There's something amazing happening every first Sunday of every month here in Italy, and that is free museum day! Every monument, museum, and place belonging to the state (like the Academia, where the David Statue is, or Palazzo Pitti as an example) has free entrance for everyone. As an architecture student (or anyone who studies arts or design), I have a free pass with my university enrollment certificate anyways, but it's nice to find great and new places to visit this day for free if, like my friend and I, you absolutely forgot the enrollment certificate at home. So, we headed for the town of Fiesole, which doesn't only have a very impressive archeological site with an ancient arena, but also, hosts a nice vintage & antiques market on its main square every first Sunday of the month. This town is a small place in the hills where you can see the whole city of Firenze from the heights, and it's actually very close and easy to get there by bus! Definitively, a thing to add to your bucket list if you're planning to visit Firenze/Tuscany/Italy anytime soon.

So, we headed by bus to the town of Fiesole to take a look at the vintage market and take some pictures with the impressive Tuscan landscape as a background, as well as enjoying the freezing but still nice day we had, as it's been pretty cloudy and hasn't stopped raining for almost a week. As you can see, I put on my best Michelin Man attire consisting in a wool skirt, sweater, wool vest, cozy coat and knee-high boots to survive, although it finally wasn't as cold as I first thought. I also used for the very first time this orange hat that I bought a couple of days prior. If you've been following me on Instagram lately, you might have seen how obsessed I've been lately with hats and vintage headpieces, which there were plenty of in this market!

Actually, I feel quite the vintage-hunter-thing around here! Since I came back from Christmas holidays, I haven't stopped spotting (and buying; guilty here) cool vintage and antique thrifty things both in markets and fairs (cheers to the Vintage Selection fair at Stazione Leopolda a couple of weeks ago). I couldn't remember when was the first time I found something worth investing on in Spain (although there are great vintage and thrift stores, too!), but Firenze is such a nice place filled with ah-mazing vintage stores, markets, and spots to go take a look and fall in love helplessly with nice clothing pieces or accessories. I just couldn't help it. The fun thing will come once packing my bags for my Spanish comeback. THAT is going to be quite the event, but anyways, I'll keep you updated on that.

In case you are wondering, yes: as an Erasmus student I do, in fact, study. Well. Sort of: as I've already passed the exam/project I had after Christmas, and I'm about to deliver one of my last papers concerning structural analysis, now I'm regularly visiting the library almost 2-3 times a week to work on my final thesis to be presented once I'm back home. What I love about this thesis is that its topic is of free election, and I already picked my theme: I'm programming a blog-archive of architecture for the city of Valencia, which I'm super excited for you to see once is finished. I'll share the links then.

So, what's my attire for a library day out in Firenze? Well, pretty casual but I still like to play with different accessories and makeup not to lose my regular style: while I might wear a cropped sweatshirt, I still like to pair it with a sweater underneath (as it's been pretty cold around here lately) and my comfiest pair of jeans, because, who's not into jeans?! Then, I like to do my bold red lip as usual, and maybe put on a couple of hoop earrings to keep the outfit a bit nostalgic, as when I used to wear my hoop earrings every single day in my High School years (didn't you as well?).

Showing you on pretty regular basis pieces from Shein has led to you to ask some questions almost every week on social media or via mail about the quality and sizing tips from this online store. Well, about the quality, I have no complaints as all the products I've got from there have had great fabrics, not see-through in any of them and I have even washed them a couple of times now and getting nice results. About the sizing in Shein: my first tip is forget everything you think you knew about your regular clothing size. You'll end up ordering about one to two up to your regular size (Chinese brands tend to manufacture smaller). It's OK: get your sewing kit's tape and note down your measurements. For me, the ones which always end up being crucial to size up are hips and bust measurements.

Besides, it's also great to take into account the material: you can see in their description boxes the type of material the garment is made of. If it's stretchy, cotton, has a bit of spandex or polyester. For stretchier materials, I also like to pick the next size of what my measurements say. And when talking about length and overall fit, I prefer seeing the customer's pictures and commentaries from those who previously bought the garment, if there are any. This way, I can have an approximate idea of how it looks like once worn.

Firenze means cold weather. And 80% of ambiance humidity almost every single day during Winter. In today's post I'm partnering with Rosegal because, although it's not being as cold as I thought before coming to Italy for my year abroad, it still feels way colder than when in Valencia, where they've been having almost 20ºC for the greatest part of December-January. And a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when choosing outerwear and cozy knits to survive in Tuscany.

So, to survive not only a cold Winter season in Italy, but survive every single day you walk around busy streets packed with tourists, locals in a hurry and still, deal with oh-fantastic-cobblestones and other marvels of ancient civil engineering to walk on, you can't miss comfortable shoes! Yes, it's still possible to walk on heels around here, although not your regular high-heels with pointed toes because that's nearly impossible (although you're a super stylish Italian woman in her mid-40's. They can walk on whatever they want to, and I don't have any clue on how they do it). Instead, my favorite kind of shoes for Winter in Firenze are those which have thick rubber soles and squared, medium height heels, like these Rosegal checked laced-up booties which look perfect to stroll fashionably any Italian square. When at home, instead, I love to put on my funny socks to keep my feet warm and walk around when doing my uni assignments and tasks.

Another absolute must-have to survive freezing temperatures around here, city of the fun and colorful street style at Pitti Uomo fair is a coat! Whether you prefer plaid, classic checks or a coat with a laced-back which resembles antique, a nice quality and statement piece of outerwear is an absolute must to start layering your outfit, and top it with a matching set of scarf and gloves. A cardigan in a bright color as you can see below is also a nice idea! I have a couple of them here at my home away from home, and I usually wear them indistinctly to university when I'm in my comfiest mood (be it because it's cold as in the Antarctic; be it because I haven't had any sleep) or even at home on top of my pajamas. Cardigans are super useful and versatile!

Alligator funny socks // Check booties // Brown booties with inside fleece // Grey high-low turtleneck  // Red cardigan // Longline red coat with faux fur // Wool blend grey coat // Wool blend yellow coat

And I think that's pretty much all of my ideas to survive freezing temperatures and uneasy weather not only in Italy, but everywhere!

Remember that layering is key, and that accessories matter :)

“This blog post was sponsored by Rosegal”