Valentine’s day in Florence: love is in the air!

Valentine’s day in Florence: love is in the air!

Valentine’s day in Florence? The spring is maybe a little bit late this year, but a different kind of warmth is around in the cobbled medieval Florentine alleys, with Valentine’s Day approaching: the warmth of love!

Valentine’s day in Florence: love is in the air and in writings!

There is not a Saint Valentine church in Florence, but love is in the air indeed in the cradle of the Renaissance.

Florence is also the cradle of the modern Italian language, and the three “big names” of the early Italian literature: Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio are famous also for their “love stories”.

Beatrice “Bice” Portinari married de’ Bardi (around 1266 – 1290), is supposed Dante’s Beatrice.

Dante (1265 – 1321) wrote for Beatrice the sonnet ‘Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare’: So kind and so honest she seems, and the Sommo Poeta (the Greatest Poet) choose Beatrice as his… travel – guide for his visit of Paradise in ‘La Divina Commedia’ (The Divine Comedy).

Laura is Petrarca’s (1304 – 1374) face of love in the ‘Canzoniere’.

According to Petrarca, Laura was so beautiful – and he was immediately so deep in love with her – that even the sun rays faded.

The Elegy of Lady Fiammetta – ‘Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta’ – is Boccaccio’s (1313 – 1375) novel about a medieval love story.

The real name of the real woman with whom Boccaccio fell in love was Maria d’Aquino. Boccaccio wrote even much more… titillating stories, but that’s another story…

With a Valentine’s day in Florence you can still grasp the music of the language of this great writers, as that is the origin of the current Italian (and we can imagine the accent is still quite the same…).

You can also visit the Museo Casa di Dante – Dante’s home Museum.

Valentine’s day in Florence: the view, the food

While the many restaurants and bars of the city center will offer a wide choice of opportunities to have a dinner in a cosy corner or an aperitivo, do not forget to bring your beloved one in one of the great Florentine views at sunset!