STYLE + FASHION
Style + Fashion
Florence fashion frenzy
The world comes to Florence for Pitti Uomo
This year’s Pitti Uomo, running from January 9 to 12, promises, as always, to wow the crowds with a mix of new and exciting trends from big name brands to new designers.
Both established brands and new designers will be showcasing their …
Italian Sketches
John XXIII
The good pope
Jovial, plump and a superb communicator, Angelo Roncalli took the name of John XXIII when he was elected pope in 1958, at the age of 77. It was commonly believed that, given his age, he would be a ‘transitional’ pope, an …
Style + Fashion
A penny-pinchers guide to holiday shopping
by Sabine Eiche
If you are terribly rich and bursting with ideas for holiday presents, skip this article. If you’re not, read on and relax. I’m going to suggest gifts that are both Italian and affordable.
Are your card-playing friends losing patience with paper-thin cards …
Italian Sketches
Pasquale Rotondi
Saved Italys treasures from Nazi hands
His name is not a household word, not even in Italy, but it should be. Nor was his extraordinary story told until fairly recently. But, starting in 1940, for a period of five years, three months and eight days, a young, …
Life
Table fit for a king
I have a penchant for elegant tables and their coverings. My walk-in linen closet is full: the last time I counted, there were more than 100 tablecloths. I delve into my past to find the reason for my peculiarity, but all …
Italian Sketches
Italo Calvino
A Man of letters
One of the most original and challenging artists to emerge from post-war Italy, Italo Calvino quickly became a central figure in Italian culture through his active involvement in an array of disciplines—from journalism and politics to intellectually-oriented publishing and inventive literature. …
Life
Digging for dirt
The story behind the clean hands campaign
by Jeff Poole
In the 1990s Italy was home to a scandal that shook the very foundations of the country’s political and business worlds. An investigation, nicknamed Mani Pulite, or ‘Clean Hands’, uncovered a web of political bribery. In its wake, politicians, businessmen, and …
Life
Lords of discipline
Cascine is home to military school
by Helen Glave
Visitors to Florence might be forgiven for being unaware that the Cascine, the city’s green lung stretching westward along the Arno, is also home to a school of war. Shielded by an imposing wall and guarded by sentries, the Istituto di …
Life
Money, money everywhere
And not a coin for change
by Sabine Eiche
Any readers who were in Italy in the second half of the 1970s will remember the time when the coin crisis hit its peak. Rumour had it that a certain Far Eastern country was siphoning off all Italy’s coins to make …
Italian Sketches
Early Italian chick lit
Before Barbara Cartland & Danielle Steel, there was Liala
The women are beautiful. Sometimes they are of humble origin, sometimes they are aristocrats but they are always striking. The men are handsome and dashing, often airmen or navy officers, but almost always attractive and debonair. And they are in love. …
Style + Fashion
Rag revolution
Contro Moda features designers who brought change
Complemented by the elegant domed rooms of Palazzo Strozzi, the futuristic exhibition is true to its title: ControModa is a collection of clothing from the world’s most revolutionary designers who have strived to challenge and question every accepted aspect of fashion …
Italian Sketches
Roberto Rossellini
Relentless pursuit of realism
‘I have tried in my films to reach an understanding of things, and to give them their true value’.
Forever identified (perhaps too much so) with the ‘school’ of neorealism, Roberto Rossellini was one of the most influential film-makers of the twentieth …
Families + Kids
Flights of fancy
Ferragamo publishes childrens book
Fiera, a new children’s book written by Annamaria Sbisa and illustrated by Michela Petoletti, brings to life the beauty and whimsy of Ferragamo’s silk scarves and introduces young readers to Florence.
Six playful creatures are aboard a hot air balloon sailing with …
Italian Sketches
In the beginning was De Gasperi
A founding father of the EU
Fifty years ago, on 27 March 1957, Italy, West Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed one of the most important treaties in modern European history. The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community, now known as the European …
Italian Sketches
Cirque du Orfei
She flies through the air with the greatest of ease
The white turban covering her jet-black beehive hairstyle, the heavy black eyeliner, long false eyelashes and bright red lips all went out with the 1960s. Yet such outdated and eccentric attributes are what make Moira Orfei instantly recognisable to Italians when …
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013