Art Crawl

Tonight I went to an "Art Crawl," which is FITC's creative alternative to the pub crawl. I have only heard about pub crawls and have seen many students stumbling from bar to bar, consuming large amounts of alcohol. When I heard about the Art Crawl, I thought it would be fun to take part in it even though I'm not a student. The Florentine photographer Cosimo Bargellini, who also teaches at FUA - Florence University of the Arts, came to talk about taking photos of Florence at night.

Living in Florence :: Art Crawl

We all met at a local bar to enjoy an aperitivo (apéritif) at 9PM, and after a few introductions we walked to Piazza Santa Croce because we all didn't fit into the bar. All 50 of us, along with at least 15 Italians, stood on the steps in front of the chiesa (church) to listen to Cosimo.

Cosimo talked to us about taking pictures at night and gave us a lot of advice, such as using a high ISO speed, not using the flash, stabilizing ourselves as much as possible to restrict any movement while taking photos, and to try to not center things in our photos. My problem is that I love to center things, so that was a little difficult to accept at first.

We then walked along via dei Benci past many of the bars that take part in the pub crawls to the Lungarno opposite the Uffizi so we could take pictures. He even suggested that we put our cameras on the stone wall along the Arno to stabilize ourselves better.

Afterwards, we walked to Piazza Santa Felicità where he talked about the artwork inside the small chiesa. We walked past Piazza Pitti and ended up in Cosimo's favorite piazza, Piazza Santo Spirito.

I took most of my photos in Piazza Santo Spirito as it was the most interesting to me at night. We all chatted with Cosimo a bit about photography and Florence. His face lit up when he talked about Florence and even took a few pictures himself. I was happily surprised to find out that his nonno (grandfather) was the beloved sindaco dell'alluvione (mayor of Florence during the flood).

I enjoyed the Art Crawl very much because I learned a lot about photography and was able to enjoy Florence at night with other people. I enjoyed talking to the students I met as we walked to each location. I'm looking forward to the next Art Crawl because I also enjoy experiencing Florence in a more creative way.

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