Federico Damonte
Introduction
It should be clear from the other contributions to this issue, and especially Pisani’s, that study abroad students in Florence know Florence, but do not know Firenze. By this I mean that the context of their study abroad experience clearly corresponds to that in which many students from the same country live and socialize together, with very limited direct contact with local inhabitants of the city. At study abroad schools, students and teachers are both aware of this basic problem, so much so that it has a name: in class, we sometimes refer to it as “the bubble”…