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Of the Fan Park in Santa Croce only the barriers remain, in Piazza della Repubblica the official tour shop is being “dismantled”, while for now, next door, the clock, turned on last March 22nd when there were 100 days to go until the Grand Départ, remains in its place, along with the large yellow jersey under the Arcone. In addition to the beautiful exhibition with Karl Kapinski’s giant marbles in Piazza Duomo, in front of Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati.
The Tour said goodbye to Florence after a very long celebration from Thursday, when the teams were presented, to Saturday with the catwalk through the streets of the city and the start of the stage from Viola Park.
But even if there aren’t the tens of thousands of people who accompanied the transit of the yellow caravan, in Florence it doesn’t really feel like a Sunday at the end of June: despite the blazing sun in the early afternoon, restaurants taken by storm and long queues in front to ice cream parlors.
A few yellow jerseys and red polka dot caps (the colours worn by the best climber) to remember yesterday’s unforgettable day, but above all many umbrellas to shelter from the heat.
“It was a beautiful, colorful party. We had so many people in these three days – like at the Perseo bar in Piazza Signoria, where they are also quite used to crowds – And then compliments to the organization: once the cyclists started they immediately removed the barriers and everything went back to how it was before. They were very fast”.
Even on social media, the traditional polemical attitude of the Florentines seems to have taken a few hours of vacation: very few critical voices, mostly linked to traffic inconveniences, instead the emotion for a unique day and a postcard of the city that has really made the rounds prevails of the world.
Without forgetting the “wallet”: packed hotels in Florence and in half the province and a return calculated at several tens of millions of euros. A closing with a bang that adds to the great classics, Calcio Storico and Pitti as well as Firenze Rocks, to put a decidedly intense June to rest.
