Florence as a City

Florence is a beautiful city. Its rich history makes every step down the street a leaning experience. However, the paradox is that its history nearly destroys all that is wonderful about the city.

I have visited Florence three times before coming here to live for a semester, and in those three visits I did not see a single flaw in all of Florence. Now, living here, its flaws are utterly apparent. It is a city that is just too good, too famous, too international for a city of its size.

Every year, the city is overrun by loads of tourists flocking to view Florence's amazing history first-hand. During the schoolyear, you are more likely to hear English spoken on the streets among the thousands of American students that "immerse" themselves into the Florentine culture. How can such a small city adjust to such an incredible inflow of mass tourism?

A city like New York has plenty of mass tourism, but its size more than compensates for that fact. Florence, however, becomes dominated by a complete other culture for half of the year. Restaurants claiming to be authentic churn out plate after plate of what outsiders think to be typical Italian cuisine, but is in fact nothing more than pre-packaged pasta. Museums flaunt their one masterpiece and overcharge for entry after hours of waiting.

But what makes everything worth it is that one place you find that seems untouched by the tourist industry. The restaurant that could churn out terrible food and no one would notice, but still provides tasty, only-in-Italy dishes. The neighborhood where you can walk into a store and not be greeted in English. The street where there is not a single camera in sight, but is the most photogenic Italian street ever. In my Florence, these places will remain untouched, if from nothing else but sheer stubbornness.