So after a week, what do I think about Florence? It is busy, both with tourists and with the daily business of life. Of course much of the daily business would not be there but for tourism. I suppose that a city like Florence, which owes much to the tourist trade, is to a large extent living on, and in, it's past. Walking around the city and viewing all of the grand buildings which were built during its hay day one can only wonder at whether the same constructive spirit exists today. Of course many of the buildings were constructed under the politics of power which moved from one family to another. Also the power rivalries between cities like Florence and Siena, Florence and Pisa, etc contributed to architectural styles and a 'ours is bigger' mentality no doubt had a large influence. These days it is the power of profit which drives most major construction projects, while many major government infrastructure projects take a long time to get off the ground due to political weakness. Maybe the message from the past is - if you want something done then entrust it to one person then get out of the way and let them get on with it.
What I will remember about Florence will be:
The friendliness of the people.
Dodging cars, scooters, motorcylcles, busses, delivery vans, and bicycles. Bicycles have to be watched for in both directions, on and off the footpath too. It seems anything goes for bikes.
Despite the chaos in the city things are generally fairly calm. It is rare to hear the toot of a horn and motorists are pretty patient with pedestrians. If I had to choose the worst behaved road users it would be motorcycles/scooters first, and then bicycles. Cyclists rarely use a bell, even when the bike has one, and can sometimes not be heard coming the wrong way down a one way street so you will be watching traffic from one direction only to be almost bowled over from behind. There are also electric bikes, scooters, and cars which cannot be heard above the general ambient noise and these will increase
Dodging dog shit on the pavements. There doesn't seem to be any laws requiring owners to clean up after their mutts.
Italian kids are as dozy as kids anywhere when it comes to getting underfoot.
Tourists are like tourists anywhere - completely wrapped up in themselves and not giving a toss about anyone else. Meanderons abound, particularly idiot tourists walking along taking videos with an iPad and thus not watching where they are going.
A maze of narrow streets reminiscent of Kathmandu, Shanghai, and I guess any other city which grew large without any attempt at town planning. A lot of the more 'modern' buildings (< 300 years old) owe their styling to influences from places like Paris.
At one stage there was obviously a fashion for big doors about 2.5 to 3 times the height of what is actually needed to admit a person. On reflection that might have been to admit a person on their horse, along with helmet complete with rooster.
