Let’s start!

Welcome to my blog!

 

view on the Arno river and the Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence

 

This is my first post, in which I wanted to explain you shortly what you will find here in the future. At the beginning just let me tell you what “Guide me Florence” is and how it all started.

Looking back, I have to say that my curiosity and passion for Florence, its art and culture, completely changed my life. I have grown up in Warsaw and this is where I have started to study Italian language and later, at the University, Italian art and Florentine culture. I first came to Florence for a scholarship to write my MA thesis and this is when I understood that there is so much more to learn, study and discover here. I felt myself home even if I perceived the novelty of the world around me. I not only had enough books to read for the next one hundred years of my life. I also enjoyed my everyday life here in town. Even going to the grocery became an adventure, I had a lot of fun buying a new type of vegetables every day, a different cheese or salami, finding a new pizzeria and a gelateria with some delicious, creamy ice-creams. I can only tell you that I took three kg in three months!

Since that moment I have started to think about a PhD in Renaissance studies abroad and I soon had the luck to be accepted for the PhD program at Durham University in the UK. Undoubtedly that was a very intense, productive and satisfying period for me.

My PhD allowed me to pass a lot of time in the Florentine archives, libraries and museums but, at the same time, I have always felt that I want to share my passion for the Italian Renaissance not only with other academics but also with a wider public, students, and curious travellers who come here every year. This is why when I was done with my studies I have passed the exam for the local tour guide and I set up this project.

I would love to become contagious! I would love to turn this blog in a personal, subjective guide to Florence, its art and culture, its food and gastronomic tradition. You will find here texts on some of the Florentine masterpieces, exhibition reviews but also guides to the best Florentine ice-cream places, pizzerias, bakeries, bars and so on. I will try to tell you more about the city and its inhabitants from a point of view of an insider, who, however, being an expat, keeps a critical attention of an outsider.

I want to awaken your passion for Italian art and history and to show you how many fascinating things you can discover in our museums, gardens, markets or simply when you walk through the streets of the city.

Let me guide you through Florence!

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