The Valley of Death

The La Pietra CampusFlorence is a small city. One can walk the entire length in little more then twenty minutes. The city is also particularly flat, making it a wonderful city for walking. Small mountainous suburbs line the city, the area were most of the Italians in Florence actually live. NYU’s Florence La Pietra campus is located right outside of the city in one of these mountainous suburbs. Although I probably live less then a mile from campus, it is surprisingly difficult to get there. The walk is manageable, a few blocks down Via Cavour, then walk diagonally across Piazza della Liberta, a few more blocks going straight until you get to Via Bolognese. Via Bolognese is the street campus is on, and it is a ten-minute walk straight uphill. The Campus gates are on the right and you will enter at the Villa Natalia entrance. Another, slightly lazier option is to take the bus. I happen to live right around the corner from a major bus stop, the San Marco stop. About a dozen buses stop there, so during rush hour the stop is flooded with people. The bus to campus is the 25 bus to Pratalino. The bus is supposed to come every 20 minutes or so during the day, but like most things in Italy, it is usually running late. How to pay for the bus is another interesting predicament. There is a ticket machine at the bus stop were you have the option of buying several different types of tickets. Single ride, ten ride passes, and student monthly passes are all available through this machine. Once you get on the bus you must validate your ticket in one of the two machines in the front or the back of the bus. In most cases no one will ever check to see if you bought a ticket or if you had validated it. Occasionally several plain-clothes officers will hop on the bus and give large fines to whoever does not have a valid ticket. Once you get off the bus, the stop directly after the red gas station, you will be let off feet before the Campus gates. After you show an ID to the man at the gate, you are standing next to Villa Natalia and Villa Colletta, which are the two dormitory buildings, and are completely useless to me. It is just now that you must prepare yourself for the Valley of the Death, the steep trek between the dormitory buildings and the academic buildings. If one did not have to take this walk daily, it would be a lot easier to appreciate how beautiful it is. The middle of the campus is acres of olive and Cyprus trees. Because of the length and steepness of the valley, one will spend the trip huffing and puffing enough that they will never look up enough to appreciate it. If you have chosen to take the bus to campus, you will arrive in Villa Ulivi, the academic building, with a light layer of sweat and breathing a little heavily. If you have braved the entire trip, and walked the hill and then the valley, you will arrive to class carrying your jacket in your arms, covered in a very attractive layer of sweat and will be completely unable to catch your breath.