ETC Posts

Italy - Florence - Seasons
Cafes and Coffee Culture in Florence
Italy has always been synonymous with coffee culture: a tradition that is deeply embedded in daily life. Here, coffee becomes more than just a drink. It’s a ritual, a pause, and even a form of art.

The historic cafes of Florence immediately evoke an atmosphere of elegance and tradition.
Along with being a cultural and historical hub, Florence is unique in shaping Italian coffee culture.
Strolling through the streets of the city center, amongst frescoed buildings, historic squares, and famous monuments that recall the Renaissance, it is not uncommon to spot ancient signs of bars and to catch glimpses, through the glass windows facing the street, of marvelous interiors decorated with shiny mirrors, wooden walls, and refined stuccoes.
Entering such well-kept environments for a coffee or hot chocolate thus adds value to the day.

These historic cafés of Florence are icons of Italian style. They envelop you in an atmosphere rich in charm, shaped by Read more...

Italy - Florence - Education
Fun Italian Slang Phrases to Sound Like a Local
Learning a language involves more than just mastering grammar and vocabulary. It's about immersing yourself in the culture, understanding local colloquial expressions, and feeling like a local.

When traveling abroad, many people strive to be treated as a friend, not a tourist. The most efficient way to avoid being seen as a foreigner is to learn some crucial slang phrases to make it seem like it’s not your first time in the country.

These phrases and local dialect will immerse you in Italian culture and help you become a regular, allowing you to connect with locals and make your trip to Italy memorable.

Funny Italian Phrases:

Salve, come va?
This is a casual and colloquial way of saying “Hey, how’s it going?”, rather than saying “Buongiorno, come stai?”, which means “Good day, how are you?”.

È tutto pepe!
This is a phrase used to describe someone who is full of life. This would be used to describe someone who has a vibrant personality and a sunny disposition that brings joy to everyone around them.

Che figata!
This is a casual way of saying “Cool!” or “What a cool thing!”.
For example, if someone came back to Read more...

Italy - Florence - Education
Capture the most Photogenic Spots
Explore the city and get wall-worthy photos to relive your trip, forever.

Since its time as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century, Florence has been a cultural star of Europe.
This beautiful city offers breathtaking art, mind-blowing architecture, and mouth-watering food, all tucked into cobblestoned streets and bustling piazzas.

Whether you’re hunting for Instagrammable spots or seeking that perfect shot, these spots will help you capture great photos. As they say in Italy… “andiamo!”

San Lorenzo Market
Where real Florentine life happens daily. The indoor Mercato Centrale bursts with local vendors selling aged cheeses to fresh truffles, while the outdoor market showcases Italian leather craftsmanship. It’s cultural immersion through incredible food.
Morning hours bring the most energy as locals shop and vendors arrange colourful displays. Natural light through the market’s glass roof creates beautiful food photography conditions.
Any foodies would be in heaven here.
They have colourful produce, aged cheeses, hanging salamis, fresh pasta making, and more. The outdoor leather market provides vibrant street photography with artisans working and authentic cultural moments that make for great photos of local life.

Duomo & The Ponte Vecchio
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore represents Renaissance architecture at its peak.
Brunelleschi‘s dome and Giotto’s Read more...

Italy - Florence - Education
Famous Paintings in Florence
The city of Florence is the cradle of art in the Western world. Florence is home to scores of museums, palaces, churches, and cloisters that contain incredible masterpieces.

The art in Florence is dominated by one period, the Italian Renaissance. Within Florence’s medieval walls, lived the greatest painters of the time — Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Giotto, Masaccio, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, and Giorgio Vasari.

It was in Florence that Europe’s first museums took shape. They began in family collections, then turned into princely collections.

What Art To See In Florence:

Masaccio, The Holy Trinity, Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

Santa Maria Novella is a beautiful church with a striking polychrome and white marble facade. The interior is a true marvel. And it holds one of the most famous and innovative paintings in Italy, The Holy Trinity by Masaccio.

Masaccio was an early Renaissance superhero who tragically died young of malaria at only 27. Masaccio was the first artist, in art history, to incorporate single point linear perspective into his art. This created the illusion of space within a painting and made The Holy Trinity look like a recess in the chapel.

A remarkable thing about the painting is the architectural details. Masaccio used forms of ancient Roman architecture — coffers, columns, a barrel vault, capitals, and a triumphal arch.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus, Uffizi Gallery

Birth of Venus is a dreamlike celebration of beauty and love. It’s a lush, richly symbolic, Read more...

Italy - Florence - Leisure
The Coffee Culture in Florence
Bitter or sweetened, in a glass or in a large cup, macchiato or shaken. No matter how you prefer it, there is no doubt: coffee for Italians is a real ritual.

With small red fruits that resemble cherries, the Coffea is an evergreen shrub that grows in the equatorial and tropical regions.
It is a plant extremely sensitive to temperature changes and humidity, and includes almost a hundred species of the Rubiaceae family.
Only some of these varieties are grown for coffee production.

The curious thing is that the aroma of these fruits is not contained in the pulp, but in the seeds. It is, in fact, the seeds that, roasted and ground, give us that full-bodied infusion with an irresistible aroma.

The origins of coffee are shrouded in mystery. Some date back to the 6th century in the highlands of Kaffa, a province of southwestern Ethiopia.

Legend has it that a shepherd, having noticed the invigorating power that these vermilion berries exerted on grazing sheep, used them Read more...