Modernity ... the Atrium Bar at the Palazzo Four Seasons.
Contemporary culture's cutting-edge clans are breathing new life into Florence, writes Aaron Peasley.
When Pauric Sweeney, one of the leading leather designers working in fashion, decided to relocate his label from raffishly cool east London to soporific Florence, many of his friends were left scratching their heads. There's no doubt the vaunted Tuscan capital occupies a mythic place among art and history lovers but it has certainly never registered as one of Europe's cool capitals.
As a tourist destination, Florence requires no introduction. The city is about as "discovered" as it gets. Like Venice, that spectacular waterlogged theme park to the north, Florence can seem hermetically sealed off to the present; a creaky relic burdened by centuries of world history.
As I walked through tourist-crammed piazzas on a recent visit, I wondered if anything had really changed since E.M. Forster set his romantic, and tourist-lampooning, novel A Room with a View in the city. Today, as in Forster's era, there were overheated tourists shuffling into the famed Uffizi gallery, clutching well-thumbed guidebooks and craning their necks to lay eyes on a Botticelli or a Caravaggio. Outside, the street was crowded with concession stands selling football jerseys, postcards and garish souvenirs.
A few hours later, the scene couldn't have been more different.
It's just past seven on a late summer Thursday evening and we're seated on the terrace of Villa Bardini, a grand 17th century residence on Costa San Giorgio that underwent restoration two years ago. Together with my friend, Ale, I'm here to check out what's considered Florence's best spot to experience the sacred aperitivo hour. The truth is, if it weren't for the view – a marvellous panorama of San Niccolo, the Arno River, Brunellesschi's famous dome and the rolling hills in the distance – it wouldn't feel much like Florence at all.
"See, Florence can be cool," Ale teases, gesturing towards the DJ spinning French electro and the low-slung tables around which the city's beautiful people sip prosecco and nibble on plates of seafood crudo.
A native Florentine, Ale fled the city in the 1980s to work for a fashion company in Milan during its decadent early 1990s heyday. Now back in his home town, he seems surprised at what is taking place. "There's finally a feeling that new life is coming back here," he says.
In any conversation regarding Florence's current mood of optimism, mention must be made of Matteo Renzi. Just last year, the 34-year-old, a progressive Democrat, became the city's mayor in a surprising upset. Charming, well dressed and an aficionado of Facebook and Twitter, Renzi has already been declared by Time magazine as Italy's answer to Barack Obama. His plans for the city are designed to preserve the city's historic nature, while gently dragging the old girl into the 21st century.
Renzi's vision includes an overhaul of Florence's public transport, tourist-friendly programs like bike-sharing schemes and extended gallery hours, the introduction of free Wi-Fi across the city and green initiatives designed to keep the streets clean and reduce smog.
"He's definitely got everyone talking," Ale notes. "He's got ambitious plans and a young staff. I think Italy as a whole really needs fresh ideas right now."
Enough politics. It's time to talk about what's really important in this country – food. As darkness falls and the city lights below begin to flicker, we weave a path across the Arno River towards the city's fashion core, Via Tornabuoni. The culinary landscape – that increasingly important litmus test of a city's tourist appeal – is also being freshened up.
Osteria Tornabuoni, owned by Bulgari executive Silvio Ursini, is one example of a newer approach to Tuscan cuisine. The restaurant, bereft both of swinging chianti bottles or legs of parma ham, is housed within Palazzo Tornabuoni, a restored 15th century palace once owned by the Medici family. The vaulted dining room, like the 36-apartment complex it occupies, was designed by acclaimed Florentine architect Michael Bonan, one of a group of smart young tastemakers who appear to be remaking this city in their own stylish image.
The Palazzo, on Via degli Strozzi, which is being sold as a private residence club and managed by the Four Seasons, which also opened a five-star hotel within the city's majestic late-15th century Palazzo della Gherardesca last year, is one of the new developments that has everyone talking. Since opening this year, the property, containing 16th-century frescoes and state-of-the-art Bang & Olufsen electronics, has become something of a glittering symbol of the city's current rebirth.
Palazzo Tornabuoni aspires to be something of a clubhouse for the city; a destination for the city's movers and shakers and foreign visitors like New York fashion design duo Proenza Schouler, who recently held a lunch for their latest collection.
"We want to be the centre of Florentine life," explains the property's director Michael Bonan. "This is where the first opera, Dafne, was performed, and so we have very big shoes to fill, culturally."
The restaurant's cuisine is marked by a similar blend of modernism and tradition – traditional, gently updated crostini di fegato (chicken liver on toast) is followed by a delicate yet robust ricotta gnudi, and the restaurant's textural riff on steak tartare, Battuta di filetto di Chianina. The wine list, all local and very reasonably priced, is presided over by Andrea Gori, or as he's known, the cyber sommelier, on account of his daily weblog (vinodaburde.simplicissimus.it) that ranks as the most popular wine site in all of Italy.
In the days to come, we'll uncover a number of other culinary surprises: Quanto Basta, owned by two twentysomething sisters, is an enormous industrial-chic space where you can drop in at any time of day for sliced meats, an expertly mixed Negroni, or an impressive meal. Across the Arno, Lungarno 23 has also made a splash. A rustic dining room leads on to a courtyard overlooking the river, where burgers made with Italy's famed Chianina beef are consumed late into the night.
Florence – inextricably linked to the renaissance – is also starting to invest in contemporary art. Directly across from Palazzo Tornabuoni, Palazzo Strozzi, another languishing palace, has been transformed into a thrilling cultural space, part of which, the Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, is dedicated to contemporary art. With a focus on interaction, innovations like audio guides downloadable to your cell phone and a buzzing courtyard featuring video installations, a cafe and wireless internet, Palazzo Strozzi aims to reinvent the Florentine museum experience; it's the anti-Uffizi, if you will.
The museum's ambitious director, James Bradburne, pictures the institution as functioning like "a cultural piazza". So far, shows have included an exhibition of Chinese art and a highly regarded fashion retrospective titled Contromoda.
A crop of new, young Florentine artists, among them multimedia fashion darling Felice Limosani, are garnering international attention while making the city an increasingly attractive base for young creative types. Independent galleries are also proliferating. A five-minute walk from Palazzo Strozzi, FOR gallery is attracting the attention of art world giants. Co-owned by Ori Kafri, the young impresario behind the city's J.K. Place hotel, the three-floor gallery, nestled among august antique stores and upscale art dealers, specialises in contemporary Italian photography, including the work of renowned architectural photographer Massimo Listri. Just last month, a new contemporary art centre on Viale Giannotti called EX3 opened, with the vision of creating a modern space that welcomes all forms of contemporary art and design.
Contemporary art, cutting-edge cuisine and world-class fashion. This isn't the Florence generations of Australians have fallen in love with on their European tours of duty. "People are taking our rich history and creating something contemporary and stylish and a bit more daring – you've just got to know where to find it," Ale says.
On our last night, we drop by BRAC on Via dei Vagellai, a favourite of many of the city's hip young habitues. With its screening room, outdoor deck and slick vegetarian restaurant, the space could be found in the cool quadrant of any big international city. But of course, we're in Florence, just metres from the 13th-century bridge, Ponte alle Grazie.
After a night of musical performances and short films, we step through the restaurant's large, unmarked glass doors, and we're back in the Florence of fanny packs and Fodor's. It's just one of the tiny paradoxes you can now find in this city.
TRIP NOTES
GETTING THERE
Lufthansa flies regularly from Sydney to Frankfurt, with connections to Florence, from $1963. See lufthansa.com.
STAYING THERE
The Four Seasons Florence, Borgo Pinti, 99. Phone +39 055 26261, see fourseasons.com.
EATING THERE
Osteria Tornabuoni, Via de' Corsi, 5R. Phone +39 055 277 3520, see osteriatornabuoni.it.
Quanto Basta, Via de' Ginori, 10R. Phone +39 055 211427, see quantobasta.eu.
BRAC, Via dei Vagellai, 18R. Phone +39 055 094 4877, see libreriabrac.net.
Palazzo Tornabuoni, Via Degli Strozzi 8. Phone +39 055 268 966, see palazzotornabuoni.com.
VIEWING THERE
Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi. See www.strozzina.org.
FOR Gallery, Via dei Fossi, 45R. See forgallery.it.
EX3, Viale Giannotti. Email info@ex3.it.
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