Duomo to Santa Croce, Florence Gets a Desi Night

Florence is a city that three million tourists visit every year, and somewhere in between the Uffizi crowds and the David selfie lines, there's a resident South Asian community that's easy to miss. The University of Florence attracts Indian students, the European University Institute in nearby Fiesole brings in South Asian researchers and academics, and the study abroad industry that's essentially Florence's second economy creates a constant churn of international students, some of them desi.

Garam Masala Dating is the #1 live South Asian dating show and singles mixer from NYC. Real blind dates on stage, two hosts, a live audience, and a mixer. Florence's beauty is not in question. The Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, the Oltrarno artisan workshops. The question is whether a South Asian single person in Florence has anywhere to meet someone who shares their background. The answer, currently, is no.

The leather goods industry in Santa Croce and the broader Tuscan manufacturing sector employ South Asian workers. The restaurant scene includes a handful of Indian places near San Lorenzo market. The Indian community exists across the city but doesn't cluster in one neighbourhood the way it does in Rome's Esquilino or Milan's Porta Venezia. That dispersal makes a gathering event more necessary, not less.

Florence's cultural calendar is packed, from Calcio Storico to art exhibitions to the wine festivals in the surrounding Chianti hills. But nothing on that calendar speaks to South Asian singles. This show fills a specific gap in a city that has everything except this.

Waitlist is open. Florence is part of our Italian tour plans. Get on the list or apply to be a contestant.