Another Side of Florence

I went to the archives today for the first time, and it was somewhat interesting.  I decided to walk there, which I believe Google said is a 2 km walk, both ways.  That translates to about an hour walk.  It is on the extreme northwest side of Florence, so I had to walk through the domestic areas, places most tourists have no reason to see.  It was interesting, they are not quite "bad" parts of town, but obviously not the best either.

I finally made it to the Piazza Edison, and found my way to the entrance to the archives villa.  On the website, it says to walk through the stone pillars and up the steps to the villa.  When I read that, I thought 5, maybe 10 steps tops.  Boy was I wrong.  I took a picture of the scene as I turned corner number two, and that was not the end.  I started to question where exactly I was heading, as it seemed something out of a horror movie, or maybe Big Fish.  I finally made to the top, and the villa was actually quite nice.

I met the archivist in charge of the ESA archives, a pleasant Italian who showed me how to search their holdings, "fonds", and how to request documents.  You have to fill out a special card, and can only request three at a time.  They also have a form I have to fill out if I want to use my digital camera to take photos of the documents (which I usually do instead of paying for copies), but you are limited to 500 for your entire visit.  Just as a reference, when I was at the National Archives in Fort Worth I took at least 300 a day for the 3 or 4 days I was there.  Needless to say, I have decided to just take notes and only take photos if necessary.

During one of the breaks of waiting for them to bring me more documents, I took some time to look outside the window and enjoy the Tuscan countryside.  I dutifully took a picture to share with you.  As you can probably tell, it had rained a lot last night and was cloudy/rainy all day today.

I finished in the archives a little after 4, since they close at 5 and I did not think I would have enough time to request more documents and look through them.  On the way back, I stopped off at Grom again and tried the apple gelato for my lunch/snack.

For dinner I headed over to a restaurant nearby that Rick Steves suggested, Trattoria Marione.  I got there 5 minutes before it opens at 7, but there was already a line of other tourists waiting for it to open.  Apparently it is so popular that it has a line all night, so I was happy to be able to get in right away.  I had a mixed salad, just greens, tomato, and carrots, and the lasagna, which ended up being a white lasagna (i.e. no tomatoes).  It was all very good, as usual.

 Tomorrow should be another fun day at the archives, though I am going to actually try and wake up early enough to get over to the market before I go to the archives.  I guess that means I have to get to sleep soon.