Andiamo a Firenze!

The past 2.5 months have been especially busy for us as we pulled together a beautiful pop-up store in London’s prestigious Sloane Square.  Despite this, I found the time to visit a new factory in Florence and spend a day exploring this beautiful city for the first time in 15 years.

After a crazy day of travel that was supposed to be a simple short flight to Italy, I ended up “visiting” four airports and finally arrived in Florence just before midnight.  Although it was disappointing to miss my day allocated to exploring the newly renovated Uffizzi Gallery, I managed to have a delicious meal of fresh pasta with a sausage and truffle cream sauce which seemed to make the day of travel a thing of the past!

The next morning, I was off to visit a new factory outside of city-centre.  We talked through my samples and ideas for next SS19 in the showroom before walking through the workshop.   

 

After a full day of meetings, I was free to explore the city.  I queued to see the inside of the famous Duomo of the Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore.  This imposing building with its pastel exterior is such a beautiful site and amazing to think how this was erected without the use of our modern construction machinery.

 

Next, a summertime trip to Italy would not be complete without a big scoop of gelato – my favourite flavour being Straciatella – essentially chocolate chip.

Waffle cone in hand, I settled in for a stroll around the beautiful city, taking in the Ponte Vecchio – literally old bridge – lined with small jewellery shops

 

The next morning I woke early to see the statue of David by Michelangelo in the Accademia Gallery. Despite having seen it in person many years ago and countless photos in the meantime, the beauty of this masterpiece is still striking. 

  

Although it was a very short visit, my return to this lovely city was more than sweet.  The art, history and amazing food (and work as well!) will guarantee that I am sure to return!  A presto Firenze!