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Writer and the City
Florence, A Delicate Case
David Leavitt brings the wonders and mysteries of Florence alive, illuminating why it is, and always has been, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
The third in the critically-acclaimed Writer and the City Series-in which some of the world's finest novelists reveal the secrets of the cities they know best- Florence is a lively account of expatriate life in the 'city of the lily'.
Why has Florence always drawn so many English and American visitors? (At the turn of the century, the Anglo-American population numbered more than thirty thousand.) Why have men and women fleeing sex scandals traditionally settled here? What is it about Florence that has made it so fascinating-and so repellent-to artists and writers over the years?
Moving fleetly between present and past and exploring characters both real and fictional, Leavitt's narrative limns the history of the foreign colony from its origins in the middle of the nineteenth century until its demise under Mussolini, and considers the appeal of Florence to figures as diverse as Tchaikovsky, E.M. Forster, Ronald Firbank, and Mary McCarthy. Lesser-known episodes in Florentine history-the moving of Michelangelo's David , and the construction of temporary bridges by black American soldiers in the wake of the Second World War-are contrasted with images of Florence today (its vast pizza parlors and tourist culture). Leavitt also examines the city's portrayal in such novels and films as A Room with a View , The Portrait of a Lady and Tea with Mussolini .
The third in the critically-acclaimed Writer and the City Series-in which some of the world's finest novelists reveal the secrets of the cities they know best- Florence is a lively account of expatriate life in the 'city of the lily'.
Why has Florence always drawn so many English and American visitors? (At the turn of the century, the Anglo-American population numbered more than thirty thousand.) Why have men and women fleeing sex scandals traditionally settled here? What is it about Florence that has made it so fascinating-and so repellent-to artists and writers over the years?
Moving fleetly between present and past and exploring characters both real and fictional, Leavitt's narrative limns the history of the foreign colony from its origins in the middle of the nineteenth century until its demise under Mussolini, and considers the appeal of Florence to figures as diverse as Tchaikovsky, E.M. Forster, Ronald Firbank, and Mary McCarthy. Lesser-known episodes in Florentine history-the moving of Michelangelo's David , and the construction of temporary bridges by black American soldiers in the wake of the Second World War-are contrasted with images of Florence today (its vast pizza parlors and tourist culture). Leavitt also examines the city's portrayal in such novels and films as A Room with a View , The Portrait of a Lady and Tea with Mussolini .
176 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2002
14 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
David Leavitt
64 books429 followersLeavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
January 29, 2024
A very gay introduction to Florence, where bread is unsalted, and locals speak with an aspirated C. In less than half a dozen chapters David Leavitt explores Florence's reputation for so-called debauchery, its backbiting English colony, its gays—here delving a little too deeply into some truly obscure literary history—as well as its art and the ravages suffered at the hands of dictators, Nazis, and Mother Nature.
A Room with a View is referenced at least fifty times, so maybe read that one first? Not exactly a Baedeker, and definitely not meant for the Charlotte Bartletts of the world (that's TWO A Room with a View references, just by the way). Could have done without the 'here's why I'm not like the other expats living in Florence' at the end.
A Room with a View is referenced at least fifty times, so maybe read that one first? Not exactly a Baedeker, and definitely not meant for the Charlotte Bartletts of the world (that's TWO A Room with a View references, just by the way). Could have done without the 'here's why I'm not like the other expats living in Florence' at the end.
March 15, 2012
I don't know if it was me being ignorant in the "classics" or what, but this book was just so nose-in-the-air that I just couldn't do it anymore. I got it out as a way to introduce myself to Florence (Italy) before my trip in a few weeks but it was nothing like I thought - hoped - it would be. I snuck a peek at another review on here when I was deciding if I should stop reading or not (I try not to read reviews of things until after I've read or watched them), and it called the author pretentious, which is exactly what I mean by nose-in-the-air. I've started many books with the intention of finishing them *one day* but this is the first time I'm saying that I'm officially done with a book.
August 4, 2009
Cute little hardcover; another $1 find at Half Price. Highly subjective and impressionistic, essay style, full of historical and pop references... It's one writer's view of Florence and its strange allure to the tourist. First dozen pages make it clear that this was not commissioned by the Florence tourism bureau or chamber of commerce; and if it was they would be suing. So far, Leavitt makes Florence sound about as inviting as plague-ravaged Europe in the 12th century. A lot is made of the fact that people often go there to kill themselves; that the town is expensive, exploitative, dangerous, disorganized, full of blank stone walls and equally contemptuous and coldly indifferent citizenry.
Hey, let's pack!
Reading on....
I'm sure this is all snark before the inevitable punchline: "Despite all of this..."
OK, so immediately after I wrote this, the plethora of the city's charms gush forth from Leavitt's pen. Florence is home to almost a fifth of the world's art treasures, he points out, which makes every square inch of the town so drenched in history it almost becomes too unreal and overwhelming to engage. He ruminates a lot on the foreign experience in Florence, particularly of the English, drawn to it a century or so ago to escape the prudery of their own society, to alternately wonder at and be reviled by its moral decadence and physical filth. There is beautiful writing in this. Florence was a getaway for homosexuals; there seems little coincidence that most of its statuary is manly. That leads to this lovely passage:
"Like the advice of mothers, a row of Virtues shrinks to the shadows of the loggia, ignored. A herm, half human, half tree, is the piazza's pin-up girl. Her black fig leaf pulls all attentions toward it like a vanishing point, her flight from lust inciting what it seeks to repel.
A night the impression is even stronger. Torches along the zippered edges of the Palazzo Vecchio lend a glowing radiance to the stones, as if light has made them molten. At this hour the sight of Neptune, the slick white wetness of him, is enough to set the mouth watering. Looking at him, you finally understand why sculptors fought over blocks of white Carrara marble. You want to take off your shoes, wade through the fountain, scrape at the green algae on his flanks with your nails."
If you like that, you will like this. I like it.
---
OK, well I need to add a little bit. Leavitt, who has lived in Florence with his male partner, has a personal interest in discussing the expatriate gay scene in Florence, particularly among the English gentry. Some of this is interesting and some of it is padded and tedious, especially when he goes into the writings of the forgotten Osbert Sitwell and Roland Firbank. Actually I found some of these passages muddled and difficult to discern. This is the weakest section of the book, but it does lead into this gorgeous observation, talking about how Lord Acton neutered his writing in seeking the comforts and favor of society:
"Acton was emblematic of this tendency...in his salad days he was merely another young seeker after the anointing kiss of celebrity, planning his life, it sometimes seemed, around the objective of having something to write memoirs about when he was older. 'Society', the blandishments of the Emerald Cunards and Sybil Colefaxes of the world, entranced him, and to guarantee its approbation, he granted himself a fatal exemption from the rule of rigor and truthfulness. No writer can afford to be so polite, if he hopes to be remembered as anything other than a 'character.'"
Hey, let's pack!
Reading on....
I'm sure this is all snark before the inevitable punchline: "Despite all of this..."
OK, so immediately after I wrote this, the plethora of the city's charms gush forth from Leavitt's pen. Florence is home to almost a fifth of the world's art treasures, he points out, which makes every square inch of the town so drenched in history it almost becomes too unreal and overwhelming to engage. He ruminates a lot on the foreign experience in Florence, particularly of the English, drawn to it a century or so ago to escape the prudery of their own society, to alternately wonder at and be reviled by its moral decadence and physical filth. There is beautiful writing in this. Florence was a getaway for homosexuals; there seems little coincidence that most of its statuary is manly. That leads to this lovely passage:
"Like the advice of mothers, a row of Virtues shrinks to the shadows of the loggia, ignored. A herm, half human, half tree, is the piazza's pin-up girl. Her black fig leaf pulls all attentions toward it like a vanishing point, her flight from lust inciting what it seeks to repel.
A night the impression is even stronger. Torches along the zippered edges of the Palazzo Vecchio lend a glowing radiance to the stones, as if light has made them molten. At this hour the sight of Neptune, the slick white wetness of him, is enough to set the mouth watering. Looking at him, you finally understand why sculptors fought over blocks of white Carrara marble. You want to take off your shoes, wade through the fountain, scrape at the green algae on his flanks with your nails."
If you like that, you will like this. I like it.
---
OK, well I need to add a little bit. Leavitt, who has lived in Florence with his male partner, has a personal interest in discussing the expatriate gay scene in Florence, particularly among the English gentry. Some of this is interesting and some of it is padded and tedious, especially when he goes into the writings of the forgotten Osbert Sitwell and Roland Firbank. Actually I found some of these passages muddled and difficult to discern. This is the weakest section of the book, but it does lead into this gorgeous observation, talking about how Lord Acton neutered his writing in seeking the comforts and favor of society:
"Acton was emblematic of this tendency...in his salad days he was merely another young seeker after the anointing kiss of celebrity, planning his life, it sometimes seemed, around the objective of having something to write memoirs about when he was older. 'Society', the blandishments of the Emerald Cunards and Sybil Colefaxes of the world, entranced him, and to guarantee its approbation, he granted himself a fatal exemption from the rule of rigor and truthfulness. No writer can afford to be so polite, if he hopes to be remembered as anything other than a 'character.'"
March 18, 2024
2/5. Najverjetneje boste kadarkoli naslednjič brali boljši potopis o Firencah in njihovih sezonskih, kariernih in svetoboljnih literarnih migrantih. Horizont pričakovanja je pri tem potopisju strogo omejen na zaključno skupino bralcev, predvsem so to študenti ameriške književnosti in trabanti njih literarne teorije, ki tako lahko v nedogled sanjarijo o zgodovinskem mestu ob Arnu. Indeks uporabljenih virov je Leavittov največji doprinos.
January 29, 2024
I didn't like this book but I am not sure it should be shelved as disappointing, I'd probably have to create a mediocre section because the book is rather mediocre. Florence is fascinating, even the English community is fascinating, but not the one in this book. It is neither a good history of either (for start the English community and its Florence's attraction for UK homosexuals predates the 19th century, were Leavitt starts it, by centuries. There is a great deal to send up about the provincial 'UK gays with their snobberies - Forster did it in a few choice lines in 'Room With a View' (Leavitt does mention the book several times but I am never convinced he isn't really talking about the Merchant/Ivory film of the book).
Leavitt claims he spent time in Florence not within the 'English community' but to discover Florence of the Florentines but he doesn't do much of a job - I am sure there are, or were, stories to be found from amongst Florentines about it was like to service all those stuck up English aristos with literary pretentions but really you won't find it hear.
I don't think it is a good book and rather then waste time on it I'd recommend going back to classics like Mary McCarthy's 'The Stones of Florence' or don't bother reading anything at all and just walk around Florence with you eyes open and stop taking selfies.
Leavitt claims he spent time in Florence not within the 'English community' but to discover Florence of the Florentines but he doesn't do much of a job - I am sure there are, or were, stories to be found from amongst Florentines about it was like to service all those stuck up English aristos with literary pretentions but really you won't find it hear.
I don't think it is a good book and rather then waste time on it I'd recommend going back to classics like Mary McCarthy's 'The Stones of Florence' or don't bother reading anything at all and just walk around Florence with you eyes open and stop taking selfies.
April 8, 2021
A bit disappointing, to be honest...
April 30, 2010
This is the third title I have read in Bloomsbury's very impressiontic 'Writer and the City' series. (The other two being John Banville on Prague and Edmund Wilson on Paris). Always short and unillustrated, the books follow the same format in pairing a famous writer with a famous city.
It is fair to say that one learns as much about the writer, as the city he (so far it always has been a he) is writing about.
To capture the reader's attention, the book starts with a cheap literary ploy: 'Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides', a claim which Leavitt manifestly fails to substantiate.
Leavitt's main interest is the large and often querulous Anglo-Florentine colony, whose origins he traces back (incorrectly) to the middle of the 19th century. It was a colony that Leavitt nominally joined when, in 1993, he and his partner came to live in the city. It was not, however, a colony in which they wanted to participate; they were in search of 'the Florence of the Florentines'. If they managed to track down this elusive and vague quarry, they failed to share the discovery with the readers.
He notes that the writers who have chosen Florence as a place to live, have always been mediocre (Ouida, Firbank), while the truly talented (James, Forster) have swiftly moved on.
The book was published in 2002, by which time, we sense, Leavitt, perhaps in the light of this observation, had, too, left the city.
It is fair to say that one learns as much about the writer, as the city he (so far it always has been a he) is writing about.
To capture the reader's attention, the book starts with a cheap literary ploy: 'Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides', a claim which Leavitt manifestly fails to substantiate.
Leavitt's main interest is the large and often querulous Anglo-Florentine colony, whose origins he traces back (incorrectly) to the middle of the 19th century. It was a colony that Leavitt nominally joined when, in 1993, he and his partner came to live in the city. It was not, however, a colony in which they wanted to participate; they were in search of 'the Florence of the Florentines'. If they managed to track down this elusive and vague quarry, they failed to share the discovery with the readers.
He notes that the writers who have chosen Florence as a place to live, have always been mediocre (Ouida, Firbank), while the truly talented (James, Forster) have swiftly moved on.
The book was published in 2002, by which time, we sense, Leavitt, perhaps in the light of this observation, had, too, left the city.
October 12, 2010
Ugh. If I were a graduate student who thinks a tedium of examples of one thing will increase the reader's interest in my subject, and if my subject were 'the meaningless examples of British writers living in Florence, being homosexual and not accomplishing much' then I would love this book.
But I'm not. So I didn't.
I read it because it's part of The Writer and the City series and another book I've read of this series was great: 30 Days in Sydney, by Peter Carey. Also it was written by a UF professor so I was curious.
I've got another book of the series on my bedstand but the Florence one is making me hesitant to pick it up.
But I'm not. So I didn't.
I read it because it's part of The Writer and the City series and another book I've read of this series was great: 30 Days in Sydney, by Peter Carey. Also it was written by a UF professor so I was curious.
I've got another book of the series on my bedstand but the Florence one is making me hesitant to pick it up.
October 28, 2015
DNF. Is there a point to this book except for showing off the writer as well read and highly educated? Good writing goes to waste here on a bunch of unrelated anecdotes, historical and artistic pieces of information, unimportant personal material no one cares about and pretentious bullshit, all coming at you one after the other with no apparent reason or logical order. It also presents such silly statements as "Florence is a manly city", and suchlike, based on some famous person or another's words thrown to the air. I never thought a book about Florence could be that boring.
April 4, 2012
A small, thin book, like those one finds in boutiques---usually about cats, small dogs, and/or Paris, and mostly filled with pictures. This one could use pictures, if only for relief. Only five chapters, and almost none of them on Florence. Chapter five seems to explain why the book exists: David Leavitt is a gay author, and while he was in Florence, the last three "monuments" (his term) of the nearly century and a half existence of an expat Anglo-American Florentine community died. Gossips all, and well populated with gay men and women, these folks were notorious for trying to have the last word on their contemporaries, so what gay writer could resist attempting the last word on them?
The book's opening is very smart, and its first pages draw the reader in, but before the first chapter has closed, we're already on recycled gossip from this lamentable lot of rich and wannabe rich backbiters. The gossip swirls on, unabated, through chapters three and four, with a break for a rather dry explanation of the whys and hows of moving the statue of David from the piazza to the Academe, and then chapter five resumes the gossip and runs with it to the end of the book. Given that the opening seemed to promise a Florence that was about as far from the Forrester/Merchant Ivory image as the moon itself, the realization that the book is not really about Florence at all was a most bitter disappointment.
Bah!
The book's opening is very smart, and its first pages draw the reader in, but before the first chapter has closed, we're already on recycled gossip from this lamentable lot of rich and wannabe rich backbiters. The gossip swirls on, unabated, through chapters three and four, with a break for a rather dry explanation of the whys and hows of moving the statue of David from the piazza to the Academe, and then chapter five resumes the gossip and runs with it to the end of the book. Given that the opening seemed to promise a Florence that was about as far from the Forrester/Merchant Ivory image as the moon itself, the realization that the book is not really about Florence at all was a most bitter disappointment.
Bah!
August 27, 2013
Re-read (bought & read it in Florence in 2006 when I was staying there for a summer course) of this charming little ‘refreshing antidote to the average city guide’ as the cover says. Not always fairly judged though, just because it is not a city guide and you will be disappointed if that is what you expect. Surely a book that opens with the sentence: ‘Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides’ will give you a particular view of … a popular destination. The author lived in Florence (and as far as I know still divides his time between Italy and the US), knows a lot about the history and more about the ‘petit-histoire’. So he pays homage to Florence's Renaissance, but also tells about the flood of 1966 and every day life. Above all he wonderfully depicts the Anglo-Florentine colony that desperately tried to make Florence ‘hers’ and seasons his story with references to famous authors who wrote about Florence or in whose work the city left her traces: John Ruskin, Walter Pater, E.M. Forster, Henry James… From the latter Leavitt derived the title of this book: ‘The little treasure-city is, if there ever was one, a delicate case – more delicate perhaps than any other in the world save that of our taking on ourselves to persuade the Italians that they mayn’t do as they like with their own.’
A interesting read with nice references and interesting ‘notes for further reading’.
A interesting read with nice references and interesting ‘notes for further reading’.
January 6, 2013
Das Schöne an dem schmalen Band: Es werden nicht zum Hunderttausendsten Male Geschichten über die Zeit der Medicis, die Anfänge der Renaissance usw. wiedergekäut. Das Ernüchternde an dem Band ist: Die englischen (teils amerikanischen) Bewohner von Florenz vom Ende des 19. bis zur Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts werden nicht nur thematisiert – Leavitt schreibt über kaum etwas anderes. Wer sich für dieses Thema interessiert – meist geht es dabei um Schriftsteller – kommt absolut auf seine Kosten. Alle anderen werden sich schnell langweilen, weil viele Namen wenig vertraut sind und diese ewigen Tratsch- und Klatschgeschichten, insbesondere über Homosexualität, irgendwann ermüden. Was bleibt ist das Gefühl, dass man sich unbedingt mal wieder "Zimmer mit Aussicht" und "Tee mit Mussolini" anschauen sollte. Meine Kritik richtet sich dabei weniger gegen Leavitt, der das Buch sicher in einem anderen Kontext geschrieben hat, als gegen den Verlag, der das Buch für eine Reihe ausgewählt hat, von der ich persönlich mehr übergreifende Informationen erwarte.
September 8, 2022
Florence: a Delicate Case gives a fascinating insight into a city and some of its secrets. Leavitt, as the narrator, delves into the lives of several characters that have coloured the history of the city: many only briefly, some notorious, others just tourists, but all have left their mark on this indelible city that remains enigmatic no matter how deep you delve.
Any travelogue that starts with the sentence, "Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides," will grab your attention. During the lockdown, I've found myself picking up travelogues frequently to thumb through, perhaps subconsciously, as a way to travel from the present. Florence: A Delicate Case, I have thumbed through several times, always with great pleasure, as if greeting a missed friend.
Any travelogue that starts with the sentence, "Florence has always been a popular destination for suicides," will grab your attention. During the lockdown, I've found myself picking up travelogues frequently to thumb through, perhaps subconsciously, as a way to travel from the present. Florence: A Delicate Case, I have thumbed through several times, always with great pleasure, as if greeting a missed friend.
June 19, 2017
I found this book an informative read. David Leavitt, whose works I had read in the past gives a fascinating history of Florence 's Anglo American community & quotes from numerous sources on a segment of history that saw its heyday from the middle of the nineteenth century until the rise of Mussolini. If you've ever watched Tea with Mussolini, then this book (part of The Writer in the City series) illuminates the Italian city through the eyes of such luminaries ranging from Henry James to Mary McCarthy.
April 3, 2017
Not the best narrative woven in Florence. Leavitt is informative, but mostly alternates between being a drab and a bore focussing much on his own interest of the city - the expat anglo-florentines - their quirks and squabbles. For a town as rich in history as Florence, the telling mostly lacked imagination on any contemporary aspect of the city as well the subjective judgment of writer's own experiences ; when the narration did eventually began, it was well late into the winter of the book.
March 18, 2011
Boring and pretentious, like an unimpressive masters thesis composed in about 70% of quotes from mediocre writers.
April 23, 2019
2.5 stars. Abandoned about 2/3 of the way through - because life is too short to persist with books that don't engage me.
Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world, and the prospect of an author's low-down on it sounds instantly appealing. Unfortunately this book turned out to be a bit different to what I had expected. It explores the history of the Anglo-Florentine colony (and the wider expat community in general) that was particularly numerous between the 1850s and mid-1900s, attracted by its art, romantic reputation, cheap cost of living and its tolerance for homosexuality and other unconventional romantic arrangements. The author tries hard to write some sort of Florence Babylon, documenting the bitchy, scandalous, decadent inhabitants, their feuds and their lifestyles.
So far, so promising. However you have to be quite learned in Victorian / Edwardian literary history to fully appreciate this book, because many of the creatives mentioned are just not that well known. Bigger names such as Oscar Wilde, E M Forster and Henry James did pop up from time to time but only in passing, as they weren't part of that colony. In fact, David Leavitt made a very interesting remark about how the tolerant environment that Florence presented, might have robbed these people of their creative brilliance.
I might have enjoyed it more if the book talked more about the city than about a bunch of half-famous dead people.... more footnotes may have helped with a better understanding. This book is an essay that is a bit more academic, and less popular, than I liked / needed.
Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world, and the prospect of an author's low-down on it sounds instantly appealing. Unfortunately this book turned out to be a bit different to what I had expected. It explores the history of the Anglo-Florentine colony (and the wider expat community in general) that was particularly numerous between the 1850s and mid-1900s, attracted by its art, romantic reputation, cheap cost of living and its tolerance for homosexuality and other unconventional romantic arrangements. The author tries hard to write some sort of Florence Babylon, documenting the bitchy, scandalous, decadent inhabitants, their feuds and their lifestyles.
So far, so promising. However you have to be quite learned in Victorian / Edwardian literary history to fully appreciate this book, because many of the creatives mentioned are just not that well known. Bigger names such as Oscar Wilde, E M Forster and Henry James did pop up from time to time but only in passing, as they weren't part of that colony. In fact, David Leavitt made a very interesting remark about how the tolerant environment that Florence presented, might have robbed these people of their creative brilliance.
I might have enjoyed it more if the book talked more about the city than about a bunch of half-famous dead people.... more footnotes may have helped with a better understanding. This book is an essay that is a bit more academic, and less popular, than I liked / needed.
August 28, 2025
This book was both delightful and extremely irritating. The often catty accounts of Florence's gay history were great fun, the frequent glaring inaccuracies less so. The smug and pursy Mr Eager was trying to seduce Lucy Honeychurch? Not in my edition of Room with a View. Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff was English? Nope (the clue is in the name). Leavitt has a thing about Florence making its foreign residents convert to Catholicism, but Scott Moncrieff did so during WWI and John Pope-Hennessy was a cradle Catholic not an adult convert (again, the name Hennessy is a bit of a clue). Most annoying of all is Leavitt's sniffiness about the tram that runs out to Scandicci, which he considers a dreary suburb; according to him, Henry James would not have approved. Who the hell cares about what Henry James would have thought, Mr Leavitt? Florentines need somewhere to live, more than ever since being priced out of the centre by rich foreigners (no prizes for guessing where Leavitt lives) and they need an efficient and unpolluting way of getting to work. However, the passages describing the rescue operation after the flood of 1966 are genuinely moving. Yes, I often enjoyed this book, for it is engagingly written. Could I trust it? Absolutely not.
October 18, 2021
I'm wondering if it helps to love Florence already prior to reading this book - that, if you are already secure in your love/obsession with Florence (I admit to being rather captivated) , it will help you to cope with David Leavitt's analysis and sometimes scathing swipes at his subject (especially at its anglo-Florentine community)? I enjoyed reading Leavitt's observations and impressions, expounded upon with literary, historical and social references. This book gives you a flavour of the richness to be found in exploring Florence, whilst warning of its potential drawbacks. I don't mind the 'swipes', because the negative merges with the positive to make up a rich tapestry. Florence, like all cities, has its pitfalls - I have wept on the steps of San Lorenzo - don't ask, it's a long story! It was cathartic. So don't let this book put you off - if you visit Florence, you will be affected - how deeply will depend on various factors. If you have the chance to visit, you are very fortunate.
July 16, 2022
Beautiful essey about beautiful city. Definitely one of the best city-nonfiction I've read.
Writing about people and paintings, streets and monuments, places and culture, Leavitt describes and explains Florence perfectly, with great delicacy and true art.
He discovers some hidden sides of the city, known only for its residents, but also very accurately describes feelings of tourists visiting it for the first time.
There is a little bit too much about Anglo-Florentines, and unnecessary detailed analysis of some forgotten literary texts, but these don't ruin overall beauty of Leavitt's writing.
The author shows us some interesting fun facts, including description of so-called "Stendhal's Syndrome" (tourists collapsing from too much art), which mild variation I've definitely experienced dufring my busy Florentine days.
Only after reading 'Florence, A Delicate Case', I understood why so many ambulances are ready waiting on Plazza del Duomo all the time.
I highly recommend Leavitt's book to everyone, but especially to those, who visited Florence and fell in love with her.
Writing about people and paintings, streets and monuments, places and culture, Leavitt describes and explains Florence perfectly, with great delicacy and true art.
He discovers some hidden sides of the city, known only for its residents, but also very accurately describes feelings of tourists visiting it for the first time.
There is a little bit too much about Anglo-Florentines, and unnecessary detailed analysis of some forgotten literary texts, but these don't ruin overall beauty of Leavitt's writing.
The author shows us some interesting fun facts, including description of so-called "Stendhal's Syndrome" (tourists collapsing from too much art), which mild variation I've definitely experienced dufring my busy Florentine days.
Only after reading 'Florence, A Delicate Case', I understood why so many ambulances are ready waiting on Plazza del Duomo all the time.
I highly recommend Leavitt's book to everyone, but especially to those, who visited Florence and fell in love with her.
May 8, 2017
Pequeno livro sobre uma das mais belas cidades do Mundo. Arte e turistas abundam. Metade do livro, o autor faz referência aos Anglo-saxónicos que se refugiaram nesta cidade nos séculos XIX e XX. Alguns famosos escritores, outros fugidos das polícia de costumes inglesa. Um capítulo sobre as cheias de 1966 que arrasaram com a cidade e milhares de obras de Arte. Um livro que se lê rapidamente e que nos mostra alguns aspectos menos conhecidos de uma cidade que é muito conhecida pelas esculturas e quadros. Recomenda-se a visita à cidade. E com caderno e lápis para desenhar e escrever.
June 13, 2017
Best thing I can say about this book is that it's short.
I expected the author, a part-time Florence resident, to write about his personal experiences with the city and its people. He does so at the very end, but to get to that you must slog through chapters about what 19th century literary figures thought of the place.
Then he dedicates a whole chapter of the 150-odd page book to the history of gay life in the city. I understand this subject is pertinent to the author, but it felt out of place here.
I expected the author, a part-time Florence resident, to write about his personal experiences with the city and its people. He does so at the very end, but to get to that you must slog through chapters about what 19th century literary figures thought of the place.
Then he dedicates a whole chapter of the 150-odd page book to the history of gay life in the city. I understand this subject is pertinent to the author, but it felt out of place here.
June 30, 2017
DNF @ about 50 pages in.
For a book that's supposedly about Florence, the author spends the majority of his time on the Anglo-Florence community rather than the local population, leaving this book as yet another example of the English taking the spotlight instead of the locals. Aside from my lack of interest in such a community (especially when I expected to be reading about the city itself!!), the author writes in a very pretentious tone, leaving me with -1 motivation to continue on.
For a book that's supposedly about Florence, the author spends the majority of his time on the Anglo-Florence community rather than the local population, leaving this book as yet another example of the English taking the spotlight instead of the locals. Aside from my lack of interest in such a community (especially when I expected to be reading about the city itself!!), the author writes in a very pretentious tone, leaving me with -1 motivation to continue on.
July 9, 2024
This book was a quick read and I'm thankful for that.
There was only one chapter in this book that I enjoyed, the rest was a useless mush of facts that were too specific to for me to interpret or enjoy. I also didn't appreciate the author's tone sh*tting on Florence as a whole, like yes all major cities have a dark side/bad eras in history, but I wanted to read about all the fascinating history in a positive light... frowny face.
There was only one chapter in this book that I enjoyed, the rest was a useless mush of facts that were too specific to for me to interpret or enjoy. I also didn't appreciate the author's tone sh*tting on Florence as a whole, like yes all major cities have a dark side/bad eras in history, but I wanted to read about all the fascinating history in a positive light... frowny face.
August 22, 2019
For me, a strange book about Florence.
I think the best parts are quotations from other writers, and there were times when I was not particularly impressed with the way a quote was used. Also, I felt lost at times. It's like listening to someone who has an idea but can't get it into words quite right. That might be just me.
I think the best parts are quotations from other writers, and there were times when I was not particularly impressed with the way a quote was used. Also, I felt lost at times. It's like listening to someone who has an idea but can't get it into words quite right. That might be just me.
July 29, 2022
Less prattle about authors, half of which i don't know, and the other half i could care less about, and more on the culture, art and Anglo-Florentine influence on the city over time.
A very delicate case study indeed.
A very delicate case study indeed.
November 25, 2017
Short, nicely written residential travelogue of Florence - history, food, customs all contrasting the tourist to the resident.
March 20, 2019
Wat een tegenvallend boek. Het hoofdstukje over de overstroming van 1966 was nog het meest interessante.
December 28, 2020
I loved it...
July 30, 2022
A brief but enjoyable discussion of Florence.
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