities, will rise again calls for self-control as well as when this storm has passed. This has always been evaluation (certainly in the heat the case, even in recent times. Nevertheless, what must we guarantee for ourselves, our heirs and of the moment and therefore the rest of humanity? heralding mistakes) about what We must look for and find a sustainable urban action to take in the future. life model without delay, a model where the values of tangible and intangible culture are not conceived as a picture postcard but as under- ather than giving an answer, at least for the lying principles for new choices associated with Rtime being, I’d prefer to pose a fundamental better quality services for the housing (in its mul- question: are we really sure that the urban expe- tiple forms) and which provide actual support in rience we had up until recently was that perfect the metropolitan area for the sectors of industrial and in sync with a sustainable lifestyle? production, crafts, research and trade. The city administration and other institutions Culture and education should be at the centre have already asked themselves this question and of a holistic vision of a city, but with a truly su- the clear signs of an undercurrent change in di- stainable approach, also from an economic per- rection were unquestionable and apparent, but spective, capable of enhancing the use of the what is happening now could sink those sacro- urban space, its monuments and museums, and sanct intentions once life is resumed, which will not demeaning it to achieve pointless figures and need to be governed and not endured. records. The urban desert that we are seeing and expe- What we are feeling is a genuine need for a glo- riencing frightens us, yet the historic centre bal trend reversal during these long days spent in crowded to the point of excess also aroused di- a sort of artificial dream (or nightmare). squiet among Florentines, residents and those I like to remember how Florence, among the visitors to our city in search of real, tangible and criteria that enabled its inclusion on the UNESCO

56 TF266 April 2020 index “I placed you at the centre of the world so that from there you could best observe all that is in the world. Neither celestial nor earthly did I create you, so that you, your own voluntary and honorary sculptor and shaper, could forge yourself in the form you “Soon there preferred. You could will be flowers.” degenerate into an lesser Piero Bargellini, Mayor of Florence 1966-67 being, into a brutal animal, or you could, as World Heritage List, possesses an extraordinary you will, be regenerated intangible legacy as the birthplace of modern humanism. into a higher being, into Florence, together with the other cities belon- ging to the UNESCO World Heritage List, might a divine creature.” become the pivotal place for the experimenta- tion of new models based on humans and our relationship with the natural and cultural envi- Pico della Mirandola ronment. in his “Discourse on the Dignity of Mankind”, In 1967, UNESCO, which was so lavished with inspired by San Miniato al Monte help for Florence and Venice after the tragic flood and high water of 1996, produced a do- cumentary titled “Return to Florence”, in which the unforgettable mayor Piero Bargellini spoke about the city’s recovery from an economic and social perspective, but in a poetic leap he linked the new beginning with the arrival of spring with a straightforward expression: soon there will be flowers. In this sad start to the spring, let’s hope that we can regain the willpower and wisdom needed for our future.

index April 2020 TF266 57 Tuscany, together for tomorrow

The change that is engulfing the tourism industry is so great that nobody can envisage the outcome with any certainty. It’s a global phenomenon; yes, our economy is taking a hit, but it’s our lifestyle, as we know it, that’s at greater risk. The impact on tourism was immediate, brutal and lacking assurances about what will remain of the industry when this situation is over and, even more so, what tourism will mean in the future.

n this context, there’s only one possibility, and Ithat’s to stop and consider what “Destination Tuscany” aims to represent for tourism in the future. It’s an opportunity to rethink how we’d like to position ourselves faced with this drastic global change that is impacting our way of life, to produce, and we are obliged to reason with a new vision for the sector’s recovery, which involves workers, the public system and all those who reside in tourist destinations, essentially, Tuscany’s tourism community. Even at the very peak of this emergency, I can glimpse two possible outcomes for our sector, on which we can train our efforts. The first consists in redefining the concept of Tuscany as a tourism destination. This means visiting our region in a more informed way, closer to our contemporary reality. The second objective is to develop Tuscany’s tourism community, a network of public and private operators who remain in contact and who work together to promote a collective image, accompanied by Toscana Promozione Turistica, the region’s tourism board. Our obligation lies in preparing for the programming we will implement as soon as

58 TF266 April 2020 index the sector shows signs of recovery, for which Lastly, the relaunch strategy consists in a Toscana Promozione Turistica is already creating destination marketing campaign aimed at the a set of coordinated actions. First and foremost, different types of tourists who look to Tuscany as we are studying market surveys to estimate the their next destination. This campaign comprises timescales and methods of the resumption of a national campaign, aimed at domestic tourists tourism markets. who will resume travelling as soon as the The creation of a crisis management team with emergency in Italy is over, and an international the Tuscan Region, as well as a coordination branding campaign, which will begin once the group for the regional tourism promotion pandemic has finished and international tourism system, is the immediate next step to manage starts again. the crisis responsibly, to understand the tourism These campaigns will prove even more scenarios that lie ahead and what the economic successful if they are ideated, shared and adopted consequences will be, outlining the approaches by the entire regional tourism network, from in order to define the strategies for immediate luxury hotels to farm accommodations and B&Bs, intervention and the relaunch of national and by public operators and municipal councillors, all international tourism, restructuring the priority tourist information points and travel agencies, areas. bathing establishments, bars and restaurants, We must stand alongside all those who work and so on. This is not just our plan for day-to-day in Tuscany’s tourism industry during this time of work; it’s also my personal wish for the tourism uncertainty. For this reason, we have introduced sector. the #Tuscanytogether digital labs aimed at tourism professionals and operators in the face of the emergency, in order not to stop the efforts Francesco Palumbo, previously underway in our region. Director of Toscana Promozione Turistica index April 2020 TF266 59 An opportunity to change direction

I’ve worked in tourism since the beginning of my career. For me, it’s always been more of a passion than a job: to see world citizens rejoice in the wonders of our city and country, to gather in our towns and share our unique Tuscan lifestyle for a time.

his continues to drive me now as it’s too painful Tto put into words what we are feeling and the losses we are enduring. It’s a universal agony, which affects the whole world, which separates and tears us apart, but at the same time unites, makes us more equal and breaks down barriers. From America to China, we are all forced to stay at home; our cities are empty. We are obliged to stop, for ourselves and for others. Thankfully, we can still fly, while waiting to catch “Your beauty and your energy have survived for a plane in the future, thanks to the power of our centuries and will survive all this.” imagination and the web. The internet allows us “I feel at home when I’m there.” to stay connected and our personal networks enable us to share hobbies, photos, experiences “We love walking your streets and will be back and dreams. In recent weeks, thousands of people again.” have posted messages of love and support on #andràtuttobene our pages from all over the world, replying to our request to share the love for Florence with heart- breaking words.

60 TF266 April 2020 index The goal that we had set for 2020 was to improve tourist flow management. After all, so many people love Florence, visit the city and we have a duty to show them all of our beauty to ensure a happy vacation and increase liveability in the most popular areas. Since I’m a glass half- full sort of person, I believe that this terrible tragedy is giving us an opportunity to change direction and rethink a different tourism and city model. Florence has always embraced tourism as a pivotal element in the lives of all its citizens: tourism is a strategic topic in local politics and a key asset for the city’s economy. Never before have we rediscovered the importance of our local producers, the importance of supporting our economy through supporting our businesses, both small and large, which nourish our region and are nourished by our region. This is the model that we could develop in the tourism industry too. We have a headstart. In recent years, Florence has honed a strong, cohesive and practical network of tourism entrepreneurs. Hoteliers, restaurateurs, tour agencies and guides, photographers, hosts and tourism professionals of every type who are used to working together down the years and who row in the same direction for the growth Florence has always known how to rise again, of Florence. All of our tourism professionals are and it’s never had to do this alone. The citizens united in their love of their homeland and are of the world, our tourists, have always been by experts in giving back to the place we love. These our side. Many came when the waters of the are the people who will allow us to experience Arno flooded the city in 1966 and those same Florence at its most authentic. They will become individuals, our Mud Angels, keep returning to our hosts again. remember that poignant time. These people from all over the globe are united in their love for our Carlotta Ferrari, city, motivated by a desire to be part of Florence’s Director of Destination Florence CVB + President destiny. and Founder of the Italian Convention Bureau index April 2020 TF266 61 We are all the same now The meaning of “home”

by Kamin Mohammadi

Home has always been a loaded word for me. Forty years ago we left Iran at the height of the Iranian Revolution. We fled to London where we were given political refugee status. I was nine, and I grew up British outside the home and Iranian inside the home. My search and quest for identity, for the true meaning of home, drove the earlier part of my adult life and my first book The Cypress Tree told not only the story of my country and my family, but also of a life spent between two cultures, an east and a west so opposed to each other, and of the quest to accept my two nationalities.

t was the writing of this book that brought Ime to Florence 12 years ago. I was offered a flat in the city for a few weeks and in As Italy suffers at the frontline of the that time, I fell in love—with Florence, war with this virus, as I too take to the with the Italian lifestyle and produce, and windows to sing every evening, to eventually, with an Italian man. This love applaud the medics and nurses, to shout has kept me here ever since and forced me encouragement to neighbours, to paint to fold another country and culture into rainbow banners, I realise that I suddenly my heart. But not until now have I felt such know the Italian national anthem by heart, a sense of pride in Italy. Not until now have and it dawns on me that when we emerge I felt that I too can identify as Italian and from this experience—as one day we truly call this place home. surely will—my sense of identity will once more be forever changed. The gentlest, sweetest man, who would not have been capable of pulling the trigger, nonetheless was prepared to do whatever it took to protect us. I am thrown back to another time when we were forced to stay at home, when schools Now, like my uncle, the Italian state is were closed, when there was a curfew in the trying to protect us. The ever-stricter evenings, when uncertainty and fear left a decrees and measures are the equivalent dusting of terror on every action of normal of the gun under the pillow. But in the life. During the revolution in Iran, there was times of Covid-19, no nation state can also an unseen threat, the possibility that a protect us completely. Only we can try to thoughtless encounter could lead to your keep ourselves safe. And that’s why we stay death. at home, because now we have something fundamental in common: we all want to I find myself an unlikely veteran of living live. We all want to be healthy and for in lockdown. But while the similarities are this virus to not spread. And that means striking, the differences are what have taking care of each other. Even if that takes made me fall even deeper in love with the form of distance and isolation, of not Italy. visiting people you love, of not hugging While the Iranian Revolution brought with those dear to you. it terror and hate, the Covid19 crisis has We are all the same now. This virus has brought instead empathy and support. It is been a great leveller as well as a great as if Italy has matured—the anarchic, rule- unifier. Unlike the Iranian Revolution which breaking Italian character has morphed brought terror and violence to break apart into one embracing social responsibility our society, instead the fear of the virus and the greater good over individualism. has brought us together and has brought Political leadership has been strong and forth great love and compassion. For the clear. Most of all, the spirit of this great sake of others, we are all staying in and this country has burst forth to counter the mass sacrifice, this mass act of caring for bad news and fear. The sense of solidarity, each other, has brought out a love for our of unity and community, is extraordinary fellow humans that has been as welcome given the death of social life. We all feel as it has been unexpected. Italy has found closer. With everyone at home, suddenly its heart again. And that’s why I am proud we all have that most precious commodity to identify myself as also Italian now, and of our post-modern lives: time. proud to call Italy home. During the Iranian Revolution when my father was a target, one of my young uncles slept every night by our front door. My sister and I would go and sleep by his side, tucking ourselves into each side of him. Unbeknown to us, my uncle had a gun under his pillow in case the revolutionaries arrived in the night.

index April 2020 TF266 63 Valuing the simple things in life Neighbourhood spirit in San Niccolò by Lisa Brancatisano was created in 1865 by Giuseppe Poggi, who was I have always said that the street where I responsible for the city’s urban renovation. It’s live is like a little village and I have never felt thanks to Poggi that keen joggers and walkers it so much as during this last month living like me can also enjoy the panoramic, tree-lined roads that lead up to piazzale Michelangelo. It is under lockdown. from here where we can really admire and soak up not only the beauty of Florence below but also as an Niccolò is surrounded by some of the most far as the hills of Fiesole and surrounding Tuscan Sbeautiful gardens in the city, which makes it the countryside. From late April for three weeks, the perfect place to enjoy Florence in a more relaxed Iris Garden, located to the left of the piazzale, manner. Since my boys were old enough to walk, shows off its many varieties. Perhaps, this year, I have been taking them to the Rose Garden the iconic bloom, also the symbol of Florence, to sit on the grass, explore the winding paths, the famous giglio, will be blooming with more fishponds and the Japanese garden, which was beauty than ever before. donated to Florence by the twin city of Kyoto and We have adapted well to our life in lockdown. the Zen Kodai-Ji temple. Free to enter, the garden I have been proud to observe how Italians have

64 TF266 April 2020 index “Overcome with emotion, I couldn’t hold back the tears as I walked down the street and passed my neighbours, our eyes meeting and sharing the same uncertainty about this new way of living.”

not resorted to clearing the supermarket shelves Our food shopping is planned with more care and panic buying. I have admired my neighbours than ever before as we try and extend the weekly as they rally around and offer help to those groceries as far as possible. I have always loved more vulnerable than themselves. We all know cooking, but have been taking advantage of each other in our street and even if there are having more time indoors to prepare things that I some people I only know by face, we now say may have dismissed before, thinking I didn’t have buongiorno when passing and ask if all is ok. the time. More quality time is spent with our boys There is a sign near the local bar in the piazza, as we find activities to occupy them so that they organised by the San Niccolò neighbourhood are not watching screens all day. committee offering shopping for the elderly. When I venture out now on my bike to the The same committee put together a poster, butcher or pharmacy, or just walk the block to illustrating how you can make your own face throw out the rubbish, I have a new appreciation mask, and our local fruit and vegetable shop for this incredible city that I am so fortunate to has a little bucket with fabric masks that you can call home. The streets are eerily empty, yes, but take for free or make an offering. I remember the warm spring sunshine brings hope and a the first time I put on my mask before going out. promise that everything will indeed be ok, that Overcome with emotion, I couldn’t hold back the tutto andrà bene, and that this summer will be one tears as I walked down the street and passed my where we all look at the world and our family and neighbours, our eyes meeting and sharing the friends with a new respect and understanding of same uncertainty about this new way of living. how valuable the simple things in life are. We have slipped into a routine of sorts, albeit sleeping in later than usual and enjoying a more relaxed breakfast each morning before organising the boys’ homework and our domestic chores. index April 2020 TF266 65 66 TF266 April 2020 index Showing our gratitude So, so special

by Nardia Plumridge

My earliest memory of Florence is walking through piazza della Signoria over its cobbled pavement immersed in what I saw. Surrounded by elegant palaces, the arches of the Loggia dei Lanzi and the art within, I looked up to the epic Arnolfo tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. Florence’s beauty mesmerized me immediately. I recall watching locals lounging al fresco at Caffè Rivoire, sipping their cappuccinos in the morning sunshine. From the beginning, it was clear the city holds a unique spirit and just like that, I was hooked. In that instant I knew that Florence would play an important role in my life, and years on, my passion for the city remains resolute.

he streets of Florence may be more silent in this moment, Tyet its beauty remains unchanged. Over centuries, through famine, wars and political upheaval, the city has stood resilient, and it will continue do so for many more years to come. Florence is a vibrant capital that will once again open its palace and caffè doors with its residents welcoming us back with a warm ciao. The Florentines have created an incredible place for us to enjoy and life will return as lively as before. I look forward to returning to the cobbled streets and gazing up at the Arnolfo Tower; to walking the corridors of the Uffizi in pursuit of my favourite Caravaggios; to watch the sun set over the famed terracotta rooftops; to be immersed again in the beauty of Florence that has stood for centuries. In the future, it’s my hope that visitors make a special note to delve not just into the city’s treasures but into the hospitality of the local businesses, for it will be more important than ever in the months to come. Stay in a small boutique hotel, dine in a family-run restaurant and visit an artisan in their studio to find the perfect souvenir: become a future patron. Perhaps there can be a silver lining to these current constrictions. Florence is a city that remains a great love affair to many and we can show our gratitude by supporting the Florentines who have made it so, so special.

index April 2020 TF266 67 68 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 69 Simply being there

Thoughts from just another girl in Florence by Georgette Jupe

As I sit here in my living room in the Oltrarno area of Florence at 10.30am in the morning, part of me thinks, well, this would be what I would normally be doing even if there weren’t a lockdown.

orking from home has been reality for over And then there’s now. If someone would have Wfive years now, a pleasant one that I have told me that the entire country would be under a always enjoyed. I wake up early, say goodbye total lockdown, our every movements restricted to my husband and settle in with Ginger the to only the necessities of life, getting groceries beagle snoring by my side as I focus on the and taking the dog for a very quick walk, I would day’s tasks. Managing my social media clients, have likened their words to an episode of Black writing blog posts for GirlinFlorence and holding Mirror, a show that feels a little too close for meetings for Italy Magazine from various areas comfort during this period. of my 80-square meter third-floor apartment. My work, like everyone else’s, has taken a Meetings, errands and coffee dates around the nosedive hit since many of my clients were city punctuated that steady rhythm, providing focused on tourism in Florence. Entire projects a much-needed breath of fresh air to stretch the with weeks of back and forth negotiations legs and appreciate the place I’ve called home vanished with a quiet and discerningly quick for over 13 years. poof. I found that my email box morphed into an

70 TF266 April 2020 index Many of my readers simply want to talk about and see how things really are over here.

evil place I no longer relished visiting: bad news and spam. I longed for the days of complaining about being too busy, with too many places to go. The few times I’ve been outside to get groceries have been an experience that is anything but pleasant. No longer are there groups of families in piazza della Passera eating gelato or catching up over a spritz. Local businesses are shuttered with white signs notifying an empty street or square of their closure to the virus. When you come across another person, you look down, cross the street and hurry to the supermarket or pharmacy. There is no stopping for photo ops and pleasantries. index April 2020 TF266 71 This virus, invisible to the average eye, looms this downtime, even if I just sometimes wanted like an ominous cloud over our world. It seemed to crawl under the covers and watch Netflix? so far away just a few months ago and now it feels Encourage people to make the most of their time so near. It has taken away the lives of so many at home? I thought about this a lot. and has closed the borders of most countries What I decided was simply to go back to my worldwide. We have so many questions, concerns roots as a flawed-but-always-learning blogger: and worries what is happening out there. We are just be real in our experience, do what feels right doing our best to be good citizens, to simply do and help when I could. What this means for me the noblest of things. That means simply staying is to continue sharing what is going on here at home, not putting ourselves in harm’s way, in Italy, linking to trusted sources and staying or possibly infecting someone else. The reality informed with the latest news/certification/law/ is that seemingly inconsequential decisions we local directive, but in the myriad of articles doing make can have a big impact on someone else’s exactly that what seems more important to me is life. simply being there. As a blogger, my immediate thought was, how There for people in any way I possibly can be. should I approach this? Should I focus on solely on Calling family and friends and making time for the positive? Forego talking about the elephant anyone and everyone for video chats, or simply in the room and focusing on how to best distract a “Ciao, how are you feeling today?” This means people with evergreen Florence content? Should answering hundreds of messages and being kind I pivot my work and be uber-productive in all of and thoughtful in my responses and sharing the

72 TF266 April 2020 index work of others. Many of my readers simply want and maybe in the same hour laugh with a friend to talk about and see how things really are over about a stupid TV show. here. There is so much out there to read on the What I do know is that we will come out of this internet, in the news, but what people crave was and we will be ok. It is hard to let go of illusions a human connection. They wanted to know that of control and find peace in the fact that you are they aren’t the only ones feeling a certain way and doing your part just by staying home but that’s want to know how to help. What I definitely don’t really all we can do. It’s going to be a long time want to do is answer in a way that makes it seem before things go back to normal in Florence, that I, and I alone, held any sort of certain truth. So and when it does, there might even be a new I am doing what I can: sharing certain fundraising normal. At the same time, some things never campaigns for local hospitals, posting about change. As Marcel Proust once beautifully said, uplifting moments from this lockdown (flash “When I thought of Florence, it was like a miracle mobs for solidarity, etc.), but mostly being as open city embalmed and like a corolla, because it was as humanly possible about how my husband and called the city of lilies and its cathedral, St. Mary me were dealing with this. Like everyone else, of the Flowers.” we have constant ups and downs and we find it hard to be productive most days, but we’ve also had many positive, funny moments too. It’s both important to show that it is ok to have fear about the uncertainty of the future, dwell on that even, index April 2020 TF266 73 74 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 75 76 TF266 April 2020 index Uninterrupted togetherness or solitude

Living in a today which never seems to end

by Ela Vasilescu

“Be the change The streets of Florence, the city that captured our hearts, a city of culture, you want to see rich in history and beauty, are quiet now. in the world.” We are slowly ending the fourth week of national lockdown. Four weeks filled Mahatma Gandhi with mixed emotions, uninterrupted togetherness or solitude, sometimes confusion, and fear for the uncertainty of what the future might bring.

y now, the news about the spread of the virus, Bits worldwide consequences, has reached and impacted every country in the world. In every corner of the globe, each nation has imposed some sort of regulations to help contain the virus. For the first time in a long time, humans are united through a single thread. The masks have fallen and left us with the common purpose of returning to a life lived outside of our homes.

index April 2020 TF266 77 The quarantine is not an easy task to handle. Other days the house falls silent, and we each Being confined indoors because of something find a corner to retreat and contemplate. When we can’t see, feel or touch is hard to grasp. For the ambulance sirens sneak through the opened some, maybe more than we can imagine, the windows, it strikes our core, and we think of the pandemic was just added to their daily struggles: men and women who don’t have the option to those without roofs over their heads, those retreat safely into their homes, who struggle every with mental health disorders, those locked into day and witness unbelievable losses and sorrow. abusive relationships, those who live in countries Their pleas are always the same: Stay home! not equipped to deal with such an enormous I still hear about far too many people who crisis. Although the quarantine and the measures continue to react as if the pandemic is a personal imposed in Italy has affected all of us, our inconvenience. They take their walks. They hide future plans, our financial stability, we need to under the pretexts of walking their dogs. Despite acknowledge that most of us are fortunate. owning a garden, they hoard the supermarkets. As our everyday lives moved on the balcony, we Their actions strike a rage cord as well as one of feel a sense of solidarity that we are experiencing helplessness. Yet, if there is anything that we’ve together, yet separate. We notice our neighbors learned in the past four weeks is that some people more than before. The lady across the street don’t change. Some people refuse to listen. Some waters her plants six times a day. She tends to refuse to see. Change is not possible if it doesn’t LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH, each as if caressing a child. We made friends and come from within each individual. named a few cats that live outside our building, In times of uncertainty, our core values are birds that come to eat on the terrace downstairs. tested. We remain invaded by our raw feelings, They all live in a today which never seems to end; perspectives and choices. I believe reason and BUT LET’S DO IT ONLINE just like us. integrity can conquer madness. And when the In our house, we stopped thinking about life day comes to begin a new adventure, we can after the lockdown. We stopped counting the be proud of the choices we made, the values we Manage your contract online with MyPubliacqua days. We stopped following unofficial news. embraced, the lessons we’ve learned. Until then, Instead, we focus on each moment. Most days, stay home, be kind, stay safe. (accessible from PC, smartphone or tablet) our home is invaded by sounds—music blasted and the MyPubliacqua App (available on iOS and Android) into the speakers, the laughter of our child, shouts of excitements when we’re playing games.

78 TF266 April 2020 index Stay home, save lives LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH, BUT LET’S DO IT ONLINE

Manage your contract online with MyPubliacqua (accessible from PC, smartphone or tablet) and the MyPubliacqua App (available on iOS and Android) index Stay home, save lives April 2020 TF266 79 Strong and resilient Italian spirit The “adopted home” of so many

by Gabrielle Maria Taylor

These past weeks have been extraordinary. From frustration to sadness to positivity and hope, the spectrum of emotions just keeps flowing. There has been a great deal of time for self-reflection.

s an expat living in Florence for the last Observing “my city” over these last weeks has ten years, this city has truly become home. been hard. The walk to the supermarket near AAnd with that feeling of casa comes pride, the Ponte Vecchio, usually a bustling experience now more than ever. By living in Florence, my is now an eerie and rather sad one. Florence has life has changed for the better in every way. The been emptied of its usual vivacity. wealth of culture, the true joy of living la dolce I have tried to find a certain structure to my day, vita, the wonderful people I have met and the with morning coffee and exercise before getting inspiring environment have given me so much. down to emails and evenings filled with Skype

80 TF266 April 2020 index calls and virtual aperitivi with friends. Staying positive and making the best of this surreal situation is the only way forward. The highlight in this ordeal has been to observe the strong and resilient Italian spirit, indomitable in the face of a pandemic. This is definitely something we can all be inspired by and learn from. The first evening of the musical flash mob brought tears to my eyes. I opened my window and listened to the magical sound of Pavarotti’s ‘Con Te Partirò’ that a neighbour above me was blasting out as loud as he could for all to hear. Personally, this has been a lesson in how we should appreciate the simple pleasures in life: family, friends, love, joy, kindness and, most importantly, resilience. In my professional career as President of Palazzo Tornabuoni, a magnificent private residence club in the heart of Florence, I have been given an incredible opportunity. Through this position, I have been fortunate to experience Florence in a unique and extraordinary way. With our 107 Members from around the world, I have been fortunate to meet and work with exceptional people. Communicating with many Members over these weeks, it has been inspiring to see how much they care about Florence. It has become the “adopted home” of so many and given so much. They all, like me, have a life-lasting love for Few people in history mastered adversity this city and what it represents and cannot wait better than Winston Churchill, who famously for the moment they can return and celebrate the said, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of wonder that is Firenze. In the upcoming months, human qualities because it is the quality which I believe it is our duty to work hard at supporting guarantees all others”, and also, “A pessimist sees the city and providing assistance to those in need the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist during this unprecedented time. sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. Over these days, I have been thinking about the Today, the realist in me, more so than the joy, love and commitment our team have made optimist, knows that Italy and the whole world over the last ten years in making the Club the will rebound stronger and more dynamic than unique and wonderful environment it is. A family ever. As the city reopens, when the time is right, has been created with Members and Staff alike we will open the doors of Palazzo Tornabuoni and this family has remained strong and united in and honour the unyielding beauty of Florence the face of this silent and deadly threat. Everyone together, celebrating the people that make it the looks forward to returning to work, returning magical city it is. When the time is right, we will to a new reality, one that is kinder and more step up and help this magnificent city get back understanding than ever. on its feet. I, for one, intend to do so. index April 2020 TF266 81 82 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 83 Florence, that grande dame

by Deirdre Pirro

The word for a “city” in Italian is città, a feminine noun, and I believe there are few cities in Italy that match Florence for its elegance. Others may not agree but, to me, Florence wears its urban mantel with grace, allure and ever-enduring fortitude, such female characteristics. Each stone of its unique historical centre has a story to tell. Thousands upon thousands of people over the centuries have flocked to the city to explore its inestimable treasures and uncover its secrets. And they will continue to do so after the Covid-19 pandemic is over because it is just one of the many passing perils the city has had to face in its long lifetime. It has vanquished them all and gained strength from them and it will continue to do so as its citizens, whether they be Italians or foreigners, are resilient and love their city.

84 TF266 April 2020 index rom barbarian times in the year 403 15th centuries, occasional plagues and famine Fthrough to those when the Guelphs and ravaged the populace. Much more recently, on Ghibellines were at loggerheads in 1312 and November 4, 1966, the Arno flooded its banks again between 1520 and 1530 during the war of again, taking lives and damaging or destroying the League of Cognac, the city was under siege masterpieces of art and rare books of inestimable and survived. Last century, the occupation of value in what was said to be the worst flood in Florence by German forces lasted almost a year the city’s history. But when Florence cried out (1943–44) during which time, on September 25, for help, the world came running to its aid. That 1943, Allied bombers targeted the city centre, is because this city’s history, tradition, art and destroying many buildings and causing the culture are part of world heritage, which belongs death of numerous civilians. When the Germans not only to those living within its own walls but retreated on August 4, 1944, they divided the to all humankind. Out of all these perils, the city city by detonating explosives under the bridges rose again from the devastation and rubble, across the Arno that linked the Oltrarno district prouder than ever. to the rest of the city. Only the Ponte Vecchio was Florence will do so again after the coronavirus spared. Then again, in May 1993, a powerful car has run its course and been defeated. Its streets bomb exploded in the via dei Georgofili, killing will again be filled with locals and tourists, while and injuring innocent people as well as seriously social distancing will be a thing of the past and damaging the antique Torre dei Pulci, the Uffizi the only masks we wear will be those for carnival. Gallery and parts of its collection. Initially thought Children will be back at school and the parks to be a terrorist attack, evidence came to light and gardens will be open. The museums will be that the blast was, in fact, the work of the Mafia. bursting with visitors and the restaurants and Long before this, in 1333, the first great recorded cafes filled with diners and those drinking their flood of the Arno river hit the fledgling town, a morning cappuccinos at outdoor tables under record of which can still be seen recorded on small the Tuscan sun. Life will go back to normal. plaques on some buildings. Then, in the 14th and

index April 2020 TF266 85 Creativity unleashed

To keep you company during quarantine, we ran a literary competition as a positive outlet for your creativity. Short stories and poetry were submitted from all over the world, as far away as Mexico and as near as via della Condotta. Some of the 60 entries concentrated on happier times, whereas others, including our winners published here, sought inspiration in the age of Covid-19. Thank you for participating and, remember, our inbox is always open for your literary efforts.

Lost Verse Niccolò Machiavelli to Giuliano de’ Medici

By Kirsty Jane Falconer

“My poem, Lost Verse, is an imagined addition to the body of poetry written by Niccolò Machiavelli for Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici: the three prison/exile son- nets addressed to Giuliano by name, and the two early works, Se avessi l’arco and Capitolo pastorale, which describe a young man resembling Giuliano.”

I want to touch you—touching is forbidden. I want you close, but I must keep you distant. In silent narrow streets, soft-footed Plague creeps, scenting at each door and window, seeking what treasures she may steal. If she should smell me upon your skin, and know how much I want you, then she will tear you from me. I won’t tempt her. Since love is fatal, I will feign indifference although it hurts me; I will murder pleasure if it keeps you alive. My love, I’ll hate you before I dare put Fortune to the test; before I damn you to eternal rest.

86 TF266 April 2020 index My One and Only By Aimelie Moen

My short story was whipped up in the moments held in shuttered homes. Simply titled, “My One and Only” this story recounts the final, fatal moments of a young woman’s decision to stay in Italy.

era had been awake in bed all morning, was on lockdown and the email to the consulate Veyeing the sun as it crept in through the fil- received with an automated response she hadn’t tered window-pane as Johnny slumbered beside been interested in fighting. She could’ve called her. She dragged in her cigarette, the third since them, but that was only for emergencies, and it waking, and studied his unhurried breathing, hadn’t seemed so pertinent then. slowly ruffling the sheets. Johnny’d had this She’d picked up the slack by seeing Johnny cough, a deep, wet rumble that shook his whole more often, and they’d laughed only that Wed- body, and with the sickness spreading outside, nesday prior, the first of her “holidays,” sipping she couldn’t leave him—not like this, all alone. hugos in the Piazza San Jacopino. The barman, He hadn’t been why she’d stayed put, she deci- one-eye’d Marco, had winked at them and thre- ded, but in moments like this, when her family atened to stop paying his bills, if the Ministero called her every day and begged and begged for made him close shop. They hadn’t seen him in her to come home, he was a reason not to go. a week, but, then again, they hadn’t really gone She had every warning to leave before—weeks looking. earlier, when her mother, a good God-fearing She and Johnny had stayed out in the sun- woman who’d lost two houses and a husband shine, enjoying the quiet of those days when to hurricanes, had visited and said, “Just come Florentines retreated indoors and it seemed away with me”. Vera had argued then that she that the city had become theirs. They’d skipped just couldn’t leave her boss high and dry, there around the streets at midnight, kissed behind was still that late-March trip to Paris, and that columns to hide from carabinieri, and tossed shouldn’t she just at least wait until the end of coins in the boar’s throat in hope that the panic May when the lease went up and she’d gotten would end. They’d go home, make pasta and new documents? Her mother held her then, and make love, and revel in their luck of being stuck whispered, “Just fly away with me. I just know I together. His cough came later that week, first won’t see you for a long time after. Please, please with a sore throat and then with a burning that come.” Vera kissed her, waving goodbye as the had been only so slightly feverish. He’d blamed taxi peeled away and tears struck her chin. his colleagues for spreading the common cold, Two days later, then the students left, leaving but she couldn’t be so sure. He’d started slee- her workplace barren. The week following, the ping earlier then, and she’d stay awake, gorging ninth, and the social distancing had shuttered on the news that seemed only to be of rising restaurants on her birthday and she’d had a numbers, and her father would call, just before humble affair at the home of a friend. By the midnight, as the American media circus frenzied tenth, they were put on paid leave until further up the 6pm East Coast fear. notice. The next day, the whole city shuttered “Baby girl, you’ve been asking for a sign. What doors—and by the end of the week, the country more do you need? This is hitting you on the index April 2020 TF266 87 head, you can’t get a bigger sign than this.” He She had prayed, in the moments at midni- was like her mother, both goodly Christians, ght after her father had called, and in the early and even though she’d shared her prayers with mornings before Johnny woke, as her mother him—she really had spent months praying for urged her to return. She had asked God what a sign to leave—she hadn’t shared the greatest she should do, and a voice had answered, “Go!” sign, sleeping so sweetly beside her, for fear of She had asked again, Are you sure, God? And the harsh words condemning her for living in sin. voice had said again, urgently, “Go!” but then she Instead, she pandered to him, reminding him of would look at Johnny, coughing in bed and she his baby girl’s dream to live in Italy, and how she just couldn’t do what the others had urged her: couldn’t just toss it all in the bin right now, not to just take her documents, expired and what- six years down the line! It was same the excu- not, and just leave. She’d be out of the quaran- se she’d given herself for why she had to stay. tine and into the contagion, where no health He gave in, and reminded her to be safe. “Baby measures had been enacted. girl, you’re my one and only. I couldn’t bear it if She ignored the voice—for all she knew, it anything happened to you.” could’ve been the Devil, too. She could never tell She was doing alright, she reckoned, with four who was giving her the signs. packs of cigarettes on the dais and the vinaino Only this morning did the voice return in ear- just outside their doorstep, still open in the qua- nest. She dragged in the cigarette, and felt the rantine. The pantry was well stocked too, with tightening and burning around her throat. She mountains of pasta and canned vegetables tho- prayed, and asked God to help her find purpose se hurricane’d memories insisted she purchase. and thankfulness in the new day. They had everything they needed in the house, The sun had started streaking the sky with yel- and no need to go outside, even if they could. low, lightening the ultramarine of night into the Johnny just needed to get better. soft azzurro of springtime mornings. The gold She hadn’t told her folks about him, it was too orb struck out over the terra-cotta’d rooftops, young a romance and they’d call her foolish for sending rays into the room. The light crept up staying on to be with him, especially as he was the bed, and Vera tightened her hold on John- sick. Her mother would hiss out her disappoint- ny’s hand as her chest tightened. A deep, dry ment that she was “spreading it for all to see”. cough rumbled out from her throat, shaking her She’d already said that years ago, and quite fran- core. The voice called out and whispered into kly, Vera had no desire to encourage the judg- her ear. She listened and obeyed; she wanted to ment she felt inside. Her father would say, “Is that be a good Christian, too. Tears poured down her why you’re staying, Baby Girl, to be with some cheeks as her grip increased. She heard the call guy? What geezer would you let come betwe- to head home. Her eyes searched Johnny’s face, en you and your family?” She wanted to show and her voice timorously reached his ears. Johnny off to her family, and maybe they could Daylight burst brightly through the window accept him, but she’d wait until his cough got frame, enshrouding Johnny and Vera in their better. Her folks wouldn’t worry so much then. bed. He woke to Vera’s hand gripping his tightly, Johnny rolled over and draped his arm across with sunlight pouring down her face. He cradled her. She placed his hand in hers and watched her as the sun shined from her face, and he re- him breathe. It was less labored now, and each called his waking dream, where she’d murmured sigh warmed her spine. He would be alright, she “My one and only”. gathered. Six days on and he was healing on the seventh day—one week’s rest, and the Lord would do the work.

88 TF266 April 2020 index “I adore your publication, and I adore Florence and one day plan to live there.”

click here to SUPPORT THE FLORENTINE

www.theflorentine.net/support index April 2020 TF266 89 90 TF266 April 2020 index index April 2020 TF266 91 Students at The International School of Florence show their gratitude for all the people who are working on the front line of this international pandemic.

Thoughts from young readers

CORONAVIRUS By Téa Mijatović, age 11

The entire world is in fear that the virus will come near. I’m a kid stuck at home all day without my friends to play. School was cancelled, how long will this last? This Coronavirus is spreading so fast. It all seems so sad but we should be glad. Kids are usually safe from getting sick but we can spread it very quick. Italy has lots of people that are old we have to treat them like they are gold. My butcher is one of those special folks Please respect the rules… This is no joke. Now is the time to give a hand for the sick and elderly in this land. I have my family and animals with me all day I’m happy, safe and lucky is what I say. We will see each other in just a few weeks and can give double baci on the cheeks. I hope you stay safe and strong one day this bad virus will be gone. 92 TF266 April 2020 index GOOD, BAD AND ME By Sofia Lydia Barbieri, age 8

These are my two sides. I have always had them, they control me. Their names are Good and Bad. Let’s have a trip inside my head. Oh no! Mom is coming, I have to stay, you can go. “Honey, today we are going on a walk around Florence, start putting your shoes on”. Soon we were in the car and I got to see Good and Bad. “Who said you could come anytime you wanted?” said Bad with an evil grin. ”Good said, so didn’t you, Good?” Suddenly we heard dad call “We’re here.” I had to get down from my head. Florence was beautiful, We got to see Il Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and Uffizi, an amazing museum. We also saw Ms. Mcleavy and her cat, Which when Bad saw he went in attack mode. Later we came back home. And we all [Good and Bad included] calmed down.

FRED’S ADVENTURE IN FLORENCE by Liam Danilo Barbieri, age 12

Fred was extremely excited. He was finally going to be left home alone for half an hour, while his mother went down the road to do the groceries. The moment his mother left, he wandered into his room, thinking about what to do. As he stumbled in, the lights switched off. “What’s that about?” He asked himself puzzled, before treading over to the light switch. The second he flicked the light back on, the switch started to vibrate wildly, and a strong pinkish light shone from it, making him feel as if he was being attracted to it, like a moth. Before he could cry or, or yell, he was swallowed by the light. When Fred opened his eyes, he was lying in the middle of a racing track, he recognized it from all the automobile races he’d seen on TV. He could hear cheers and shouts from the crowd that was in the stadium, but then when they saw him on the track, silence engul- index April 2020 TF266 93 fed them. Everyone stared at him, wide eyed, wondering where he came from. Suddenly, someone shouted from the stadium to get off the track. Quickly, Fred realized what was happening, and sprinted off the rubble, and dived over the board that seperated the cameramen from the car race. Just as he jumped over the board, a car swerved past him, this one was green, with splotches of black paint all over it. After that he stayed on the sidelines, and watched the cars zoom by, he was in awe; what happened? How did he get here? After contemplating on the matter for a few minutes, he decided that the only reasonable answer was magic. He had watched many movies and knew that when someone is teleported by magic, that means that they are the heroes of a story, and have to save the world they’re brought to. What did he have to do? Where was the evil villain that he had to beat? He gazed up in the sky and sighed, where was the damsel in di- stress that needed saving? And where was the dragon that he had to kill? After they declared the winner of the race, he walked out of the stadium and asked an old man who was slumped up against the wall, where he was. The old man chuckled and mumbled something under his breath, then looked back up at Fred and said that they were in Florence, Italy. Fred remembered learning about Italy in his geography books at school, but why here? Wasn’t he supposed to be brought to another world? He asked that man what year it was, and the old geezer responded: “1966, of course!” 1966! He’d gone back in time! Now all he had to figure out was what happened in 1966 that he had to change. He decided that the only way to do so was waiting: in every movie, the hero is told by someone that he has to go save a certain object or person from destruction. Now all he had to do was wait for that someone to contact him. It happened that evening. He was walking around Florence, ad- miring the scenery, while he was crossing over Ponte Vecchio. A young man in his mid forties scrambled past him screaming, and following him were five heavily armed men with rifles on their backs. What was going on? Fred decided the best thing to do was follow the soldiers and somehow save the man. In most movies the protagonist saves someone, why shouldn’t he give it a go? He sprinted to the closest soldier and grabbed onto his neck, trying to pull him down. The soldier stayed perfectly still, while Fred swung around on his neck with his arms flailing in the air. Suddenly, all the soldiers started looking at him boggle-eyed while he kept on trying to throw punches and kicks at the closest soldier. All at once, they started laughing and pointing at Fred as if he was some hila- rious spectacle. After another few minutes he realized there was no chance of him doing any damage to these huge stocky men, and decided to give up and walk away. At that moment, Fred tried to think of every hero comic he had ever read, and realized that all

94 TF266 April 2020 index heroes start off on the wrong foot, but then that makes them get stronger. He walked over to the closest newspaper stand and read what was happening in Florence, there he saw a small snippet of a page talking about forecasts of a terrifying flood. That might be his chance to be a hero! He thought excitedly, now he had to just wait until the flood came. While he waited, he had a few more chances to save people, for example he was able to stop an old grandma from dropping her cat over a balcony, fall down the stairs, and face-plant on the ground. From all that, he learned, never ever give a cat to an old lady. The day finally came to show the world what he was capable of: the Arno river had started to flood. He looked around seeing if anyone was in trouble, but there were already crowds of people helping others up. The only thing he could do was stay on the roofs till the flood was over. He felt ecstatic, why couldn’t he do something to help? Then he saw his chance. While he looked down from the roof, he saw the old lady walking down the stairs. What was she doing now? He ran down the stairs, and out the front door, the water was up to his waist, and he swam towards the old lady’s apartment. When he rang his knuckles hard against the wooden frame of the door, he heard a loud “Meow” coming from inside. Had the woman gone insane? In Fred’s mind, leaving a pet to die is an insidious crime, therefore he decided to throw himself against the door, that was only clinging to one hinge on the wall. After knocking it in the water, he swam towards the cat that was perched on top of the lamp in the center of the room. How could that hideous woman do something so evil? When he got back up on his roof, he saw a floating corpse flowing down the flooded roads, its hair was white and it still had a little purse around its arm. Why, it was the old lady! Her skin was blue, and algae was stuck in her hair, but he could tell it was her by her bulging nose that stuck out like a sore thumb. He felt sadness swell up inside him. Why wasn’t he there to save her? Did he mess up by saving the cat instead of the old lady? That’s when he saw one of the old lady’s eyes flutter open for a brief moment. He knew what he had to do: run away. He’d heard about water zombies in comic books, and he didn’t want to stick around to see her turn into one. At that moment, he felt dizzy, and the pink light once again engulfed him. When he re-opened his eyes, he was lying down in a puddle of water in his bedroom. What had just happened? He looked around and saw his toys scattered across the room. His racing track lay upside down on his bed, and his toy bridge was stuck underneath his pillows. Next to it lay his five soldier figurines, the water zom- bie card. Then when he turned his head, he saw his cat sauntering across the room. index April 2020 TF266 95 FLORENCE BENEATH MY FEET by Allegra DiFlorio, age 11

“Bang!” We all take off. I dash out, in front of the others, neck and neck with my primary competitor. The race has just begun. I run past the red Assi jackets of my coach and teammates as they cheer me on. Suddenly my feet lift off the ground. A smile creeps up on my face as my race ritual begins. “The Florentine’s coverage I start to fly. The wind takes me down the hill towards the Boboli Gardens. I take a deep breath as vital oxygen from all of the plants has been excellent and fills my lungs and I gain speed. I start to zip around the different gardens, when I hear a faint ringing, like a loud whisper in my ear. I am immediately drawn towards the sound and it calms my nerves. very encouraging these Bong! Bong! It gets louder and louder the closer I get. I soar towards the sound. past weeks. I match my pace and my breath to the swinging bells of the Cam- panile di Giotto. The rhythm helps me pace myself so I don’t exert too much energy. In, out, in, out. Keep up the great work!” I fly over to the Duomo and I think about how determined all of the builders and Brunelleschi must have been. I recognize that in myself. I think about how much I have worked for this. And so, I push on. I am suddenly aware of my feet pounding on the ground and my labored breathing. I glance over and see another kid (the same one from the beginning) running next to me, head to head as the finish line comes into view. My lungs are burning, I have a sharp stitch in my side, and my legs have been pushed so far, they feel numb. I think about determi- nation, the rhythm, the oxygen pumping in and out of my lungs... but, I don’t think I can make it. Before me, I see the David. He beat Goliath. I realize that if I want to click here to conquer my own beast, I need to have grit and focus too. I put all of my attention on the finish line. I am focused. The outside world SUPPORT THE FLORENTINE disappears. A spike of adrenaline courses through me. I pull ahead across the finish line. www.theflorentine.net/support

96 TF266 April 2020 index “The Florentine’s coverage has been excellent and very encouraging these past weeks. Keep up the great work!”

click here to SUPPORT THE FLORENTINE

www.theflorentine.net/support index April 2020 TF266 97 98 TF266 April 2020 index My sweet quarantine

by Vincenzo D’Angelo

#iorestoacasa is the signature hashtag for this quarantine. Italians are using it on social media to share videos, photos and thoughts from their houses. I’m experiencing this surreal time alone in my apartment and I’m keeping myself busy: teleworking, chores, lots of TV shows and books, improvised living room concerts and frequent updates on my social media. Here’s my “top of the posts”.

#iorestoacasa day 5 Me: So, since I got a subscription on every single streaming service available online, let me find something new to binge-watch. I also got wine, yay for me! Streaming service: A TV show you should like “The American TV show ‘Containment’ follows an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving a section of the city cordoned off under quarantine and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives.” Me again: Ok, time to clean the windows. Where’s my Traminer? #iorestoacasa day 12 A Skype call that was supposed to be a meeting that could have been an email. I love smart-working. #iorestoacasa day 14 This quarantine alone at home is going great! My flatmate Wilson and I are doing lots of fun things... Oh wait. #iorestoacasa day 15 This is an emergency, 911, go call the police, go call the governor: I ran out of wine. #iorestoacasa day 18 Me: They say “Marzo è pazzo!” (March is mad) and this year it’s been downright crazy, but it’s April, Spring has sprung and everything’s going to be alright #thinkpositive April: “We are visitors. We always come in peace.” #iorestoacasa day 23 Just how interested am I in your IG live? Zero.

index April 2020 TF266 99 Making pasta in lockdown

by Emiko Davies

Cooking has been keeping my family grounded. It has been my remedy for any problem for a s long and simple pantry ingredients for a most sati- as I can remember, from sfying, comforting carbohydrates-on-carbohydrates meal. avoiding a deadline to The beauty of this dish lies in the making of the driving away heartache, pici. The therapeutic nature of making dough and right now it is keeping with your hands, of kneading and rolling is an activity itself that is calming and stress-relieving. the entire family not only There should be no rush to make this meal: it nourished but relaxed, and won’t take that long, but why not take your time? In any case, pici should always be handmade; the- even entertained. re is nothing like the charmingly imperfect quality of proper pici, painstakingly rolled one by one, by patient hands. It results in an almost primitive pasta with bite that can support robust sauces e structure the day around the question, like wild boar ragu, or all’aglione, a rich tomato W“What are we going to cook today?” The sauce, heavy on the garlic. But to be honest, I love sourdough starter has been revived and pa- the breadcrumbs the most. All you need is some sta or baking has become a daily activity that old bread pulverised into breadcrumbs (the rustic my children (seven and two) adore. I personally nature of homemade breadcrumbs has a better have been turning more than ever to Tuscany’s texture for this dish than ready-made breadcrum- comforting, frugal cuisine for inspiration—it just bs, but use what you have), a clove of garlic, good feels right. Not because we can’t get ingredients olive oil. Anchovies (and if you like, chili) are refi- or are rationing, but maybe just because it feels nements in this frugal dish. right to be using what we have on hand, skipping I can’t help but think, too, that this dish actual- that trip to the supermarket in favour of staying ly resembles Tuscany itself—can you see it? The home. golden fields dried by the sun, crumbling stone Pici are a good example, especially dressed in farmhouses and the undulating hills of clay dot- breadcrumbs. It’s a humble and ancient dish, ted with pointed cypress trees, mimicked in the which requires hand-rolling flour and water into olive oil-seeped breadcrumbs, the rippling nood- long, fat noodles that even children can make, les and flecks of parsley. It’s Tuscany in a dish.

100 TF266 April 2020 index PICI CON LE BRICIOLE (Pici with breadcrumbs) Serves 4 RECIPE For the pici: 1½ cups / 200 grams of plain flour 1½ cups / 200 grams of semola To make the pici, mix the two flours together on a clean surface, forming a pyramid. Cre- 1 cup / 200 ml water ate a well in the centre of the pyramid and 1 tablespoon olive oil pour in the water bit by bit while incorpo- For the sauce: rating the flour by carefully swirling the li- ¼ cup / 60 ml extra virgin olive oil quid with your hands. Continue combining the flour and water this way until you have 2 cloves of garlic, chopped a smooth dough. If you find your dough co- 4 salted anchovy fillets mes together before you finish incorpora- ¼ cup / 30 grams of breadcrumbs ting all the flour, stop there; if it is too sticky, handful of parsley, finely chopped dust on some extra flour. You want a ball of grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, optional dough that springs back when you poke it and no longer sticks to your hands when you roll it. Set the dough aside to rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes. Separate the dough into two pieces to begin with and on a well-floured surface roll out the first piece until it is about 2-3mm (1/10 inch) thick. Cut long strips and then with the palms of your hands or between your thumb and fingers, roll each flat strip from the center outwards, until you have thick noodle. Dust with semolina and roll around your hand then set aside. Continue until you have finished all the dough. Heat a pot of water to boil the pasta and season with 1 teaspoon of salt for each litre (4 cups) of water. In a wide skillet, over low heat gently cook the chopped garlic in half of the olive oil until it is fragrant and about to turn golden. Add the anchovies (and chilli if you like) and stir until the anchovies melt. Take care not to burn or brown the garlic. Set aside and cook the pasta in boiling water, until al den- te, about 3-4 minutes. Drain, saving some of the cooking water. Add the drained pici with a ladleful of the cooking water to the anchovy and garlic mixture in the skillet and over a medium heat toss the pasta for one minute adding the rest of the olive oil, the parsley and the breadcrumbs, until the pasta is well-coated. Serve immediately—fresh pasta waits for no one, especially pici! index April 2020 TF266 101 This pandemic, like every pandemic, will abate

Radiant, lethal Italian spring

by John Hooper

When I was a teenager, my parents lived in Rye, a beautiful little port on the south coast of England. It was the ideal place for them. My father was an artist and Rye was full of painters, poets, potters and writers of all kinds.

mong the latter was a man who became Among the many aspects of his life that Afor me a kind of mentor. His name was Eric fascinated me was that in 1920s he had edited Whelpton. My father, who had known him in a weekly newspaper in Florence. The Italian Mail London, judged him “a bit of a bore”. But for me, was, in a sense, a forerunner of The Florentine. But Eric was fascinating. Every so often, I would go while produced in Florence, which in those days to the house on a cobbled street that he shared had the biggest English-speaking readership in with his wife and sit in the garden with a glass Italy, the paper was distributed nationwide. of Pimm’s while he recounted stories from his Editing The Italian Mail brought Whelpton extraordinary life. into contact with the expatriate intellectuals, Eric was half-French. He spent his childhood in connoisseurs and socialites who lived in, and Paris at the height of the Belle Époque before going passed through, the Florence of those days. He to boarding school and university in England. He knew Alice Keppel, who had been the mistress was perfectly bilingual. “Well, really, quadrilingual,” of Edward VII; Arthur and Harold Acton; Aldous he once corrected me in his characteristic drawl. Huxley, Norman Douglas and Ezra Pound. “And with a smattering of Turkish.” Eventually, since Eric’s politics were not those Eric survived the First World War, rose to the rank of captain and commanded nine hundred men. of Pound, the impossibility of producing honest In the Second World War, he had been a spy—an journalism in what had become a Fascist agent of the SIS (“MI6”) in French-speaking North dictatorship convinced him in 1926 to leave Africa. After the war, and like another adventurous Florence for Paris. But, as he recalled in The Making Eric—Eric Newby—he been the travel editor of a of a European, his memoir of his early days, he Sunday newspaper and written books on France, took away with him rich and fragrant memories. Spain, Greece, Italy and the Balkans. “The only “When the weather was favourable I often used part of the Mediterranean coast along which I to invite a girlfriend to take a tram to one or other haven’t travelled is a short stretch in Libya” was of the villages on the heights that surrounded another of his offhand gems. Florence,” he wrote. “On reaching our destination

102 TF266 April 2020 index we would dine very slowly on a terrace overlooking the valley of the Arno with the lights gleaming like a river of diamonds below us. Then Not by design, but purest chance we would walk back through olive (or is it really?), I too have ended up groves where the fire-flies flickered in in Florence, and as a journalist, after the darkness and cicadas chirruped a life quite as adventurous in its own incessantly. By the time we reached way as Eric’s. And since arriving in Florence the streets were empty the city, I have often wondered what save for the clatter of a belated horse it was like to experience a Florence cab, and an occasional pedestrian so silent. It has taken a microscopic walking in the deep shadow of the virus and a modern plague to show narrow streets.” me. Yesterday, I walked by the Arno, marvelling at the clarity of the water, and then crossed Ponte Vecchio. It was early afternoon and I was the only person on the bridge.

index April 2020 TF266 103 Even in the 1920s, of course, at that time of day, Ponte Vecchio and the whole of the rest of the centre would have been throbbing with noisy life. You would need to go back to perhaps the eighth century, or even earlier, to experience a daytime Florence as quiet and still as that which some of us have experienced in this radiant, lethal Italian spring. But it will soon all be very different. This pandemic, like every pandemic, will abate. The students will return; the tourists too (though, if the tide really does turn against globalisation, as some are predicting, maybe not in quite such asphyxiating numbers as before). And there will always be people who will feel that they have not done justice to their lives unless they have visited the Uffizi, the Accademia and the Pitti Palace. They will want too to see the dramatic façade of the Duomo. And those more engaged with the history of art will want to go inside to study, among other things, the frescoed equestrian portrait of Niccolò da Tolentino that Andrea del Castagno painted in 1456. They will marvel at how the artist tricks the eye of the viewer and wonder perhaps what this great painter, then in his mid-thirties, might not have achieved had he lived to the age of a Leonardo or a Michelangelo. For the following year, plague swept Florence and among its victims was Andrea del Castagno. As any good Florentine will tell you, there is nothing new under the sun.

104 TF266 April 2020 index PHOTO CREDITS

Francesco Spighi pgg 4-5, 18-19, 20, 22, 23, 26-27, 29, 30, 38, 40-41, 42-43, 44, 46, 47,49, 50, 52, 53, 56, 60, 62, 64, 68, 72, 76, 78, 80, 81, 84, 85, 104

Mattia Marasco pgg 24-25, 32, 33, 34, 54, 55, 58, 59, 71, 73, 74, 82, 103

Leo Cardini pgg 90, 98

Emiko Davies pgg 100, 101

index April 2020 TF266 105 Share with a friend http://theflr.net/specialissue