STYLE + FASHION
Style + Fashion
Two styles to escape the city
'Garden party' or 'jungle fever'
Can a glamorous city style give you a feeling of escape? As the weather gets warmer and the Tuscan hills make us feel more free and summery, we need a style that makes us feel in close contact with nature.
It may …
Il Fatto Bello
Relativity
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
Filippo knows Italy via its waterways and travels more in a month’s time than most Italians do in the course of their lifetimes. We’ll sometimes drive to the source of a river to see its flow before he races, and once …
Florentinisms
Festa del grillo, Uscio, Popone, Cocomero
Your in-progress dictionary of the florentine dialect
Festa del grillo: The Florence Cricket Festival celebration dates back to the nineteenth century, when the city’s entire population used to take part in a carnival-esque Ascension Day festival in the area now known as the Cascine Park. An occasion for …
Families + Kids
Journey to the stars
Kids explore at Palazzo Strozzi's English-language workshop
Palazzo Strozzi, in the heart of Florence’s historic centre, is getting a reputation for bringing innovation to Florence, and its programming for families is no exception. Beginning with the current exhibit, Galileo: Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope, …
Be Green in Florence
Back to our roots: the zucchini mission
Be Green in Florence
IIm exhausted and confused. IIve spent a week cycling round Florence (this article has a minimal carbon footprint) in a quest to find the cityys most eco-friendly vegetables. I chose to make an example of the humble courgette, comparing the cost …
Life
Invisible city: Roman Florentia
A walk through time
Once upon a time, in the year 59 B.C., there flourished a daughter of Imperial Rome. This daugh-ter was called Florentia, after the noble Roman warrior Fiorinus, who is said to have set up camp on the north banks of the …
Italian Sketches
The Unwelcome Tourist
The day Hitler came to town
The uniforms foretold the terrible story of what was to come. When Benito
Mussolini, the Italian prime minister, rushed down Platform 16 at Santa Maria Novella Station
at 2pm on 9 May, 1938 to
meet Adolf Hitler, the German chancellor, both men were wearing …
Life
Around the world in 90 days
A march for peace
by Ellen Wert
From October 2, 2009 to January 2, 2010, an
international group of 100 people will experience four seasons and the extremes
of the planet's climates and terrains as they zig-zag across six continents,
carrying a message of peace and nonviolence. With them every step …
Il Fatto Bello
Spy Game
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
Every Sunday morning, a foursome of ladies in their eighties comes to
squawk beneath my windowsill as if they were seagulls looking for bread.
Actually, only two are seagulls. The other two flit rather than swoop-and to be
fair, their comments sound much more …
Florentinisms
Groppone, Brincello, Marzocco, Pannolano
Groppone: Back. Example: L'ha picchiato una gropponata in terra! (He slammed his back hard on the ground!) Brincello: Usually used to indicate a small piece of something, typically meat, but also fabric and similar. Example: Icchè llè qui brincello di carne nì piatto? (What is that little …
How Do You...?
Mastering the art of good packing
by Sabine Eiche
What a
relief when nightmares fizzle into nothing. A whole string of them haunted me
last summer when I left Florence, my home for 32 years, to move back to Canada.
First I dreamt I'd never ever be able to pack up all my …
Be Green in Florence
Take the green initiative
Be green in Florence
Do you get green guilt? I cycle everywhere, I use sodium
bicarbonate and lemons for cleaning, I water plants with washing-up water and I
recycle every last yoghurt pot, tuna can and envelope. I even make my own
compost. But despite all this, if …
Il Fatto Bello
Turning 100
Il fatto bello della settimana. Moments from everyday Italy
The Florentine is turning
100. In issues-not years-and to celebrate the occasion, Marco, one of the four
men who still begrudgingly pay for the paper to get printed, has demanded I
write a fatto bello that suitably commemorates its birthday. Our
conversation was not that …
Florentinisms
Bona, Trombaio, Cannella, Tocco, Desinare
Your in-progress dictionary of the florentine dialect
Bona: Common way to say goodbye, used instead of ciao or arrivederci. Also slang to describe a beautiful or provocative woman.
Example: Bonaaa!! Ci si vede domani! (Later! See you tomorrow!)
Example: Certo che quella gliè
proprio bona! (She sure is hot!)
Trombaio: Plumber. Outside …
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013