I remember a time in Italy when the quality of anything you might want to purchase was measured by the number of zeros included in the price. I remember pockets full of sweets because coins of less than 100 lira were in short supply.
I remember all this applied when I last visited Florence some 20 years ago.
Times change. Life move on. Warm, fuzzy memories tend to get replaced by harsh, modern realities. Nothing remains as it used to be. The Uffizi. The Duomo.

The River dividing old from new. These of course would stay the same but what about the character of this ancient city? Would I still eat warm, soft pizza in the street or haggle in the markets for goods I didn’t need but had to have?We arrived in Florence at night. There weren’t any taxis at the airport and in any case, two decades had robbed me of the knowledge of where the airport was in relation to the city. Then suddenly the taxis appeared. A snaking line of headlights reminiscent of a Coca Cola advert reassured all fellow passengers that the end of the journey was in sight.
I gave the driver the address. ‘Very good’ he commented in English almost without an accent. ‘About 20 minutes’.
Unfleeced, we arrived at the Hotel. Come on, admit it, we all know what taxi drivers can do. They do it in tourist resorts all over the world.
That sums it up, really. Florence isn’t a ‘tourist resort’. Of course there are tourists there; lots of them, but this is essentially a living, breathing city where people go about their business proud but unfazed by the cultural heritage around them.
A new day dawned. A whole day to re-acquaint myself with the Tuscan capital before my business took over. I was accompanied by my wife and my twenty-something daughter, neither of who had been here before.
We breakfasted. We walked. We crossed the Ponte Vecchio and we looked at the shops.
That’s not entirely accurate. We looked in the shops. Dozens of them. I’m sure they were there when I visited last time but I must have failed to notice them. How fortunate to be accompanied by two women who were determined to cure me of my previous lack of attention!
Designer names. Artisan jewellers and clothes designers who might well become designer names. Food shops, hairdressers, kitchen suppliers displaying products with the Italian flair for aesthetics we can only dream of on my northern shores. We sauntered along the river. There were animals under the bridges circumnavigating the piers. Large, furry beasts that looked like beavers; perhaps coypus. I hadn’t seen them before.
We lunched. Yes!, delicious, soft-based pizza you could eat in the street while being spoilt for choice for the fillings!
Walking around Florence is easy. With wife and daughter it gets easier as the day goes on since your pockets become so much lighter. We turned a corner. A market! This one sold leather goods. Handbags, belts, suitcases and much more. It went on and on down side streets and alleys, between fine buildings and historic churches beckoning its visitors to examine the goods and grab a bargain!
No! We’ve bought enough already!
I speak a little Italian. A very little. Just enough to make me feel good about myself when I’m in the country and to convince my victims I need flattery.
How flattered I was! Two handbags and several belts later we made out way back across the river for a superb dinner in the Hotel.
I prefer ‘Firenze’ to Florence. The word itself has a vibrancy that sums up the animation of this tireless city. Everything is a pleasure – exploring the streets, catching glimpses of a bygone age of splendour, seeing old meet new and taking in as much or as little of the modern commercialism as you choose. I could go on with much more – the exhibitions of modern art, the street painters; even the itinerant street vendors whose products thrill and whose presence enhances the atmosphere of this timeless city.
The Uffizi? The Duomo? They’ll have to wait. So will Pisa, Siena and the other nearby Tuscan towns that can be easily reached from the city and explored at will.
I’m a left-brained person – scientist by trade! I need to know all the details about the culture this region of Italy has to offer.
I’m also a father, husband and human being. Just seeing the delight on the faces of the ones I love was enough for me!
For culture I’ll come back on my own!

by Philip Lewis