In planning and preparing for our recently completed mega-trip, I conducted so much research to be sure that our experience would be memorable, just in case we never did it again!  I wanted to live every day of this trip like they could be our last ones so there could be no regrets, and that meant doing it up big time.

After all, it was a big celebration commemorating Kevin’s milestone birthday, and I tend to consider all the details, even if we’re just going out to dinner and a movie!

View of what the former Grand Hotel, originally a palazzo.

While researching just where to stay for a top-of-the-line experience in Florence, I learned about an incredible Silicon Valley connection that all of us might appreciate.  The hotel I chose for our lodging is formerly known as The Grand Hotel, a former palazzo [palace] situated on Piazza Ognissanti that sits along the river Arno.  Mapping it out on my trusty laminated Streetwise map, I was pleased to see that the location would not be right on top of all the museums and shopping, but that everything would be a short stroll away.

I knew that this place had to be special for Californians because a certain former California Governor and United States Senator stayed in this very hotel with his wife and son during a fateful European trip in 1884.  Sadly, Leland Stanford’s trip with his family took a tragic turn when his son Leland, Jr. contracted Typhoid fever.  He died of it in The Grand Hotel in Florence.

Senator and Mrs. Stanford wanted to memorialize their son, and established a university in his name, “The Leland Stanford, Junior, University,” now known, of course, as Stanford University.   I can’t help but contemplate how this grand gesture of love for their son forever connects two great Renaissance locations, both celebrated for their commerce and culture.

Overlook of Central Florence, including the Uffizi Gallery.

There is no doubt that the Stanfords must have been influenced by what they saw while in a place like Florence because of their written expectations for founding the university.  They wanted it to include “mechanical institutes, museums, galleries of art, laboratories and conservatories, together with all things necessary for the study of agriculture in all its branches, and for mechanical training, and the studies and exercises directed to the cultivation and enlargement of the mind.”

Tuscany, after all, may be the birthplace of Michelangelo and Botticelli, but it also has a rich agricultural history, one the Stanfords likely were drawn to.  In fact, Stanford was owner of two wineries, including what was then the world’s largest vineyard.  Still, his claim to fame and fortune came from railroad building.  And on November 14, 1885, the day he addressed the newly appointed Board of Trustees for the new university, his written speech indicated that, “The rapidity of the communication of modern thought and the facilities for transportation make the civilized world one great neighborhood, in whose markets all producers meet in competition.” Spoken like a true railroad man!

Stained glass detail is a great reminder of the hotel's storied past.

So as we enjoyed the splendor of The St. Regis, the hotel formerly known as The Grand Hotel in Florence, I had this amazing thought that back home in Silicon Valley, all that is possible about commerce, about culture, about style and about doing it in a uniquely Californian way could all be traced back to the curiosity and the moxie of Leland Stanford.

Winter Garden inside the St. Regis Hotel, formerly known as the Grand Hotel.

Spending time in Florence, enjoying its amazing art, shopping in its storied boutiques, eating the bistecca alla Fiorentina – the whole experience – influences how I envision an image of our Silicon Valley community.  It’s thrilling to have a positive influence on how we live with style, and now I count Florence as a place of growing influence in my repertoire.  Be prepared to enjoy those positive effects as we work together now and in the future.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps high-profile individuals revitalize, manage, and be secure in their personal visual brand. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.

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