Save it for a Rainy Day
With everything to do in Florence like museums, shopping (and of course eating), catching a movie may not be at the top of your to do list while studying in Italy. However, when the weather is damp and nasty in Florence, there is nothing better than to sit back and enjoy a movie, whether it’s in italian or english, depending on your preference of course. I suggest if your confident with the italian language, to see a movie in italian. Even if you dont think you will understand a word of it, you’ll be surprised how much you can understand. Anyways…
Two weeks ago I was a bit down in the dumps. I was alone, on a rainy sunday afternoon, with nothing to do. I just had an argument with my landlady…long story… and needed to get out of the house. After convincing my friend Vieri to venture out into the rain with me to see a new italian film called Saturno Contro, I water proofed myself (black pock-a-dot rain boots and all), and made my way towards the Odeon Theatre. Now, if you have never been to the Odeon theatre before, the building of the Odeon itself is worth the 7.50 ticket. It is an absolutely gorgeous baroque-style theatre. It has more than ample seating, inclduing a mezzanine, and if you are feeling gaughty, there are also theatre boxes you can sit in (but let’s not go overboard). Before the movie even started, I was just staring at the frescoed cieling above our heads, while Vieri just laughed at my ooing and awing. The Odeon is by far the prettiest (and most comfortable) movie theatre I have been to.
Make sure you are on time to the movie theatre! There are no previews to movies in Italy, which was a bit of a bummer, since that is certainly a guilty pleasure of mine. We jumped right into the movie…which was different, but a bit refreshing. A nice surpise during the movie was the intermission half way through. When you have a bit of ADD like me, there is nothing like a five minute break to stretch out and grab a diet coke for the remaining half of the movie. After the movie was over, the rain stopped and the sun was setting. The movie totally refreshed me, and I was ready to start another week in the most beautiful city in Italy.
The Odeon shows movies in original sound. Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday they have english movies and you can find the schedule on florenceforfun.org, as well as a discount you can print out and take with you!
by Susan D’Inverno