These boots were made for walking : FLORENCE & PISA, ITALY

If there was one place I could visit this summer with my family, it would be Italy.  I have a yearning for the gorgeous light, the shimmering sea, impressive stone buildings, the history, the fashion, I could go on and on. Top of the places I’d like to visit again is Florence and Pisa.

“Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.” –Anna Akhmatova

 

Follow Amanda Cottingham’s board Florence/Pisa on Pinterest.

I’ve only visited once before, last year, but it blew my mind.  When I came back I couldn’t stop thinking about the area.  Here is a page from my notebook that I used to whilst I was there.  Reminders to myself of feelings that I felt, or what I saw.  Just a quick essence really. I was travelling by coach so apologies for my handwriting. So it was using these words from my note-book, I have been dreaming, and pinning to my Florence and Pisa board on Pinterest.   Here are the key things I wanted to evoke about Florence and Pisa :

1. Light and Stone – Understated

Source : Desire to inspire

Light and space, history and modern life living hand in hand.  When you walked around the streets the history around every corner was breath-taking, churches, monuments and statues and yet the people, the technology, fashion everything else was bang up to date. I choose pins that went with the understated elegance and glamour of Florence, in interiors and exterior spaces.  Expressing light, natural products, the new and the old working together.

 

Blue and Passion

Source : Tumblr

Following on from light, the colours in the Mediterranean just sing! Everything seems brighter, and more full and dense.  The cobalt blue I saw everywhere I went.  It’s not a colour that I’ve taken much notice of at home, but when I came back, I found myself searching it out.  The clothing, painted doorways, pieces of furniture and the sea and sky, everything had a depth of colour that I tried to convey in small way in some of the pins I choose.

Art and History

Source : Blood and Champagne

Amazing history in the buildings all around you, in Florence and Pisa, the stone and weather-beaten wood. The historical art by the great masters alongside more modern photography, many of which were of the actual area.  As I wandered around the streets of Pisa and Florence it was hot, tiring and noisy.  I exclaimed out loud when I rounded one corner I remember, and came upon the most beautiful building I had ever seen, such detail in the arches, stonework and brick. So I choose pins that hopefully reflected the beauty of the architecture, but the need for light airy spaces away from the bustling Florence city  streets.

I also choose some paintings and modern photographs that could adorn a Florence/Pisa styled home. Overall I hope my pins are of interesting rooms and beautiful things to put in them, for inspiration. They reflect homes that have enhanced the period details with beautiful cool white walls and pops colour from small objects, or warmth from wood and stone. An understated elegance.

“It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone.” –Erica Jong

You can find out more about why I wrote this post, by looking on my previous post HERE, and LoveChicLivings post HERE