Chiara Benvenuti

My father restored antique frames in a workshop on Via Maggio for forty years, and I spent my childhood sweeping up gold leaf. That is how I know most of the artisans in the Oltrarno: the gilders, the bookbinders on Via Santo Spirito, the man who still makes scagliola tabletops by hand, the shoemaker who measures your foot with a pencil. Many have closed since I was a child, which is one reason I started guiding in 2014. If people come into the workshops, the workshops survive a little longer. On my walks we go inside, we watch work being done and nobody pushes you to buy anything. I also love the climb up to San Miniato al Monte in the late afternoon, when the monks sing vespers in Gregorian chant. I speak French because I lived in Lyon for two years and married a Lyonnais, who now makes very good ribollita. From Florence, I now guide on live video with my phone, and the chat stays open for your questions the whole time.