We just retrurned from our first trip to Italy which included the cities of Venice , Florence , and Rome. Florence is an amazing city. However, there is an aspect of Florence that I have not seen truly discussed on this forum that left us deflated and that is the illegal vendors. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge was our first introduction to the history and sights of Florence.
It was lined with Nigerians selling their knock off purses, sunglasses, and awful art. Their "goods" were layed out on the streets that you attempted to walk on while dodging cars and scooters. This same scenerio was played out in front of the world famous Uffizi and within it's courtyard and in almost every Palazzo and around every main attraction.
The police appeared to ignore this illegal activity and we actually saw a policeman wave and nod to one of these vendors in front of the Uffizi. We've seen this activity in New York City but it's not prevalent to the point of almost tripping over them plus they run when the police approach. Unfortunately, the beauty and history of Florence is overshadowed now by this shameful play on tourism. We are dismayed that the government and residents of Florence are not actively working against this blemish on their city.
If they are, they are ot successful. I have read that the money made by these vendors is used for causes that I'm sure the tourists and residents of this city would not want to support. If anyone knows where these products come from and where the money goes, I would be interested in knowing. It's disgusting how tourists are preyed upon by such blatant illegal activity.
We felt a small amount of consulation in seeing that very few people stopped to even look at the junk but kept trying to constantly maneuver around them! We also had a negative experience with a group of teen boys in Piazza St. Croce one evening as we walked to our hotel from dinner. As we walked passed them, one of the boys approached my husband, put his arm around him, and started pulling him into a building. My son, who is 26, pushed him away. As we moved quickly away from the group we knew they were watching us and feared that they might come after our son.
