PIACERI COMUNI (Shared Pleasures) - How Is Pleasure Doing in Florence?

May 21, 2026

This Month, Florence Asked Us: How Is Pleasure Doing in This City?

Pleasure in Florence is restless. Whether that's because things are struggling or thriving, honestly, it's hard to say. But there's definitely something brewing.

When La CLIT was still just a whispered idea between us, we looked around asking ourselves if any of this made sense. Would we end up telling this story years later as a cautionary tale? "Remember that time we thought we'd open a sex toy shop and talk openly about sexuality in Florence? We were wild." People in the industry tried to warn us off. Florence, they said, wasn't ready. Too conservative. Too set in its ways. Other projects had failed here. We were genuinely scared. They weren't wrong—this isn't a cosmopolitan hub, and there's definitely a Florentine tendency toward skepticism about the new. But leaving never felt right. We had this unshakeable sense that what we felt, what we needed to say, didn't come from nowhere. It came from here. And it needed to stay here.

We've been proven right.

Florence showed up. Florence wanted this. The city needs a place to say "I'm aroused" without shame. Needs a place to say "I'm not interested" without apologizing. Needs permission to express itself fully—messy, contradictory, diverse, alive. That's still rare here. But it's changing. It's not just the people who came through our doors as customers. It's the experts who believed in what we were doing and wanted to collaborate: sexologists, midwives, artists, tarot readers, pelvic floor specialists, therapists, herbalists. A real community. People building something together. We're launching a directory of these trusted voices on our website—people we genuinely believe in and have worked alongside.

What people actually wanted to talk about? Male sexuality. Monogamy and what exists beyond it. Introduction to BDSM. And something that genuinely surprised us: an intense, hungry desire for renaissance among women in menopause. That was common ground everywhere—between lifelong Florentines and people who'd moved here from elsewhere. The province outside the city? Pure joy. They got it immediately. In our advice column Piaceri Comuni, the real questions people are asking: How do I talk to my partner about what I actually want? How do I say what I'm fantasizing about? The toys flying off the shelf? The timeless clit sucker—that sonic wave stimulator everyone talks about—and Manta, a genderless toy that somehow works for every body imaginable.

We're not done. Not even close. There's so much more to learn, so much more to build, so many more conversations waiting to happen. If you have something you want to explore with us, write.