Robyn Baitcher is a New York University junior majoring in journalism and environmental studies. She is spending this spring semester in Florence eating, exploring and occasionally studying.
It was the late 1860s, and the city of Milan was asserting itself as a power player in the unification of Italy, laying the foundations of railroads and of Italian independence. But while the state of Italy unfolded, a quieter force was also at work in the Lombardy capital. Called
It was an unusually warm day in February when I set out with my two roommates in search of La Raccolta, a vegetarian restaurant and specialty store here in Florence. We headed east from the city center and walked arm-in-arm, passing a picturesque park and ornate apartment buildings.