The Italian Job — Literally
Me: “Hello, we’re here for the Jazz”
Waitress: “We are fully booked tonight. Did you call earlier? I told you we have no tables”
Me: “I have tickets for the Jazz festival, is this La Terrazza?”
Waitress: “There’s no music here tonight. La Terrazza literally means ‘the terrace’ there are tens of them across the city . . .”
Oops.
We did make it in the end and it was absolutely fantastic.
It was 2022, Jess and I were freshly married. We threaded the needle between covid lockdowns and people per square metre restrictions and were left wondering what next? Her work had just announced a 60 day work from anywhere policy where employees were encouraged to traipse around the globe for a very tax-law-friendly amount of time. As it turned out Propeller Aero had the same policy — and so the planning began.
It’s not like we had a lot of stuff but the downsizing and packing up our apartment took ages. It was worth it to save a cool $10k on rent that we would shortly blow on gelato and driving fines but it was nonetheless strange to have no home anymore. As we waved goodbye to Sydney I kept remarking “the triple tap doesn’t work anymore, I don’t have a set of keys”.
One thing that we loved so much was starting our working “holiday” with a real holiday. We spent one magical week in Corfu, Greece. It was summertime in Europe and we scootered, sailed and hitched a few rides around the island, exploring all the coves and inlets, swimming in the clear and calm Mediterranean and wishing we’d bought water shoes for the rocky beaches.
Now onto the actual 10 weeks of remote work in Florence. I must say we didn’t expect how hot and busy it would be. Thousands of tourists milling about, queuing up for the Duomo, gelato, restaurants and panini. We tried to do too much in our first week to make the most of our time there, working diligently from 7am to 3pm (to catch our Australian colleagues for 2 hours in their afternoon) then heading straight out into the hottest part of the day. We mostly walked but also took the rideshare bikes across the bumpy cobblestone streets. It was… unsustainable. Gelato can only cool you down so much and it seemed only the tourist trap restaurants were open in the early evening. That’s when we learned about the Italian cousin of the siesta, the “riposo”. Afternoons are for napping and having a little snack. Then, once you’re rested it’s time to head out for golden hour and find a little bar or restaurant for aperitivo. One of our favourite spots became a riverside bar just a short walk from our apartment, the beers and spritz were reasonably priced, and old men smoked and played cards on the plastic tables and chairs. It was shady, had a choice spot next to the river Arno and the grumpy lady behind the bar preferred to speak Italian, which was equally intimidating and satisfying (once I could actually understand!). To enjoy Florence in the summertime you must stay up late. The piazzas and streets come alive with people, music, drinks and food. Dinner starts at 9pm (so the afternoon snack/nap is absolutely necessary) and the warm summer nights feel like they could go on forever.
One challenge to working abroad is your work set-up. Back in Sydney I’m used to my 32 inch 4k monitor, comfy chair that adjusts in 7 different ways, reliable(ish) internet and having access to my Australian colleagues during business hours. In Florence I worked off a laptop screen, a dining chair with a noticeable lack of back support; and our landlord kept tripping the circuit breakers trying to charge her electric car which cut out our internet. I did get a lot of face time with my Polish colleague which was equal parts fun and productive.
Being the first summer that you could travel abroad after the peak of Covid-19, we ended up seeing a lot of our friends and family, both in Florence and other parts of Europe. It was truly amazing and it felt like almost every weekend we were looking forward to another visitor coming to stay or taking a short flight for a weekend away. It was strange, though, because while we lived there, we actually felt we missed Florence! When a free weekend came up that we could dedicate to exploring some of the other neighbourhoods we jumped at the chance. And it wasn’t just the city, but the surrounding countryside. Some of our favourite day trips were to San Miniato, San Gimignano and a couple of vineyards and Fattorias. The Fattorias were particularly special and having a dinner of locally grown produce among the rolling hills of Tuscany was an absolute dream come true.
The food is not fancy, but it’s authentic, it’s seasonal and full of love.
It sounds hectic, and it was. We learned we needed to take it easy too. I would feel guilty for taking a break and “not making the most of it”, but sometimes you just wanna watch a couple of hours of comfort TV and order a take-away butter chicken and that is O.K. All in all it was a lot of work, a lot of highs and the occasional low, but we made memories that will last forever. Absolutely worth it.
