Although there were numerous spots in the apartment in which I coveted-- the tall window downstairs looking out onto the wine shops and street vendors of Borgo San Lorenzo; the terrace, equipped with a seamless view of the Duomo and the constellations at night; the kitchen, with two long windows along the cabinets which shone the golden daylight onto the black marble floors in a room mostly conquered by shadows-- one stole my affections.
The pale walls slowly cycled between being illuminated golden to covered in mustard shadows throughout the day, but the window always remained open. When I sat at the bottom of my bed, I could turn toward my window to gaze upon the reflection of the Duomo in the kitchen window. On a nice night, the breeze carries into the room to kiss my skin and suck the off-white curtain into the window, begging to be free beneath the evening sky.
I left the window open throughout the day to hear the busy streets on the other side of our top floor apartment, and even the occasional bellow of laughter from the muffled Italian dinner parties in the building. But most importantly, keeping the window open meant that the golden light from the Firenze sunsets would reflect off the kitchen window and pour into my room until there was a slice of honey colored floorboards in the middle of the room.
Having had the opportunity to travel, I approached some of the most captivating sights I've ever witnessed over the course of three months. In March, I sat at the front of the gondola to watch it pass skillfully through the canals in Venice as the gondolier sang beautiful Italian music behind me. In January, I explored the inside of the Colosseum in Rome as rain drops caressed the top of my head. In April, I sat on the beach of Positano with a bottle of sparkling wine and good friends, with the colorful buildings stacked behind us as a live band serenaded us from the oceanside patio.
These are only a few of the beautiful sights that I daydream about already; and yet, I realized that as a firm believer in the ethereal beauty in simple things, the window was my favorite view in all of Firenze.
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