THIS BUILDING IS UNSAFE. After a day of sightseeing, we returned to our apartment to discover that someone had broken in and stole our iPad, laptop, external hard drive, several jewelry items, and even eyeglasses. In addition, the intruder had armed himself with a meat cleaver that he left behind on our bedroom chair. Thank goodness we did not return while he was still ransacking our apartment!

We immediately called Luca who kindly offered to accompany us to the police station the next day. We really appreciated this gesture given that we do not know the language and could use an advocate. But the next morning Luca reneged and told us we had to go by ourselves. The police were nice but, as expected, said there was nothing they could do even though we had bagged the meat cleaver so they could dust for fingerprints.

The next day we encountered a couple who live in the building who told us that the previous week a woman had her purse snatched while in the building.

Two days later we returned to find the building’s front door propped open. This was especially galling since Luca said the robbery was our fault since we only used one of the two locks on our door. He is correct that we should have used both locks, but he misses the point that there is no security in this building. They should emphasize to renters that they need to use both locks, that the front door is sometimes propped open, there is no security camera, that people are robbed in the hallways, and that intruders arm themselves with meat cleavers.

If you don’t have anything worth stealing and you don’t mind the risk of meeting a meat cleaver wielding intruder when you come home, then here are a few other things you should know:

-The apartment is conveniently located a half block from the Ponte Vecchio.
-The hallway and elevator smell like a homeless person lives in the stairwell.
-There is a nice terrace overlooking the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio, but bring mosquito repellent.
-There is a light switch in the small 2nd bedroom that turns on the hot water (which they neglected to tell us when we first arrived).