The Florence of Dante and Boccaccio seen from the Arno
Evening itineraries through the city’s most iconic places, following in the footsteps of Dante and Boccaccio, and evocative journeys along the Arno to discover Florence from another perspective. These are two of the walks offered as part of the EnjoyFirenze cultural program, curated by Cooperativa Archeologia, guiding the curious toward the city’s hidden corners and lesser-known stories.
The first, “The Florence of Dante and Boccaccio,” is an immersion in the city of the two poets, exploring its great civic and religious architecture and the private world of the medieval tower-houses. Starting from Piazza della Signoria, the itinerary takes in the church of Orsanmichele and the casa a mensola (a rare surviving “bracket house”) on Via Santa Elisabetta, one of the few preserved examples of this kind of dwelling, which also appears in a curious episode of a tale from the Decameron; then comes a stretch of houses and alleys left almost intact, with the Torre della Castagna, the Torre della Pagliazza and the tower-houses of Via del Corso.
The walk ends in Piazza del Duomo, where Santa Maria del Fiore, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the Loggia del Bigallo stand as a further testament to the splendor of Florence in the years when very few cities in the entire West surpassed it in importance.
The second, “Florence Seen from the Arno with the Archaeologist – A Tour on the Renaioli Boats,” sets off from Piazza Mentana, at the entrance gate of the Canottieri (in front of the Hotel Balestri), for an atmospheric journey aboard the original boats of the renaioli, the old river sand-dredgers, along the monumental stretch of the Arno, from Ponte alle Grazie to Ponte Santa Trinita, discovering the monumental city and its ancient buildings from the water, narrated by the archaeologist on board.
It is a chance to know the city from a completely new perspective, and at times to discover astonishing places, visible only from the water, and unexpected stories bound to the river. The city is told stratigraphically, observed from the Arno starting from its most ancient chronology, giving access to rare and precious information not found in books, drawn from the direct experience of the many archaeological excavations carried out in Florence over the past 40 years. At the end of the trip, there is time for a small toast to greet the sunset.
The walks are ticketed and require advance booking. Information and reservations: 055 5520407 or turismo@archeologia.it. More at enjoyfirenze.it.
