New Digs

This year we have a new apartment in Florence. We really liked the location of the apartment that we first took in 2003 and returned to until 2010 but the interior of the apartment should have been better cared for and was not. This year we found a new apartment, not far away, for a similar price. The map shows our old apartment on Borgo la Croce 15 at letter A and our new apartment on Via Ghibellina 51 at letter B. It’s about a 5 minute walk between the two apartments and, best of all, the Sant’Ambrogio market is near our new place.

A=new apartment, B=old apartment

The section of Via Ghibellina is old but not quite as old as Borgo la Croce which was built in the 1300s. The map shows Casa Buonarroti two blocks toward the center of Florence on Via Ghibellina. The building was purchased by Michelangelo for his family in the 1500s. The building is now a museum and includes two works from his teens, the Madonna of the Stairs and the Battle of the Centaurs. (And Mozart wrote his first symphony when he was eight years old.)

Door to Via Ghibellina

Our apartment is in a three-story building that may be as old as the Buonarroti house two blocks away. Here is a picture of the front door of the building in which our apartment is located. Proud, impressive.

Unfortunately, the hallway inside is very bare. The hallway leads to a courtyard where people park their bicycles, pigeons roost at night, and some of the forgotten or abandoned bicycles have suffered from the attentions of the roosting pigeons. We haven’t met the bike owners yet.

The hallway leads to a stairway that surrounds an open area that reaches from the ground floor to the third floor. Stairs, landing, stairs, landing, etc. with a large open space in the middle. The open space has been mostly filled by an elevator which may operate but may not; we haven’t tried it. Our apartment in on the second floor so the walk up isn’t too bad.

Maria Sofia,
Guardian of the Mailboxes

The apartment is quite nice. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, lots of light, good heat, good hot water, everything works, nothing to complain about. (Is anyone booking a ticket, yet?) The space from the door on the street to our apartment door is, however, not impressive. The building is old and the common space has been left as is for many, many years.

But we are in Italy and Italy always has unexpected charms and/or curiosities. In a niche at the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor is a life-size statue. Please see the picture to the right. She is lovely, isn’t she? We’re mulling over a name to give to her. Do you have a suggestion for a name we could give to her? We'll add the name in a caption under the picture.

We look forward to hearing from you.