PRIVATE WALKING TOUR OF OLTRARNO, FLORENCE'S LEFT BANK

The Artisan neighborhood of Florence is fascinating. In a maze of alleys and side streets where you happen upon jewelers making earrings similar to those worn by duchess Eleonora de Toledo, or book binders sewing the pages of an old book on a loom, or a world famous metalsmith soldering an intricate grape leaf to  a lamp...We also see the beautiful  facade  of the Santo Spirito church with its lovely piazza lined with several cafès nudged between old Renaissance palaces.

Oltrarno means "Beyond the Arno", and although it's s working man's neighborhood, it houses the richest and largest Medici residence: Palazzo Pitti, and several churches with important  works of art. The Medici had a corridor built to connect the Uffizi to their new residence, Palazzo Pitti, so they could quickly travel from offices to home without dealing with the common folk.  In the process they tore down part of the Santa Felicità church, which is where the tour begins. Site of one of the oldest Christian communities in Florence, the church of Santa Felicità houses one of the most famous mannerist paintings in Florence: Pontormo's Descent from the Cross .

In 1525 Pontormo painted for the Capponi family chapel figures floating around a cross in jarring pinks,blues and orange. The ceiling frescoes of the chapel  were destroyed to make room for the balcony from which the Medici celebrated mass, from above, of course. It was kind of an elite mall with access to a church from up on high.

Not far from Santa Felicità are jewellers who create animal pendants and earrings from irregular shaped Australian pearls just like those on display in Palazzo Pitti (Museo degli Argenti). Pearls everywhere were used in high society as you might  have guessed from the Medici portraits. If hubby traveled afar for work,  a rare and special present called Ninnolo in Italian, was  a must. The two jewelers from tiny wax molds cast silver studs for a diamond eye of  a cat, or gold wings for a bird, or a tiny gold tail of an animal. The shape of the pearl inspires  the idea for the animal.

In another direction from Santa Felicità are two famous bookbinders  who have been sewing leather bound books by hand  for many years. This shop was very  busy in 1966, when so many books were ruined from the Great Flood of the Arno. Afterwards we'll visit one of the oldest printers in Florence who now sells beautiful marlblized paper. We'll walk then to Santo Sprito to have an espresso in a fun cafè in front of the scalloped  shape façade of the church.