[duminyricky]

I lived in Florence for about a year. Loved it, but had many, many drawbacks that made me flip my lid a few times.


For one, Its much better to Fly into Rome and take the trains than fly to Florence. For a NY-er, flying from NYC, i like the direct flights, of which Florence does not handle many of.


As for the italian way of life, well... it leaves some room for improvement. Most annoying is that things are never done in the name of efficiency.

City bus strikes are bi-monthly.

every shop closes down 3 hours in the afternoon for lunch. That sounds like a good idea, "hey i can get things done when i am not at work" but you quickly notice that everyone else not at work means you cant do much else but go home. (There was a model building supply shop near me. closed sundays, tuesdays, and each day they were open were different hours).


Grocery shopping done near daily, and there is a twisted logic behind it. Electricity is expensive, so nobody wants to buy big fridges. Small fridges means you have to go shopping more often. meanwhile, the money you save by less trips to the grocery store would help pay for a larger electric bill, but they don't want to hear of it. As an added bonus, because everyone shops every day, you can imagine what the supermarkets are like at "peak" hours.


Finally, as for building projects... many have no hope even before they are dreamed of. For going on something like two decades now, in Florence, they have wanted to build a new entrance to the Uffizi gallery around the back of the building. The word "new building" in Florence is about the same as yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. Much pants-shiatting ensues. In this case, they held an open design competition, and selected as the winner the smallest firm, knowing they would be too small to carry the project through. Nothing, in 20 years, has gotten beyond study models.