I sometimes see things that I fine beautiful and I wish I had my macchina fotografica (camera) with me. For a few days I've been running past this brick wall near my house right before the Ponte alle Grazie, and I've seen these metal boxes with the city's giglio (lily). I went back out later today and knelt down to take a photo of it. I loved the colors of the imperfect bricks, the door being on sideways, and the moss growing out of the wall.
A couple were walking toward me and looked at what I was taking a picture of. They tilted their heads, but then looked away and focused on the Ponte Vecchio instead. I agree that the monuments, churches, piazzas, and buildings are incredibly beautiful, but I also love the small things around town that are like small treasures I have uncovered.
I don't know if maybe the longer I'm in Florence and the more I see the city, the more I appreciate it. But, I do love finding beauty where other people might not notice it. I love looking up to see what is all around me. Sometimes there are old signs that are no longer used on the wall of a palazzo (building) or a sculpture that juts out of a wall.
I just love that my beloved city is so confident about its beauty that it doesn't need to flaunt it. The city seems to be so rich with its beauty that it just waits for us to take notice of it.
For me, beauty is the way the light hits a building or the shadows cast by a monument, or even something I never noticed before that just catches my eye. Sometimes I'm so taken by the beauty in my beloved city that I feel my heart skip a beat. And when I snap a photo, I feel as if I have just found a treasure that I get to hold onto forever, like a sweet memory.
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