(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)
Today was our first full day of the Road Scholar program. In the morning, Raffaela and Francesca led us to the ABC School of Florence, where we’ll have our language classes. Francesca gave us an overview of the schedule and logistics for the six-week program.
Classroom 1 at the ABC School, where we had our morning orientation session, has a beautiful painted ceiling.
We then walked from the Oltrarno (south side of the river) where the school is located across the river into the main part of Florence, where our group enjoyed a leisurely (and very big) Sunday lunch at Boccadama in Piazza di Santa Croce.
Lunch started out with an antipasto plate of cured meats, cheese, pickled mushrooms, and bruschetta. It was almost a meal by itself.
The main course for our lunch was a delicious lasagna, followed by a light panna cotta for dessert. We were stuffed!
The dining room at Boccadama.
After lunch, we wandered around the Sunday Market at the Piazza di Santa Croce, named for the Basilica at the end of the piazza.
A self-service pastry shop at the market. You grab a pair of tongs, fill up a bag with as much as you want, and pay by weight. All the pastries are the same price (“tutto è allo stesso prezzo,” as the sign says), so it’s mix and match. Very dangerous!
A cheesemonger at the Santa Croce Sunday Market.
Candies (caramelle) at the Sunday Market.
A spice vendor at the Sunday Market.
We then headed back to the hotel for a short break, before leaving again for another orientation walk through the city. We learned how to use the city bus system, services offered at the post office and tobbaconists, how to call a taxi, how to sort and dispose of our trash and recyclables once we’re in our apartments, and much more.
During the walk, Raffaela explained how Florentine families will pray to their patron saint for grace, and if it’s granted, will often show their thanks by donating a shrine like this one to the city.
“Il Porcellino” in Piazza del Mercato Nuovo is a bronze statue of a boar with a fountain below it. Tradition has it that it’s good luck to rub the statue’s nose with one hand while dropping a coin into its open mouth.
The Mercato del Porcellino.
The tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence.
We ended the walk at a cafe for happy hour and more food before calling it a day.
Tomorrow, we start our language classes in the morning, followed by move-in to our apartments in the afternoon.
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