We hadn’t even dropped our bags before the Arno River cast its magnetic spell. The ancient waterway of Medicis and merchant kings, its central presence through the city’s heart is the constant by which you begin to set your internal clock. It is the living link to past and present: the graceful glide of the early morning sculler where Renaissance explorers’ once returned home; the selfie faithful on the Ponte Santa Trinita where a Grand Duke once celebrated his wedding; the joggers’ footfalls along the route where artisans once offered their lavish wares. Encoded in its gentle current is the history of all it has carried over the centuries, all the progress and faith in human potential, the gateway to the city that ushered us out of the Dark Ages and into enlightenment. Florence’s history seems to suggest the value in seeking a Renaissance of your own, the concept of the ‘master of many’, the lifelong student and ‘art for art’s sake’ long embedded in the Florentine DNA. Somewhere in this land of seamless coexistence between sacred landmarks and the only espresso you’ve ever really had in your life, you can trace these humanistic steps to find your own footing. Beneath the magnanimous gaze of those iconic red rooftops, these time-tested truths resurface, and it turns out that they’re just as good as new.

With love from the Renaissance city,
Katie