Saints to Shoes in Florence

A quick trip up to Florence with my best friend took us to different art stops.

Besides being an easy meeting point between her Umbrian City and my Rome, the big draw to Florence was seeing the Beato Angelico exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi, the first major show dedicated to this Renaissance master in Florence in seventy years. What has always moved me about his works are his use of the color pink, his extraordinary palette and detail, his gilding, and his sumptuous painted angel wings.

 

Following Beatto Angelico, we were magnetized to the Salvatore Ferragamo museum down the road. The legendary shoemaker’s workshop, vision and passion emerged through this installation. Ferragamo had once said, “I love feet. They talk to me.” The experience was an ode to a craftsman’s true vocation. Each space was shaped around Ferragamo’s world, where shoes stood as sculptures of his inventive spirit. His Hollywood designs, theatrical creations, and experimental prototypes sat alongside sketches, photographs and books that traced the mind of a man obsessed with beauty, color, and the mechanics of the human foot.

 

Suzanne’s and my trip to the Renaissance capital could not be complete without dipping nostaglicly into the San Lorenzo markets. We had made a splash there last time in our acquisition of handmade belts and bags. This time, we headed straight for the Florentine paper stand, where I stocked up on a gorgeous feather ink pen and some printed paper frames. We also admired colored tassles, before popping into a vintage shop, the gorgeous Ortigia store while catching glimpses at the moonrise.

After a full day, we parted. I jumped on the train back to Rome, and not even two hours later, I arrived at Termini and the bustling chaos of my adopted home city. A presto, Florence! A prestissimo, Suzzane!