As long as the doors stand open, this street smells of wood glue, turpentine and sawdust. Look between those same doors, though, and you'll start to notice key safes and new intercom panels, because these workshops have become sought-after homes.
A workshop earns far less per square metre than an apartment, so when a craftsman retires with no one to take over, the space usually vanishes. That's why the city keeps a register of historic workshops, and why apprentices arrive from Japan, Brazil and the United States, some of whom stick around and open places of their own, exactly the way it worked back in the fifteenth century.
Our walk winds down here, and we're glad you got to see this side of the river. If you want to keep going, we have a route past the city's great landmarks and another about the , the family that shaped Florence for centuries. The sits five minutes away, at the far end of this street.
Sources. Story: Comune di Firenze (register of historic and traditional businesses, crafts in Oltrarno); Regione Toscana (artistic crafts, training) Photos: Via Santo Spirito, Florence, via Wikimedia Commons, photo Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0
