Europe 2003 - Part 3: Firenze, Tuscano

I left Milano after much hassle and grovelling from Metro to ticket booths. I had to pay a supplement for the Roma train to Santa Maria Novella in Florence of 8 euros. The reader should be aware that I’m on a month-long Inter-rail pass covering most of Europe, which I hope to take advantage of.

Last night, it struck me that a lot of Milanese corruption was due to the local Mafia. The term Mafia can be used to describe 5 distinct groups of organised criminals - the original Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra), the Calabrian ‘ndrageta (known for at least one killing a day in the 90’s), the Camorra of Napoli, the Sacra Corona Unita and La Rosa of Puglia. In the early 1990’s the estimated combined worth of Italian Mafia groups was 12% of GNP. A journalist once noted that ‘the Mafia and the establishment are intertwined’ and ‘The Mafia is not only omnipotent, it is omnipresent’, a remark on how the groups have influence in almost any part of Italy. I suppose that it would not be too silly to try to avoid obvious Mafia activity.

The train rolled out of Milano and soon enough, fields and maize plantations began to appear. The occasional flash of heavy indusry was a reminder that the cash-obsessed North had its claws in rural Lombardy. The train ambled, in bright sunshine, through lazy vineyards and orchards, with strange music filling the void of hearing. Often, I saw trails of dried-up rivers, moss laden and tired looking. Piacenza was a dreary stop, devoid of anything interesting and my thoughts became engaged on the splendour of Florence, as I continued reading about it. And my train lumbered on through deepest Tuscany. The view turned utterly magnificent. Large clusters of olive groves and vividly rich segments of fields passed in the afternoon sun, each trying to outdo the wild flowers in a show of flamboyance. Hills meandered in succession, and the train sometimes went through a hole in the hills which looked like a missing tooth in Dracula’s lower mouth. I reached Florence in the evening, a town as mesmerising as all those writers and artists have said - no use trying to describe something which has already had rivers of ink wasted to try to find a superlative. Florence is stunning. The number of tourists is also stunning.

The Lonely Planet said the “HI Florence” was the best hostel in Europe, so I thought to give it a go! I met 2 Scottish girls who were taking a bus back to the hostel so I didn’t have to think much to get there. The hostel was jammed to the brim with backpackers and tourists, so I had to make do with a bed in a shared tent. Soon enough, I hooked up with 2 German girls and we had dinner at the hostel. Their German friend brought his guitar and with my bizzare magnetism to the guitar, we had hundreds of people in this place jamming, courtesy the four of us who looked like two couples. Katarina and Heni the two German girls were great fun and we drank all night until the curfew started, when everybody is rounded up like small babies and told to get to sleep! Cheap it may be, but this is the kind of thing you have to put up with! I had an average night’s sleep, David (the German guitar guy) took today to go into the mountains. I spent today going around Florence with the girls and will be heading back on the bus soon, since it is too hot and I am tired and need to siesta! We hope (the three Germans and I) to go out tonight for dinner, etc. Michelangelo’s David has lifted me to a state that is beyond compare. Tomorrow I plan to take the train to Roma, once the splendid heart of a civilisation that shattered continents in its’ wake.

[Photo omitted - Caption: David, Anna and I at the grand YHI hostel in Florence, Italy]