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 A Florentine Notebook Spic and Span
Monday, 11:00 AM
The Florentines know this, of course, so they spare no expense to keep the city spic and span. Street sweepers keep the litter at bay, "dungmeisters" (I'm sure the Italians have a name for them) pick up after the horse-drawn carriages, little 3-wheel trucks (with the bizarre model name of APECAR) make sure the garbage cans don't overflow, and large trucks cart everything off to some unknown destination. Some effort is made to keep the litterbugs in check. For example, garbage cans are plentiful and usually sport the slogan Per Firenze Pulita (For a Clean Florence). Interestingly, the city garbage crew goes by the rather nice name of Fiorentinambiente, a blend word that means something like "Florentine ambience", or more prosaically, "Florentine environment."
Copyright © 1995-2008 Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited |
ne of the most striking things about Florence is its cleanliness. Every street, large or small, each via and viale, each piazza and park, is immaculate. And this is despite one very ugly and not insignificant fact: many of the millions of tourists who descend upon Florence are pigs. To me, having grown up as I did under the influence of a massive anti-litering campaign, it is quite shocking to see people tossing papers, packets, and other flotsam on the street. Apparently, many Europeans and Americans don't seem to think it's much of a big deal.
