No Small Wander

When you get to know a city by walking, sometimes you end up in places you weren’t planning on going.

This was the case with me and Todo Modo bookshop in Florence, Italy. On a narrow sidewalk, I was stuck between slow-moving travellers. I lingered at a storefront just to put some space between me and those I couldn’t walk past. When I saw it was a bookshop, I went inside.

There’s something about a good independent bookstore; the smaller, intimate space doesn’t feel endless like big box stores. It feels appropriate to take my time combing through shelves, because you know they won’t last forever.

I overheard a mother and son talk about getting a coffee, and rather than leaving the shop, they headed to the back. Around the corner was a full-service espresso bar and pastry cabinet, right in the middle of the shelves. I ended up getting a lemonade and sat for a bit.

Something I really liked about Florence—and I’m unsure if this is the attitude in all of Italy, or something unique to the city—is the amount of third spaces I saw, and the people in them. A third space is any space that isn’t one of the two most spent time in: home/work, or home/school. But capitalism kind of sucks the joy out of third spaces; you usually need to pay for them. Buy a coffee; fund a gym membership; get a beer. Parks, libraries, and community centres are the most common free spaces in London. But these can sometimes lack amenities that private spaces offer, or just aren’t as nice (like free water, bathroom access, etc.).

But in Florence, that seems different. I’ve written before about the Giunti Cinema bookshop; how in this theatre-turned-cinema-turned-bookshop-cinema, mezzanine seats were full of people taking up space and working without having bought anything. As an outsider, the idea of taking up space in a business without a transaction felt uncomfortable to me.

But Todo Modo was filled with people working and reading in the space, and it felt very emblematic of Florence as a whole. Laptops and lingering with a book don’t feel out-of-place here.

Once I’d finished my lemonade (and rested for a minute from a day of walking), I started perusing the shelves. Again, they had a great selection of English books along with all the Italian titles. I always feel bad when I go somewhere it’s clear that my presence is being accommodated for (why else would there be English titles, other than to satisfy tourists?) but I love books, and was grateful I could browse.

Todo Modo also had an impressive collection of stationery—matchbooks with famous book covers, washi tape, pens and pencils. But the coolest thing I saw was their gift card program. Behind the till, there were multiple measuring tapes hanging from the wall. When I asked about it with the shopkeeper, he explained that it was how their gifting program worked. Let’s say you want to give your friend €50 to spend at Todo Modo for their birthday; the shop will hang a 50cm roll of measuring tape with their name on it. If your friend spends €30, then they cut it down to 20cm. I thought this was a cute way to do something new without a complicated virtual service.

If you’re in the Santa Maria Novella area of Florence, I’d recommend Todo Modo—it was a lovely way to spend a few hours, lingering, enjoying coffee, and perusing the books and stationery. Happy travels!