I live in a small suburb of Chicago, and though I frequently drive or train downtown to Chicago, I’ve never felt entire comfortable knowing where I am in a city with such high rise buildings. My sense of direction was actually better in Madison, since I had a body of water to orient myself within the city. I knew coming to Florence that the Arno would be a big part of my mental map as I learned to navigate the streets of Florence.

When our first class field trip was announced that we would be climbing to the top of the Duomo, I was so excited. Though I have made the trek with my family before, I knew it would be a totally different experience now that Florence is my home for 4 months. I thought it might give me a clearer view of a map of the city, however, once I got up to the top, my initial reaction was not to search for my new apartment in Florence. The view looked like a painting. I first noticed all beautiful red roofs that were surrounding me. My eyes then jumped to the outskirts of Florence, where I saw something that was lacking in the streets of Florence: trees! The dark green color of the trees was incredible against the skyline. Going to the top of the Duomo didn’t necessarily give me that sense of direction and orientation within the city, but made me appreciate a fuller picture of the city of Florence as a whole.

My next view of Florence from above did end up giving me a better sense of orientation in my space. Right after Italian class ended one Thursday, my friends and I made the hike up the Piazzale Michelangelo. The view was incredible. One of the first aspects I noticed was where I was in relation to the river. I could clearly see all of the bridges now one after the next. Since I don’t live in the city center, I’m crossing a bridge almost every day. This view helped me to see where each pathway was from a new point of view, and in the following days, I already felt more comfortable navigating which bridge would be best to take given where I was going.

My most recent view of Florence from above gave me a whole new appreciation for the city. We went to the Bardini Gardens and walked up to view the city. Our Hayden reading this week talked about knowing a place by engaging all your five senses. I was tuned into this reading going through the garden and trying to make notes of how all my senses were perceiving this space. It was interesting that when our class walked up through the luscious green garden, you could tell everyone was stunned at the difference between this space in contrast with the rest of Florence. I heard birds chirping for the first time from above me, which was a soothing experience in contrast with the sounds of traffic I’m usually surrounded by. In terms of smell, I heard an exchange between two of my classmates where one mentioned that she thought it smelled weird in the garden, to which the other girl replied, “It smells like earth.” I think we’ve gotten used to the smell of a city already that this garden experience seemed foreign to us. The view was also incredible looking out onto the city. I felt a sense of calm being in one of the green spaces I had first admired from the top of the Duomo on my first day of class.