The most recent gathering of the Tuscan-American Association on Independence Day 2008 provided an opportunity to speak with several expats, each with unique ties to Florence. Adoration of Florence's past, for example, brought one American, Carolyn Demcy, to Florence to help clean up the city after the "Great Flood" of 1966.

Brooklyn native Carolyn Demcy asked people to register to vote in the November U.S. elections at the annual celebration, and she has lived in Florence for 23 years. She recalled her first visit to the city as a volunteer in 1966. Called mud angels for their labors in mud during the flood's aftermath, people like Demcy came from all over the world to help rescue people, rare books and art masterpieces.

"If you look up at the buildings, you can still see the flood marks on the top," Demcy said.

She returned to the United States after ending her volunteer work, but Demcy said that the years in New York were hasty. The city's crime and lack of sanitation prompted her to change locations. So, what called her back to the birthplace of Renaissance art?

"Blond hair, blue eyes, 6 foot 2," said Demcy.

Moving to Florence in 1968 and later retiring from Italian airline Alitalia as a flight attendant in the late 1980s, she became an English instructor at the University of Florence. Demcy commented that she tries not to forget her English and said she likes events where she can keep fluent in her native language.

Demcy isn't the only university instructor attracted to Florence's charm. Music instructor Rona Commins has visited the city for each of the last 21 years to teach her travel study class "Art, Music and Culture" to non-musician San Francisco State University students between the ages of 18 to 80. Commins is an opera singer who studied in Florence with world-renowned Italian baritone Tito Gobbi at Villa Schifanoia in 1977. Commins's class takes students to areas where music is performed, including major piazzas and theaters.

"I love it when we arrive early enough to attend the Maggio Musicale, especially the concluding concerts in Piazza Signoria (link to Piazza Signoria and Zubin Mehta concert)," Commins said. "It is just wonderful to be able to walk out into the night and attend beautiful concerts in beautiful locations."

Maggio Musicale is the annual Florentine Music Festival that offers concerts in classical music, opera and ballet.

Commins is very enthusiastic about Italian music. She added that the first opera, "Daphne," was written and performed in Florence in 1598. "Florence is a living museum of the arts, both music and visual," said Commins. "Just to be here and walk the streets and drink in the experience, to walk in the footsteps of the Renaissance masters, is a special experience."

One San Francisco State University graduate, Alexandra Lawrence, studied in Florence in 1998 and has a degree in Italian literature. She said she couldn't stay away and came to Florence as an au pair of four children for six months.

"I had to pick up Italian pretty quickly, especially to learn how to say 'Don't throw rocks!'" said Lawrence, now the managing editor of The Florentine.

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