Our Side of the River

By Chelsea Jones 

Like most short-term visitors, the first time I came to Florence I visited only the main attractions: the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Galleria Accademia, the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, and the Boboli Gardens. Since coming back as a masters student in the EUPS program, I’ve been exposed to the ‘real’ Florence that only long-term residents and native Florentines get to experience. One of my favorite things to do is explore the markets held every second Sunday of the month in Piazza Santo Spirito. Here, you can get anything ranging from unique clothing and accessories to antique furniture. The surrounding bars and restaurants around the piazza leave their doors open during the warmer months, creating a social event for the locals rather than a monthly market for passers-by.

Florence is a tourist hot spot as it is home to many masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. While most people, including myself, first think of visiting a museum to admire art in this magnificent city, there are still many artisans in Florence today that create masterpieces worthy of a museum. A large concentration of these shops is located along the streets of the Santo Spirito neighborhood. There is one store in particular that always captures my attention on my daily walk to class at Palazzo Capponi. Located right off of Via Maggio, Tornabuoni Arte Antica is full of beautiful paintings, furniture, and other home accessories.

Not far from the Santo Spirito neighborhood there is San Frediano, one of the most popular neighborhoods in Florence. San Frediano is a great spot to meet locals when searching for places to go out at night. Most tourists wander to the lively Santa Croce neighborhood, but several hipster bars in San Frediano are authentic local dives. I’ve experienced this first hand and found the live music and buzzing crowds of people to be electrifying. The neighborhood isn’t only popular after dark. During the day, there are plenty of churches to visit. Located inside the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, the famous Brancacci Chapel is often compared to the Sistine Chapel. It is full of remarkable pieces of art that have been extremely well preserved. The entire neighborhood is filled with artisans in their workshops creating everything from frames that resemble those from the Renaissance to refurbishing old furniture.    

Aside from the lively culture and tourist attractions in the Oltrarno area, I feel as if people take the potential relationships they could have with local business owners for granted. Every morning on my way to class, I'm greeted by a smile as I enter my favorite bar owned by two sisters, Patricia and Antonella, to get my morning coffee. While most JMU students have interacted with the cheerful duo at some point during their sojourn in Florence, they treat each one different and develop their own special relationships. They were even kind enough to light a candle and sing Happy Birthday to me (in Italian) upon finding out that I had just turned 23. In the end, it's the little things that make Florence feel a little more like home.

JMU students are fortunate to have the privilege to call the Palazzo home. While the building itself is special and rich in history, the neighborhood surrounding it gives us a quieter and more authentic snapshot of Florence. From the inviting scenes of local artisan shops to the undiscovered chapels and artworks to the warm stereotypical Italian hospitality of local bars and restaurants, the Oltrarno is the hidden gem of Florence. As I continue my studies here for the next seven months, I will make the best of the beautiful neighborhood that JMU calls home.   

Chelsea Jones is a member of the EUPS Class of 2019 and serves as a research assistant to the on-site director, Dr. Caterina Paolucci. She graduated from JMU in 2018 with a B.A. in International Affairs and Spanish and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean studies. She studied abroad with the JMU Semester in Salamanca, Spain program in the spring of 2016 and then interned in Valencia, Spain during the summer of 2017.