Staring at the Cathedral of Santa Maria dei Fiore in the heart of Florence, eating a gelato slowly and appreciating the beauty of the basilica as a boy yelled in my face, “Hurry up, we’re going to miss the sunset. We need to go.” I was tired of walking around Florence all day and I wanted to take the time to appreciate the beautiful architecture, rest my feet, and eat a gelato, but of course I had to hurry. What happened to living the Italian lifestyle that I read about dolce vita? The rest of the group stood up and began following the boy to the “special sunset spot”. I dragged my feet and stayed behind the group as the boy in charge was 500 feet ahead of me, staring at his phone and running around as if he actually knew where he was leading us. After 25 minutes of left and rights through cobblestone Italian streets, and crossing the bridge looking at Ponte Vecchio, I stopped to admire the beauty of Arno, and the bridge itself. The rest of the group was still walking ahead, and looking back to see if I was coming but I wanted to take a moment for myself. The sun was slowly beginning to fall and the three arches of the bridge were causing an almost shadow reflection on the water. The light yellow color of bridge looked more dull than before, but the outline of the bridge was distinct. The sun was still shining through the small windows at the top of the bridge and the water was glistening.
I snapped out of my state of appreciation and jogged to find one of my friends waiting for me at the end of the bridge. We couldn’t see the rest of the group in the distance, but decided that we had made it this far so we might as well follow. We finally made it to a steep incline with about twenty long platforms leading up to what looked like nothing. My friend and I looked at each other and laughed in complete exhaustion. Tired and frustrated we marched up the stairs, finally reaching the top, out of breath. But the exhaustion was quickly forgotten once we saw what we had stumbled upon. Piazza Michaengelo seemed as if it came out of nowhere with a vast lawn center, and radiant red flowers in the shape of a heart in the center of the lawn. Around the grass was a white balcony that wrapped around half of the piazza overlooking the city of Florence. The sky lit up with what looked like imperfect painted lines of light yellow, orange and red sitting above Florence. The basilica was to the right, stealing the spotlight of the city skyline, and the river dividing Florence into its two halves. The Uffizi museum standing tall with its long dark stone tower. The buildings sitting on the river looking smaller than before, with light shades of the yellow and off white colors. It seemed that Florence was just a pop-out book from a child’s magazine from the Piazza dei Micahengelo. The city looked peaceful and quiet, not able to see any people running around or cars beeping past each other. To the left of the balcony was a set of marble stairs leading down to another balcony. The stairs and balconies were full of people drinking wine, taking pictures, and admiring the skyline. A guitarist was playing classical music, and the sun fell upon Florence eventually making it dark.
But as the darkness came over, the city lit up even more beautifully than before. With lights tracing the borders of the town and the river, and Ponte Vecchio lit up with white lights shining through the windows and arches of the bridge. My friends and I sat on the steps overlooking the city until the area began to clear close to ten at night. The trek down the steep hill seemed easier than before, and more relaxed with an appreciation of our time in Florence. Our feet weren’t tired anymore, complaints were non-existent and exhaustion wasn’t even in the picture. We weren’t hurrying to get home, or go out to the nearest bar but just strolling through the streets of Florence with a new appreciation of the city. We were finally living a dolce vita, and for that I was eternally grateful.
