True tales about Italy: summer notes of a real Florentine

July 18

Florence as it is

I live in the historic center of Florence: 10 minutes to the Doumo Cathedral, which is being restored, 10 more to the Old Bridge, where there are gold shops, the same as to the Santa Maria Novella train station. There are very narrow streets, about three meters wide, and three-storey houses high with our five-storey buildings. Everywhere, despite the mass of tourists, is surprisingly clean.

I must say that Tuscany, the area of Italy in which we live, is famous for leather products and wine, so there are a lot of shops selling bags, shoes made of natural leather, Italian wine. And Italy itself is the birthplace of cheese, so there is a lot of it in local supermarkets: different types, for every taste. It is, of course, much cheaper than in Russia.

As in any big city visited by tourists, there are many interesting people entertaining people. For example, live statues, street singers (from some we even heard). The song “Love has wings like a bird” in Russian, artists painting pastels on asphalt, men weaving fenecks for sale.

With us lives a student from Colombia Maria and two Brazilians: Jose and Bruno. We all study in different language schools.

Our house is quite old. There are high ceilings, high windows with shutters, large rooms, a common kitchen and a bathroom.

If you decide...

If you decide to go to Florence "savages", you need to know that it is better to fly first to Rome - it is cheaper by 5-7 thousand (if you buy tickets there and back). From Fiumicio airport (in Rome) you can take the train to Termini station (it costs 14 euros), and from Termini to Florence to go by economy class train - it will cost another 17 euros. Upon arrival, you can take a taxi or get to the right place by bus, in addition, trams run around the city, which both inside and outside look much more decent than Russian colleagues. But if your place of residence is in the center, then it is easier to reach on foot, because in Florence everything is nearby.

July 20

Studying

We study from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon. First, two hours of grammar, then conversation. All teachers speak Italian but know at least three languages. In my group there are three Americans from Santa Barbara, two people from Germany, one woman from Congo, and a young man from their Ufa. By the way, there are a lot of Russians in the school, mainly from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our company made friends with a man from Poland, he speaks Russian well.

When our teacher asked why you decided to learn Italian, everyone answered differently: for example, because the bride’s grandmother is Italian, because she likes the country and language, but the main reason was an interesting pastime. For Europeans, it is normal to go on vacation or on vacation to study in another country and at the same time learn a language, learn history, see sights, practice communication in a foreign language.

Locals

The Italians are an exceptional people. They talk very loudly and actively gesticulate, often sing or whistling something under their nose – this is not considered a bad omen. Men see off every girl they like, while again they can whistle. Women are not as active as they are. Oddly enough, mostly men work in shops and markets, and where women hang out I am not quite clear. So far I have seen only bartenders, waitresses and female cleaners.

General impressions

Italy is famous not only for pizza, pasta and various sauces, but also ice cream. It's delicious here. On one of the excursions conducted by the teachers of the school, we were shown the best places where you can buy good ice cream and explained: The main thing is not to buy ice cream in the center, there it is very expensive (up to 15 euros) and consists of: air and a lot of syrup.

In the local Catholic churches and cathedrals there are a lot of frescoes of the early Middle Ages, their beauty cannot be expressed in words - it is just necessary to see.

We need to talk about roads separately. They are almost never renovated — they have remained unchanged since they were built. "" In historical centers, roads are usually paved with stone, in more modern ones, asphalt lies.

Transportation

As I said, it is best to walk in the center, there are usually marks separating the pedestrian area. Bicycles, scooters and small motorcycles are very popular among the local population, special parking lots are organized for them. There are very few cars, as well as public transport: some streets are too narrow, even two cars can not separate.

There are some special rules of the road, because everyone walks directly on the roads (it is very difficult to fit even together on the sidewalk, and in some places it is simply impossible), giving way to transport, there are practically no traffic lights (or they do not work), there are few road signs. Now there are popular ring roads at the crossroads and instead of traffic lights. Carabinieri (policemen) is almost not visible, well, in any case, they do not go, as in Russia, cheerful triples, looking for offenders.

July 24

I'm always amazed. There are a lot of tourists, about half of them with children. Strangely, they carry children up to eight years in wheelchairs, some even give nipples. You see such a miracle and wonder whether we too early “throw” children from their shoulders to their feet, or Europeans too long to babysit them. Although, perhaps, all this is due to the fact that it is customary to get married here at the age of 30, when you already have an education, a good job, the opportunity to move up the career ladder. No one (except the Russians) looks with wild eyes at a daddy of age 45-55 with a daughter of age 7. In adulthood, children are a pleasure for parents, not a burden.

Another interesting fact is that Europeans like to sit on the ground. Here the principle operates: where you sit, there is your place, there you are comfortable. Cleaners work quickly and quickly, and people have no habit of spitting on their feet.

Another thing is the disabled. When I was on a plane from Helsinki, a family with two children was sitting near me, a girl with Down syndrome was playing fun, babbling. In Italy, she's an ordinary child. In Europe, people with this diagnosis are not considered sick. They study well, work well, even hold positions in large organizations. It is also normal to meet a young man or girl in a wheelchair. They are well dressed, they feel free, they are beautiful. Friends take them on dates or walk with them on the streets. No one looks at such people, they are not humiliated by pity. Here, disabled people are ordinary people who have the opportunity to live a full life.

Poor

In Italy, too, there is a contingent of “begging”. As a rule, they “work” in places of mass gathering of tourists. But the poor here are different again. I was just taken aback when I saw an uncle of 50 years old, weighing more than 100 kilograms, talking on a cell phone (!) with a glass of change in his hands. He also managed to molest passers-by, they say, give food. Women here beg either “pregnant” or with infants – and these are definitely not dolls in diapers.

There are no less stray actors here. They are probably difficult to attribute to beggars, because they please tourists. Someone plays a guitar, a violin or exclusive instruments, someone changes into a living statue and moves when money is thrown into his hat, someone in extravagant outfits just walks through the central streets and takes pictures with the people.

Culture

They keep history here. Even if you look at the city from the highest point, you will not see a single shopping center even ten floors. I don’t want to say that there are no shops in the center, on the contrary, there is a sea of them, only they are located one to one on the first floors of buildings. A taboo on breaking the architectural balance! The city centre looks like it was centuries ago. As far as I can see, the authorities are investing a lot of money in restoration, now many historical monuments are covered with forests, the same applies to houses. Florence is a 15th century city. There is gas and water everywhere, but there is not a single street distorted by an excavator - stone tiles lie as it was under the Medici.

italiah

A little more about the local men. Undoubtedly, they are mostly charming. Their crown hairstyle is a bang, put with a gel "hedgehog" and pulled back, like Pinocchio or glamorous men from Hollywood films. This is how they look up to forty years old, then they turn into no less charming men, propping up the wall with one foot, although young people love this pose.

Their love for women seems to be a national quality. Do not miss any beautiful legs, be sure to look, whistle, well, or say hello. They do not hesitate to meet on the street, this can generally be called the norm, at least in relation to foreign women.

July 27

Food

Today, instead of talking to the teacher, they went to the local grocery market. It is quite large, you can buy everything there, although of course the main thing here is pasta, meat, wine and cheese. Pasta is different here: from small whites to huge colored ones. By the way, colored here do even in the form of local attractions: the Duomo or the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Seeing so much cheese, my eyes just run away. Everything can be tried in many places. On the showcase put varieties of 15-17 cheese and about 10 sausages, hand out swords – say, treat yourself to choose. The sausage here is real, like a homemade one, like my grandmother in the village. She's very fat. The glue is the dried meat. Above the shelves hang huge pig legs, salted, peppered and dried by special technology, they are cut and also given to try. It is very tasty, and in Russia is also insanely expensive - you will not see this in our stores.

I loved the limoncello tasting here. It is like a national drink of lemon degrees to thirty, its homeland is southern Italy, Sicily. There are many different variations of limoncello with different additives – I tried the cream. A half-liter of this pleasure costs 9 euros.

Cheese here is just a gluttony, you can eat it every day, constantly changing special sauces. There's also a lot of seafood, like chilled octopuses, jellyfish, and some other assholes.

If we continue to talk about the markets, then it is better not to buy anything on local clothes: traders, as in Russia, profit from tourists, selling low-quality, fake goods as good branded ones. Italians prefer to dress in boutiques, the benefit of their wealth allows them. In general, the subsistence minimum of Europeans is several times higher than the Russian one. And with so many good shops, periodically conducting sales, you can live and dress well.

4 August

sea

Having collected swimsuits and tanning milk, let’s go. Our companions are two charming Italians: Flippo and Gianluca. An hour and a half from the windows of the car we looked around – towns, nice gas stations with diners and minimarkets, palm trees and short pine trees.

We stayed at a four-star hotel in the coastal town of Bobbona. The rooms have a toilet, shower, mini-bar and, plus everything, a loggia overlooking a huge pool. It's a 15-minute walk to the shore.

The town is very nice: a lot of campsites, people returning from the sea, in what they bathed, at the same time with inflatable mattresses, umbrellas, towels, picnic baskets. Almost everyone here rides bicycles.

The sea. Along the coast there is a beach, with small restaurants, shops and snack shops. There it is, infinite water! On the shallow sand we ran barefoot and fell into the sea, the waves threw us ashore, and we laughed. Is that what happiness looks like?

Two days went by like one.

The sea...

August 7

Friends from Russia write that the weather is not particularly pleasant for them, and I do not know how to return to the cold. Summer is in full swing here. Everyone, as before, leaves the city for the weekend. The average daytime temperature is +30 degrees. I still want to wear thin dresses and sundresses, but I think I’ll be done with it in a week.

They say that you get used to the good quickly. It's warm here even when it rains. How pleasant it is when everything is the opposite: 9 months a year is not winter, but summer, and the lowest temperature is not lower than 10 degrees.

Well, what to do...

Let me tell you a little more about the locals who never cease to amaze. We went to a disco this weekend. As expected, makeup, put on dresses, heels and go. Very quickly it became clear that we do not look so – too much attention. It turned out that it was all in shoes, or rather in heels. Looking at the other girls, we concluded that this is not what they wear. Italian friends told us that it is not very common to stand out here: a skirt similar in length to a belt is still normal, but heels are not very good, although young people consider it insanely sexy and immediately drool.

In general, Italians for some reason like Russians especially, they say that local women, compared to Russians, are stupid. However, I think that if a Russian man meets an Italian woman, he will say the same thing about Russian women: this is more than a game of pride.

Another fact: the Russians, like the Chinese, are calculated by one or two. As our friends (Russian fair-haired, white-skinned, blue-eyed) said again, some of us are special, but I did not understand what exactly.

14 August

Here I am, sick and tired, sitting at the airport of the foggy city of Helsinki. The plane on which I flew from Rome landed an hour ago, the next one will be to Yekaterinburg in six hours. I don't know if I want to go home. It's annoying to think that everyone you meet will ask, "Well, how?" And I'm not saying, "Great," and there's nothing to say. I don’t want to tell you anything, I want to keep everything as a treasure in a secluded corner.

Ekaterina Isakova