Holly(wood)Fever

“You must live the city to find Dante, the Divine Comedy is literally written across town”

Eugenio Giani.

I said it many times, living in Florence is like living in a painting, every step is another stroke with a paintbrush and every breath you take is a step closer to its rich history.

With the summer slowly kicking in, the streets are one lively feast and the bright rays of sunlight make for wondrous scenery over the river Arno.

Tourists have always been part of the City and from all over the world people come to thoroughly inhale Florence’s undeniable beauty.

The streets are always crowded & the lines to lay eyes on David, endless. However this time around there’s a different atmosphere.

The tourists have changed: they are a different genre, you can tell by the way they walk, talk, search & hunt.

Their cameras are bigger & their shorts less short.

People obsessed with fame.

It is obvious they are not after Michelangelo or Davide.

They are here to catch a glimpse of Ron Howard & Tom Hanks, no kidding.

The circus has come to town.

Howard is filming Dante’s masterpiece “La Divina Commedia” which Dante wrote when he was exiled from Florence after finding himself on the wrong side in one of the city’s complex clashing vendetta’s.

The moment the date of filming was confirmed flights to Florence sold out & hotels overbooked.

Main reason for traveling: let’s follow Tom Hanks & his entourage.

So here they are.

Fans.

In thousands, jaunting the streets of Florence, hoping to eye their big screen hoagie or producing hero.

Waiting for hours in the heat on the Ponte Vecchio & in Piazza Singoria, hoping to be picked as an extra in the movie, oblivious to the beauty surrounding them.

It’s almost a divine comedy but if that’s what gets your juices flowing who am I to judge?

Quite fascinating though how the making of a movie influences daily life in a small City like Florence, with traffic jams both on the streets & roads being the major pickle but what did I expect? Tom is getting ready for his next oscar winning scenes…

Nonetheless, having the masters of movie making on Italian soil does give a feeling of pride and a hint of Hollywood on your doorstep.

It puts Florence back on every “Must see” bucket list & gives a new voice to the world.

And while Ron Howard travels through Dante’s Hell, Purgatory Paradise & heaven on the historic streets of Florence, I wonder what Dante would think of all the uproar if he could see the mobocracy himself.

He would probably wonder how many people really knew him & how many had ever heard of his epic poem, which has been recognized as one of the greatest works of world literature. And while he looked up to his beloved bridge, he’d bow, close his eyes, pick up his quill and start writing for another 12 years.

Inferno 2.

The sequel.