One Ordinary College Student, Ninety Extraordinary Days

Ciao! If you're hoping to discover what it's like to study abroad in Florence, you've come to the right place, my friend. And here’s the thing, now is the PERFECT time in your life to see the world. AEF welcomes you to join them and experience Florence. Why watch it on TV and read about it in books when you can see it in person?

Allow me to take you on a journey...

There are many ways to say Made in Italy: through art, culture, fashion. However, Italy is also world-renowned for good food as well. Italian cuisine is known and appreciated all over the globe: there is no country in the world that has not tried to reproduce or imitate traditional Italian recipes. If you’ve just arrived in Italy or intend to stay for a while, there is one dish that you must try: spaghetti, which has become a symbol of our national heritage. But, where and when does spaghetti actually come from?

Valentine's Day is coming up and every opportunity is good to talk about love and, why not, organize a romantic getaway. For those who live and study in our beautiful city, it is no secret that Florence is a magical place for those in love to spend this holiday, between walks on the Ponte Vecchio and breathtaking views from Piazzale Michelangelo. But that’s not all! In Florence, there is no square, riverside or architecture that is not permeated by the most poetic spirit of love, that gentile spirit sung by Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri, inspirators of the Dolce stil novo.

Kitija Ernstsone is from Latvia and is a musician. In her country, she studied piano and saxophone, under classical training. When it was time to decide which direction of studies to pursue, she felt she had to cultivate her growing passion for jazz. She also wanted to enrich her experience with a period of study abroad, and began to look around. And so, in 2016 she arrived at AEF. "The course offering at AEF rich and interesting, and the opportunity to come to Florence fascinated me, so I made my decision.

Palazzo Niccolini, the AEF Headquarters, is a historic building located on via Cavour n. 37, one of the most important streets of the city of Florence. Originally, it was called via Larga degli Spadai due to the presence of numerous workshops of armorers who forged swords, but soon the name is simplified in Via Larga in everyday use.
During that time, what made the road magnificent was its breadth compared to others, as evidenced by the 18th century engraving by Giuseppe Zocchi. The current name is dedicated to Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, a central figure in Italian history, who fundamentally contributed to the unification of the Italian State. He died a few months after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, which took place on March 17, 1861, and in the wake of patriotic emotions and enthusiasm, on June 27 of the same year, Marquis Ferdinando Bartolommei, standard-bearer of Florence, proposed to name the street after him, which up until then had been called Via Larga.