Travel
Winter in Florence
[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our reader's in their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited the places described. We shall be glad to answer questions arising out of the Travel articles published in our columns. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPECTATOR, 99 Gower Street, W.C.1.] THERE are surely few thrills in life to equal that which the traveller feels when he emerges from the chilly mists which so often overhang the lower Alps in winter, into the blaze of clear Italian sunlight. Obviously here, too, there are many days towards the end of the year when the sun is obscured, but the north wind sweeps away the clouds and the coldest days are frequently the brightest. In the more sheltered resorts of the Riviera you may get less wind, but probably not more sunshine, so that though many grumble at the Florentine climate, all must acknowledge that the winter is short and constantly broken by perfect days, both calm and clear, which Spring seems to have stolen from January or December. One can, of course, generally find shelter from the wind and bask in sunny window or open loggia ; but no one should omit to bring the thickest furs or greatcoats, for occasionally the cold blast of the tramontana in a sunless street may be an experi- ence unknown to those accustomed only to the sea-tempered winds of southern or western Britain.
But whatsoever be the temperature, Florence holds forth at- tractions which its milder rivals of the Riviera cannot provide. This year, for the first time, its splendid galleries are open free to the visitor on the easy condition that he shows his passport, and unlike the galleries of our northern capitals those of Florence are, as it were, at one's own street corner. On the rainiest day one can turn out of one's fiat, hotel or pension, and in a few minutes enter the sunshine of Angelico or Botticelli. For when you are in Florence the spell of the old pictures haunts you and surrounds you, and draws you constantly into one of the many galleries, churches, shrines, or convents because it forms here a larger part than any- where else of the general life and thought. One may. live for years in London and scarcely set foot in the museums, which appear to many as little more than the repositories of the dead works of great dead artists ; but in Italy, and in Florence particularly, the museo is unquestionably the shrine of a power that is still pervasive and alive. It is like the difference between a church which is daily filled with prayer and praise and one that has long been secularized.
Moreover, with the spell of art goes inevitably that of music, and music of the highest class is much more easy to obtain to-day in Florence than it has been for many years. First of all, - you have the great municipally-assisted orchestra, which gives its crowded concerts in the great theatre of the Politeama Fiorentino every Sunday afternoon, with a few additional performances in the evenings. Inaugurated only last winter with ninety instruments, this orchestra, conducted by the famous Maestro Gui, will this year be increased, and, stimulated by last year's great success, will endeavour to rise into the front rank of all orchestras. Of little less musical importance are the weekly chamber-music concerts given in the great hall of the Palazzo Pitti, in which all the best-known musicians take their turn. Moreover, the foreign institute— the Filarmonica, the Florentine branch Of the Lyceum Club, and so forth, vie with each other in the quality of their con- tributions to a city that has grown of late to be one of the leading musical centres of the world.
As for lectures, whether you wish to study art, literature, science, or philosophy, you can have quite as many as most students can digest—at the University, the foreign institutes, or any of the seventeen clubs and old academies which still pride themselves on their intellectual traditions. There are half a dozen theatres and as many cinemas at which the best Italian actors or the best films may be seen. It is hardly to be wondered that the schools for English and American girls intent on attaining a " finish" to their education are multiply- ing every year.
Season after season the care of the new government and of the Fascist municipality manifests itzelt more and more in the improvement of the city and the restoration of its ancient buildings. The opening of all galleries and museums gratis, and the subsidizing of the new orchestra are as symptomatic of this policy as the scraping of the stucco of more recent centuries from the walls of mediaeval palaces and towers. Innumerable tourist agencies and new means of transport assist the visitor to see Italy ; four or five English and American'churches invite him to their services ; at least three circulating libraries and half a dozen tea-shops will supply him with English books and English tea ; and an English newspaper, the Italian Mail, will acquaint him with all that is going on. The British Institute, besides its lectures, schools, concerts, library, and reading-rooms, furnished with all the chief English journals, will provide a resting place and such useful information as the traveller may require. As for accommodation, only this much need be said ; admitting on the one hand that a few of the larger caravan- serais are almost as expensive as the Ritz or Carlton, yet for the visitor of moderate means there are hosts of smaller yet most comfortable hotels and pensions, which will lodge and board him at far more reasonable rates than England can afford to offer—at no more than, for instance, five or six shillings a day. Life's little comforts are still cheap in Italy. You can drive from one end of the town to the other for less than a shilling, and lunch in a good restaurant for two ; your coffee costs twopence. Moreover, tips are everywhere abolished. Rents for small flats are far lower than elsewhere, service is infinitely more willing ; while travelling by road or rail is at least thirty per cent. less than for the equivalent distance in Great Britain.
To sum up ; Florence in its winter season can offer to people of moderate means reasonable requirements and artistic interests, a wider, richer, and more varied life than any other city that one could name.
YOUR CORRESPONDENT IN FLORENCE.
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