Random Things #12

Some more random things in Florence.

Street Cleaners:  Mechanized street cleaners are a frequent sight in Florence.  They are compact and nimble despite the narrow streets.  Greg especially likes seeing the street cleaners.  He is reminded of the big, oddly-shaped street cleaners from his boyhood in Toledo.  He and other kids would collect the long metal bristles left behind.  In hindsight, those bristles were pretty nasty.  Greg doesn't pick up any broken bristles in Florence.

Fish Therapy:  We recently learned about "Fish Therapy".  When we first walked by the shop pictured below, we assumed it was a store that sold tropical fish and aquariums.  We thought peacefully watching tropical fish in an aquarium was the equivalent of therapy.  We were wrong.  Fish therapy is a spa treatment.  You sit with your feet submerged in a fish-filled aquarium.  The hungry fish then nibble the dead skin on your feet.  You emerge with soft feet.   Apparently, this spa fad started years ago and already peaked.  Concerns about infections scared away the prudent and the germophobes.  Who knew?

Convent of Sant’Orsola:  During our strolls around Florence, we often pass the large abandoned building pictured below. 

It turns out that the building is the former Convent of Sant'Orsola (or Saint Ursula).  The convent dates from the 1300's.  After some recent false starts, a new plan for redevelopment of the building is proceeding.  Once redeveloped, the building will house a museum, a music school and other functions.  If completed (about 6 years from now), the building will look something like the rendering below.

The museum will be known as the Mona Lisa Museum.  It will recount both the history of the convent and a famous person buried there.  The famous person is (you guessed it) the woman who posed for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  Her name was Lisa Gherardini and her tomb was discovered in 2012.

The music school will be known as the “Bocelli Academy Music School".  The school will be run by famous Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.  If the name doesn't ring a bell, then click here.

Street Signs:  In our travels around Florence, we often encounter interesting street names.  Recently, we spotted a sign (pictured below) that looks like "Stinky Island Street".  After a little research, we learned that the street runs next to the location of a former medieval prison named after Castle Stinche in Tuscany.  We still prefer the name Stinky Island.

Another street sign (pictured below) looks like "Badass Way".  A better translation is Way of the Abbesses.  Of course, some abbesses are badass.  So, perhaps Badass Way is the better translation.