And so the celebration began…

This morning, in the sunniest day Florentines had in weeks, the celebration in honour of Amerigo Vespucci - and the Anno Vespucciano - officially kicked off. Made sure I had time for a quick breakfast before and while enjoying coffee & jam croissant I found an article about Amerigo Vespucci in one of the national newspapers. At 9.15 a service was celebrated in the church of Ognissanti. The small number of people that turned up (probably the only who managed to get up on time!) was slightly disappointing but contributed to create a very intimate atmosphere. Over the mass the navigator and his family were remembered several times especially in the priest’s sermon centred on ideas of fame, faith and dust (men like Amerigo, who left an imprint in the world’s history, became important thanks to their cleverness and their faith in God. It does not matter how famous one is during his life, we must remain humble and remember that we were dust, and dust we will be again).

After the service everybody (big crowd waiting outside the church) gathered on the square in front of Ognissanti for the speeches or Florence’s mayor, the president of the “Comitato Amerigo Vespucci a Casa Sua” and Sarah Morrison the US Consul General. The programme of Florence’s initiatives planned for 2012, designed to mark the relationships between Florence and the New World, was briefly explained (will post more about this!). The audience comprised Florence’s citizens, representatives of the town hall and various associations, and members the Marines dressed head-to-toe. It was a feast of music, words, laughs and coloured flags. 

The morning ended in the courtyard of the ex-Vespucci hospital, the Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio, where official pictures were taken and a lot of hands shaking was done. A horde of people kept coming and going, welcomed in the building by three gorgeous girls dressed up as fifteenth century ladies (clearly inspired by images of Simonetta Vespucci and, possibly, Botticelli’s three Graces. But that is just my personal bet). The Visconti, a Florence-based company famous for the production of writing tools, presented their new limited edition pen bearing a geographic pattern inspired by the Waldsemuller Map. Managed to get a free (well, hopefully free) Visconti metal bookmark and also fell in love with the most amazing-looking tie I ever seen. This friendly American man, who I started chatting to, was wearing a white silk(ish) tie filled in with blue question marks and a red sentence at the bottom “Who named America?”. A bit cheesy someone might argue but definitely fun and spot on. Loved it and secretly wanted it.