TF NEWSLETTER

LATEST ISSUE / No. 79

front page

May 15, 2008

Download »

Issues archive »

Subscribe »

Alex's bolg
Student's blog
TF on flickr

EVENTS

Cinema

Exhibits

Guided tours

Markets & Festivals

Music & Concerts

Parks

Theatre

Florence News

It's May!

by Marco Badiani
Tuscany celebrates spring
Though everyone says September is the best month to visit Italy, The Florentine staff believes that May is the most interesting time to visit Florence and discover Tuscany. What's not to love? The city is both more relaxed and livelier. People dress lighter. The sweet spring air suggests the pleasures of food and wine, and we …
Florence News

Caught red handed

Police nab arsonist
On April 20, someone began setting cars afire in and around Florence. As flames erupted night after night over the ensuing weeks, police did not know …
Florence News

Tuscan sea is crystal clear

Italy's sandy coastlines have more blue flags than ever before. The Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE) recently awarded 215 Italian beaches in 104 municipalities with the …
National News

Taxman tells all

Online declarations cause outrage
For just a few hours, Italian citizens were able to see how much their friends, neighbors, colleagues and bosses declared as taxable income. In early May, …
National News

Berlusconi IV

Novices join seasoned MPs in new government
Media mogul and new premier of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, formed his new government in record timing. Berlusconi broke with protocol and made history by promptly handing …
National News

The big stink

EU charges Italy for Naples trash
With some 30,000 tonnes of rubbish still lining the streets in the Campania region, the European Commission (EC) said it is bringing Italy before the European …
Florence News

May is for wine lovers!

by Marco Badiani
Enjoy the beauty of Tuscany and the pleasure of wine at two of May's most delightful events: Alla Corte del Vino and Cantine Aperte.   In the gardens of the splendid Villa Corsini, beautifully situated in the Chianti hills on the road leading from San Casciano to Mercatale, more than 100 wineries show their newest and best at …
Food & Wine

Marco's recipe for the perfect Cantine Aperte

by Marco Badiani
Tips on where to get the best sips in Tuscany
For 17 years, all of Italy has reserved the last Sunday in May for Cantine Aperte. Last year, over four million people visited the country's wineries …
Sport & Leisure News

You win some, you lose some

Viola out of Uefa but fight to stay in Champions
After a disappointing loss to the Glasgow Rangers in Florence on May 1, AC Fiorentina were out of the Uefa Cup finals. Though deemed the better …
Sport & Leisure News

Racing through Mugello

by Adam Wenger
Standing alone in the middle of a picturesque, dandelion-covered meadow, I welcomed the greatly overdue spring sunshine. With an abandoned farmhouse on the horizon  and the smell of fresh grass permeating the air, I had to remind myself that I wasn't lost in the hills of Tuscany: I was standing in the heart of the International …
Culture & Customs

Carried away

by Linda Falcone
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
In Italy, want-ad newspapers have a dual function. They keep you abreast of all the jobs that have recently become available throughout the territory. They also …
Culture & Customs

Imagine yourself involved

by Rachel Northrop
How to become a part of the Florentine community
The key to a successful study abroad experience is being able to use your imagination. You have to imagine that you aren't here for just six …
Culture & Customs

Money matters

by Haley Kingsland
How to stretch your student dollars
With the exchange rate between the dollar and euro at an all-time high and the price of oil breaking records, spending money in Florence is downright …
Culture & Customs

Looking back and looking forward

by Christina N. Caughlan
Centennial celebrations at St. James Church in Florence
On April 23, 1908, the cornerstone was laid of what would become the sanctuary of St. James, la chiesa americana (‘American Church') in Florence, Italy. Last …
The Arts

Diplomacy, Italian style

by Lisa Kaborycha
The Medici Archives
I have heard you would like to try some cheeses from Pesaro, so I am sending you these as a sample. Let me know if you …
The Arts

Enigma in Giorgio de Chiricos art

by Brenda Dionisi
Et quid amabo nisi quod aenigma est?
‘One clear autumn afternoon I was sitting on a bench in the middle of the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. It was of course not the first time I had seen this square...The whole world, down to the marble of the buildings and fountains, seemed to me to be convalescent...Then I had the strange impression I was looking at these things for the first time, and the composition of my picture came to my mind's eye. Now each time I look at that painting I see that moment. Nevertheless the moment is an enigma to me, for it is inexplicable'. (Giorgio de Chirico: Meditations of a Painter, 1912, trans. by Loiuse Bourgeois & Robert Goldwater).   These words from one of Italy's greatest …
The Arts

Maggio Musicale

by Helen Glave
When Maggio Musicale chose ‘women' as its theme for the 71st season, opening April 26, the idea in mind was not the self-sacrificing consumptive heroines of …
Travel & Leisure

Trekking Through Tuscany

by Gianfranco Bracci
Enjoy some springtime sunshine by travelling this ancient route from Vaglia to Fiesole and rediscover its silences, fragrances and exceptional panoramas. The second part runs largely …
Mosaics by Jane Fortune

Think Spring!

by Jane Fortune
Art in the garden
The Garden of Daniel Spoerri   In the early 1990s, Romanian-born Spoerri created a sculpture garden of 16 hectors in the town of Seggiano. Ninety installations are placed …
The Arts

Celebrating the Golden Age

China: At the Court of the Emperors
Taking a stroll through the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi these days you may feel you’ve gone back to the Renaissance…in China, that is. Fondazione Strozzi’s newest …
The Arts

The shape of the book: from the scroll to the codex

by Christopher Saint-Amand
Exhibit Review
Florence is not just a painter’s city. The Renaissance had as profound an impact on the written word. Florence was the center of this great humanist …
Florence News

Billy clubs booed

Municipal police reject calls for more weapons
As debate on the issue of urban safety and security escalates across the country, many Italian cities are considering arming their police with batons, citing the …
News in Brief

Partners in protest

In response to an invitation from the No-Tav Florence committee, anti-Tav activists from the northern area of Val di Susa traveled to Tuscany on May 2-3 …
Florence News

Copy cat politics

New mayor of Rome to adopt Florence-born policies
Florence safety superintendent Graziano Cioni is an inspiration to the eternal city's newest mayor. Gianni Alemanno has said that he intends to adopt many of the …
Florence News

James jinxed?

Mishaps haunt latest Bond film
Movie buffs are starting to fear that the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, currently being filmed in Italy and other sites in Europe, may …
Florence News

Not a happy ending

Weird News
A 100-kilo wild boar was found dead along the banks of the Arno near the Ponte alla Grazie on April 25. Tourists who were sunbathing on …
Florence News

Recycle your food

Local officials share the wealth
Why throw away food when it can help feed the poor? The provincial administration has introduced Siticibo, a food-sharing measure to help feed the city's most …
Florence News

Grandmas got a Porsche

Weird News
Municipal police are cracking down on the use of counterfeit parking permits for the disabled. Since 2006, officials have confiscated over 250 fraudulent permits used by …
Florence News

The burning trend

Weird News
The new YouTube phenomenon that has swept across Italy has also enveloped the region. From Florence city to province, amateur videos posted on the popular video-sharing …

Features

 

Articles

 

Special Issues