The sound of trolleys rattling down the sanpietrini cobblestone roads, the chatter of tourists and vendors in the San Lorenzo market, the rolling purr of the Arno at dawn as the cerulean hints of sunrise dim down into the day. Each city has its own unique set of sounds and Florence is no exception. Here are the most peculiar.
The bird repeller
Walking by the Santa Maria Novella church you will notice a regular interval of strikingly high-pitched squawking sounds. These aren’t actual birds: it’s a device that emits the predatory cries of a falcon intended to keep naughty flocks away from the cloister’s cypress trees and age-old monuments.
San Frediano in Cestello | Ph. Kirsi L-M via Flickr
The ghost of the Arno
This mysterious acoustic phenomenon has intrigued many. In the far right corner of the Oltrarno’s piazza del Cestello, one can hear a slight, fluttering sound. It is the echo of the Arno ricocheting on the church’s facade, a dialogue that has been going on for centuries.
Stadium antics
Send your eardrums throttling into another orbit by taking a walk around the stadium on a Fiorentina match day. Depending on the wind, you can hear the febrile chant of the tifosi all the way up to piazzale Michelangelo.
Listen to more Florentine sounds at Firenze Sound Map, a collective online archive of open source recorded samples.
