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Here for a year, six months or a day? A home from home
[Jane Whittle]
So you’ve only just arrived! Things are very different from home and perhaps you are feeling a bit lost, your study programme doesn't provide pre-arranged accommodation and you have no idea where to start looking. Obviously you need to find a flat, reasonably priced but with all the mod cons and ideally in the centre of Florence, preferably with a view! Are you asking for too much? Not necessarily, though you need to check out places by day and by evening before definitely making up your mind to rent them.
Clearly you need to find something fairly quickly as hotels in Florence cost a fortune, you cannot stay in a hostel or impose on friends, however welcoming, for long.
Try and avoid flats situated in a street where buses are rumbling by all the time (noise is important if you want to sleep)!
You don’t really want to be looking out on the next door neighbour’s washing hanging out to dry, a blank wall or an internal courtyard where the neighbours can see you in your bathrobe (and you can see them), or have to climb six flights of stairs because there is no lift. You should also make sure that the flat you take is fairly close to your school otherwise you will spend a lot of time just travelling across the city, not easy in the rush hour. Check the state of the furniture (I have had the bedstead split in two by hungry woodworm in a rented flat!), test the mattresses for comfort, that the electrical appliances all work without giviing off smoke, and that the flat is well supplied with kitchen implements and house linen. Don’t be too trusting!
One method is to check through the classified ads in the local newspapers or agents’ magazines (your Italian permitting), though take great care to check offers thoroughly, you may find the flat is double let, has additional expenses you hadn’t catered for or does not match the wonderful description you read about. Insist on some sort of contract and ask your school if they can check it out for you before signing.
Another method is by word of mouth, though so many people are flat hunting at this time of year that bargains are scarce. Ideally you might be able to inherit a flat from a former student. At least this way the former occupier can tell you about its advanges (and disadvantages).
Perhaps the safest solution is to contact a good estate agent - there are plenty only too willing to help you - and thus avoid wearing out your shoes in the nearly impossible attempt to find a flat all by yourself.
Many estate agents now specialise in short and long-term lets for and foreign and Italian students, faculty members, academic staff who come to study in Florence. Almost all of them speak English and will try to find just what you are looking for. They can also more easily cope with the complicated Italian bureaucracy, which, once you have had anything to do with it, you will be only too pleased to avoid.
Happy hunting!
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