The Perils of Bike Riding in Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

If you have dropped in on this blog often enough, you will know that I love having the use of my friend Hafiza’s bicycle while I am living here in Florence, Italy. However, there are times . . .

As a pedestrian I must confess that I prefer to walk in the streets of central Florence. Maybe it is because the center of the strada is the most open space between Medieval stone buildings. Maybe there are fewer obstacles for a more carefree and daydreaming way of walking. Or it could be that the sidewalks tend to have little doggy (and sometimes people) “landmines” decorating them.

But as a bicyclist, I often feel frustrated at having to share the road with oblivious pedestrians. I mean – I MUST use the street, right? Some days are truly an obstacle course, and dangerous because people seem to change their minds about their courses or are suddenly attracted to some store window and turn right in front of another person.

Then there are the times in which a car stalls on these narrow streets – or wishes to parallel park and time stands still while horns honk away. (Do all city people lay on the noise so easily? Ouch!) THEN I do ride or walk my bike on the sidewalk.

In central Florence, car access is limited. The postal carriers all use yellow bikes with matching outfits, as seen in my snapshot here. Along the Arno River, the main Viale (the big road that follows the long extinct wall around Florence), and outskirts of centro, there are bike paths along the roads or on parts of the sidewalk. They are painted red with an occasional white bike icon marking the space. I have taken a few images of times when I was blocked from the road made for me (the cyclist) by cars parking rather blatantly in this space. Hmmmm.



Then there are the parking issues and thriving bike theft businesses. Any bicycle left in the same spot for more than about two days is destined for trouble, if it is still there at all once the owner returns. Florence does not have enough bike racks. And pedestrians take ownership of their sidewalks by doing such forgiving acts as slashing tires of bikes parked on a sidewalk and, in my case one time, picking up the entire locked bicycle and placing it on top of a trash bin. How do you like how one cyclist solved his parking problem? I took this image behind the Church of Santo Spirito.



This last image was taken after a friend told me about a nearby street that had fallen victim to an arsonist who had been vandalizing Florence in May of 2008. He was caught.


But I must admit that I had my most unpleasant biking experience last week. Wednesday night on my way to my friend Skye's flat for dinner, I was riding my bike near the Pitti Palace when a woman opened her car door suddenly before me. I think we both heard my scream right before the THUMP. Hafiza's bike did not make contact with the car door, so the bike and the car were fine, but my right shoulder took a beating that I have not had since my skateboarding accident in 1995. I am not sure why I felt so embarrassed to be hurt, but there it was. I was late to Skye’s place.
She had a bag of frozen peas for my injury, but I am still typing in pain and swelling.

Happy International Women’s Day.