Slowly starting up

After a quiet week in Florence with many of its residents away on vacation, fewer cars in the streets, shutters tightly shut, empty parking spaces, and many negozi (shops) around town closed. Today many of the negozi reopened and I couldn’t wait to see some of the commercianti (merchants) with whom I’ve become friends. A few of them I haven’t seen in over two weeks.

Our friends, a couple, at the gastronomia (delicatessen) were the first ones I visited. When I peeked out of our windows and saw that the negozio was open, I couldn’t wait to go downstairs

Over this last year, all four of us have become good friends. I usually stop by their negozio even if I don’t buy anything even if it’s just to say hello. We started off by taking about calcio (soccer) and local news, and now we discuss almost anything.

After a long chat with them, I walked down to see my ortolano (greengrocer) who hasn’t been open for three weeks. I’ve missed him the most because I’ve had to walk much longer distances to get fruits and vegetables. He has certainly spoiled the great quality of his produce that I haven’t been that happy going anywhere else.

My ortolano was inside his negozio cleaning up. The well-stocked shelves that I usually look at to decide what I’ll be eating were empty. I was disappointed when he told me that he wouldn’t be open for business until Thursday.

Last week was wonderful in Florence. Even with all the windows open, the city was still quiet with only a few cars passing by. This morning, however, it was a little noisier. The city still isn’t working at full capacity with a few shops still closed. With one more week before the beginning of September, Florence is slowly coming back to life. I’m especially happy that my friends who are commercianti have returned because they have become a part of my life.

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