Recently I returned to Florence, as many of us will for our 50th Reunion. At first glance, everything looked the same. The Duomo still dominates the skyline. The Arno still winds through the city. I still managed to trip over the cobblestones. But after a day or two I realized something felt different. There seemed to be many more people in the streets, and I heard more English than Italian. I could not find a fruit and vegetable stand in the center of town. It cost €20 to go into a church and slick trams rolled down the streets. Fifty years had passed, I know, but it wasn’t that long ago. I mean, I still have vivid memories of 1976.
When I was 21 and first arrived in Florence, fifty years earlier seemed like another age. Mussolini and the Fascists controlled Italy. In 1976 the Christian Democrats ruled in Rome and Florence had a Communist Mayor. In 1926 political oppression terrorized the citizens. In 1976 the Red Brigade, the Anni di Piombo (Years of Lead), and Il Mostro di Firenze, (The Monster of Florence, a serial killer responsible for the brutal deaths of seven pairs of young lovers in the countryside of Tuscany), terrorized the local population. About 250,000 people lived in the Florence of the 1920s, by 1976 the population nearly doubled to about 460,000. The Italy of 1926 felt like ancient history. The Italy of 1976 is a fond, vivid memory.
During the year we were in the International Program frequent political protests filled the streets. Workers demanded change, usually with a sciopero that stopped the bus we were riding, making us late for class. Cultural change was in the air. Divorce was just legalized a few years before and I have distinct memories of young Italian college women telling me how free they felt at the University because they could go out on their own without their brothers or fathers escorting them. It seemed to be worlds away from the city of the 1920s. Florence had always been an historic, culturally important city, with an important University. In 1926 it was the Fascist Regime’s administrative center of Tuscany and home to public administrators, government workers, artisans, craft workers and shop owners. By the 1970s light industry was common; education was an increasingly important segment of the economy, both with the University and the growing number of foreign students. Artisans and the crafts were still an important part of city life. Middle- and working-class people lived in the city, often in buildings their families had occupied for generations. Everything you needed from a butcher, a bakery, a green grocer, a market, a bookstore, clothes or a bank was within two blocks. Not to mention the many local bars, trattorias, osterias, pizzerias, paninoteca, and gelateria serving good, inexpensive food and wine.
As students we didn’t go to Italy to eat and drink, (well, some of us didn’t) but to learn. And Florence is the closest you can come to an open-air museum. You could stroll into a church designed by Brunelleschi or eat a gelato while gazing into Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise. With our student IDs we got discounts to the museums and the Uffizi was free on Sunday mornings when entire families would dress in their Sunday best, visit the museum then stroll the streets and piazzas of Florence. We met other students, both Italian and international, and talked about art, architecture, politics, and sometimes about girls, and boys. Almost every Italian we met was fiercely proud of Florence and seemed genuinely amazed that we had traveled halfway around the world to study there.
During the winter, when the tourists were gone, it seemed as if Firenze was ours. By the end of September the tourist buses were a memory and they didn’t return till June. The city had always been a tourist destination. Artists flocked to Renaissance Florence to study with the masters. In the 18th century, during the Grand Tour’s Golden Age, young noblemen from around Europe stopped in Florence for a month, or a year, to complete their education. By the 1920s tourism was still an activity for the rich, but also for the growing middle class. Then tourists stayed in grand hotels or boarding houses and often stayed for weeks in order to take in all of the sights. By 1976 tourists still had nice hotels, but students could often find a cheap room in a Pensione or Youth Hostel. Tourists stayed a few days, or a few months. Tourism was important, but it had a season.
In the fifty years since then, the population dropped from 460,000 to about 360,000. Then why does it seem so crowded? In a word, tourism. The tourist season is almost year round. The population is lower because all the homes occupied by working class people could make more money as Airbnbs. The people who actually live in Florence are students and educators, hospitality and food service workers, and tourist guides. And many of these people can’t afford to live in the city and commute from the suburbs. When tourists do come, they may stay for a day or two, or a few hours. Cruise passengers arrive daily from the ports of Livorno and La Spezia, spending only a few hours in Florence before returning to their ships. A fleet of buses drive in from Venice, drop off a load of tourists, then the next day drive them to Rome.
Florence was once a city that produced things: art, crafts, manufacturing. Now it produces experiences. Many Florentines love the prosperity tourism has brought, yet worry that the historic center is becoming a place to visit rather than a place to live. The same streets that support thousands of jobs have also driven housing costs beyond the reach of many young families.
And this is where the experience of the city has changed from our student days and may feel a little off. The center of town now caters to tourists all year long. Churches that used to be free now charge an entrance fee. Museums you could visit on a whim now have ticketed entrance times. In 1976 trattorias served Fagioli all'uccelletto con salsicce and a glass of Chianti poured out of a fiasco impagliato. Now your restaurant will serve fresh pappardelle with black truffle alongside creamy burrata with heirloom tomatoes, accompanied by a carefully decanted bottle of Brunello di Montalcino. You can still get a shot of espresso at a bar, but most of the clientele may be sipping on an Aperol Spritz. Your favorite little wine shop may now be an Irish Pub or a high-end enoteca. Gucci is still in town but if you need a low-priced pair of underwear you’ll have to settle for Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana, or Hermès. One thing that hasn’t changed is Vespas still line the streets, but they seem bigger than they did before.
The point of this essay is not to rag on the Florence of today. My goal is not to be that old man who says, “Back in my day…” (well, maybe just a little). I still get excited whenever I visit Florence. The sights, sounds and smells bring back wonderful memories. The food is a bit more expensive but still among my favorite dishes of all time and still amazing. It is still one of the most beautiful and exciting places I know. But if you have not been here in a while, and you expect things to be the same, you will be disappointed. That is why I started to think about what Florence was like fifty years before we studied there. The changes were tremendous. There have been many good changes and some bad changes. The Florence we loved is no longer there. Just like the Florence of 1926 no longer existed when we visited in 1976. Each generation inherits a different Florence. We will never relive that experience, but we can remember it and honor it and celebrate the people and places we once knew while embracing the people and places that are with us today.