Page 138 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2022 DISCOVERING MADRID

SHOP to Florence, who transforms street signs into
Here’s what every tourist knows. For all that cheeky cartoons, often featuring a mischievous
stick figure.
glitters, head to the Ponte Vecchio, the famous
bridge flanked by posh shops filled with gold Florence nurtures a particularly rich seam of
and gems. For designers like Armani, Prada, creativity along Via dei Bardi and Via San Nic-
Pucci, and Dolce & Gabbana, sashay away to Via colo, where you often encounter artisans at
Tornabuoni. Meanwhile, the San Lorenzo Mar- work in their shops. If you’re after classic Flo-
ket and Mercato Nuovo boast more leather rentine handicrafts made of leather and hand-
than a dominatrix convention. made paper, including photo frames and finely
But you can really go off-piste in some of Flo- bound notebooks and diaries, check out Il Tor-
rence’s more unique boutiques. Officina Pro- chio.
fumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, For something completely different, visit
founded by medieval monks and housed in an Bottega Storica d’Art “jewelry museum,” a
ornate rococo chapel, is like the world’s weird- Gothic steampunk version of Hogwarts’ Room
est Bath & Body Works. It stocks a bountiful as- of Requirement, bursting with brass goblets,
sortment of soaps, shampoos, lotions, candles glass pyramids, mysterious fluid-filled jars, and
and eau de cologne, but some items---like the Persian (possibly flying) carpets, creating a the-
Acqua di S.M. Novella perfume, originally com- atrical stage set for Alessandro Dari’s elabo-
missioned by Caterina de’ Medici in the 16th rately wrought jewelry. A series of crenellated
century---have a remarkably illustrious history. rings have names like “Alchemist’s Rest,” “An-
A five-minute walk away, Mio Concept Store gel’s Dwelling,” and “Holy Grail.” (So that’s
is filled with funky eco-friendly jewelry, home- where it’s been all this time). A necklace shaped
like a tarantula with a glass orb body actually
wares, and accessories, including a messenger
bag made of recycled paper--washable, so pre- pulsates on a plinth. Surely, I thought, there
sumably it won’t turn to pulp in the rain. must be a horcrux or two in this mix.
There’s also a terrific assortment of works by In a backroom, glimpsed through a tiny win-
Florentine street artists like Exitenter, Blub dow, I spied the artist himself—jeweler, sculp-
and #Lebies, whose creations brighten building tor, perhaps even magician---sitting as still and
facades around the city. Perhaps the most silent as a waxwork. When he finally moved, I
renowned is CLET, a French artist transplanted had to stifle a scream.

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