Terra di Toscana www.terraditoscana.com

Waiting for Florence

There is a place in Florence that I call my special place. It is safe to call it my special place for I doubt if anyone else has ever laid claim to the place as significant. It is not connected with any site religious or artistic and I'm sure a hundred people pass it daily without giving it a second thought. But should they be there in late March on a sunny or cloudy afternoon or morning or evening and see some fellow leaning on a bridge wall along the Lungarno staring quietly across the river at nothing in particular they will see me at my special place. It was here that we stood for the first time and became aware that we were in Florence and that we had no responsibility beyond our own self interest and everything was perfect. We were young then and Florence was new and strange and exotic and old and famous and everything a great city should be. And although Florence has changed in our eyes because it has grown older along with us there is still a place that reminds me of when we could simply stop and stare and feel every place was there for us and every place could be special. So each new time in Florence I return to that same spot and lean my elbows on the wall and stare across the river and see my past self staring at the same scene and I remember why I will always return to this city.

 

Text by Bryen Lebar
Picture by Sandro Santioli


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Testata giornalistica registrata al Tribunale di Firenze n. 5528 10/11/2006
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