Girl in Florence

A Tuscan Texan immersed in Florentine life

Locals I Love – Elena Angeli

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Despite slacking a bit on my ‘locals i love’ series, interviewing cool people I meet around Florence (and Italy) – I am happy to introduce you to my latest interview – Elena Angeli whom I met via the Yelp community in Florence. A sweeter person you could not meet, she always has a smile on her face and a positive honest attitude which sometimes can be hard to find in a country where so many people have less than optimistic outlooks about the future. So who is Elena and what is she all about? Lets find out more below!

Introducing Elena – Italian – works as a social media expert and loves tea. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m 38-year-old, I’m a Blogger and Social Media Addicted: you can always find me the front of the computer with a cat on my lap and a cup of tea in my hand.

 

How long have you lived in Florence and where are you from originally.

I was born in Florence and I have always lived here

 

To be born in the city of incredible art and a rich history, lucky girl! Why did you decide to stay in Florence?
All of the people (and things) I love are here. My husband, my cats, my family and friends are all Florentines … how could I leave?

I kind of love that you referred to your cats as Florentine. I picture them making hand gestures as they meow. What are you up to in Florence? Work, daily life, passions?
I’m a psychologist expert in effective communication. Lately I’m passionate about social media and I applied my knowledge of psychology to web 2.0. I did training in digital PR and I began to also work in social media marketing. I love this world and I am currently looking for more job opportunities!
I’m also a cat blogger and I write online about cats. I founded an animal rights association (the first in Italy!) that helps older cats and with my husband, we have created Gattogram, an online site for all of the photos tagged with #cat on instagram In short, are a real gattofans!

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What annoys you about Florence? Tell me the truth!
The truth…? ok. To be honest, I don’t like the traffic and the lack of transport services to get around town.
Also sometimes I don’t appreciate the mentality of the locals, which is the opposite of modern and usually not open to new and fresh ideas. 

 Why does living in Italy work for you?

Yes, I think that I’ll live always in Italy, it’s home for me! Keeping that in mind, I’d like to move to Milan, a city that I love very much and that is much more advanced in the world of  “social media”

What advice would you give a newbie?

To have a lot of patience!

Three finds/places everyone should know about in Florence?

Certainly “Uffizi” e “Cappelle Medicee”, with an obligatory stop at Coffee Giubbe Rosse in Piazza della Repubblica, a Cafe where you can breathe in history and culture of Florence

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What’s the weirdest thing you have seen/experienced in Italy?

On the 15th of August, I could literally lay down on the street. During this month, the city empties and Florence is very beautiful!

What can you do here and nowhere else?

You can eat really well. For example, you can taste not only fine wines and olive oils, even a fantastic pizza!

How did you make friends and assimilate?
I have found many new friends through Yelp (in Florence we have the best community manager in the world!) and through various social networks. Who says that virtual friendships on facebook can’t turn into real friendships?

I could not agree more! I love Yelp and the friendships it has awarded me. Favorite food {or recipe}?

The sacher Torte (it isn’t italian I know…forgive me!)

HAHA I love that you picked that dessert. Sei proprio avanti! ;-). If you had to make up a tagline for the city – what would it be? 😉 be creative!
Florence is a bit like an easter egg. Perfect from the outside but inside you never know what might await you! Pay attention to the surprise!

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Thank you so much Elena for a great interview, I think it’s super awesome that you want to apply what you learned in psychology to social media. That is really interesting, plus GattoGram is such a cute idea. I can’t wait to hang out at more Yelp events. A presto!

Get to know Elena more on yelp, her blog, twitter 

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Georgette Jupe

Welcome to my personal blog by a curious American girl living and working between Zug, Switzerland and Florence, Italy with my husband Nico, our newborn Annabelle and Ginger the beagle. This space is primarily to share about my love for Italy (currently on a 13 year romance) with a fair amount of real talk, practical advice, travel suggestions and adjusting to a new culture (Switzerland). Find me on IG @girlinflorence @girlinzug

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