As Pitti Fragranze’s annual fixture wafts through Florentine streets, the industry’s sharpest and future-filtering noses follow suit. Much like Pitti Uomo’s preserve as global trailblazer of menswear trends, Fragranze has cemented Florence as an international city of scent, its forward-thinking schedule stretching from niche innovators to fragrance front-runners. With such clear-cut emphasis placed on the […]

Confession time, for context: my senses aren’t exactly the sharpest. Coming from a moderately myopic family, some visual impairment is probably inevitable, but my stubbornness to embrace neither specs nor contacts sets me apart. Nine times out of ten, my (frequently misplaced) glasses are relegated to bottom-of-bag territory, gathering dust alongside ageing receipts and forgotten […]

Florence’s streets will soon be awash with a panoply of Pitti attendees. Their impeccably tailored, jubilant presence is par for the course each January and June, but with Pitti Immagine Uomo celebrating its 30th birthday this season, the volume of spectators and spectacles is set to balloon.

With the Tuscan capital submerged in a swirl of Pitti-goers—their sartorial flamboyancy dancing across monochromatic cobblestones—why does a scarcity of fashion titles continue to endure? For long-celebrated runway capitals and newcomer cities alike, there’s no doubting the print industry’s incessant flux. Take, for example, the dramatic demise and rapid re-genesis of New York’s Interview magazine, […]

While first-time travellers to the Tuscan capital may expect a city awash with colourfully clad locals, in reality most Florence dwellers don’t look as if they were plucked straight from a Benetton photoshoot. An innate desire to value function over form, accessorized with a penchant for neutral colour palettes, characterizes the locals’ clothing choices, adapted […]

Pici pasta and Sangiovese may have captivated global gourmands, but Tuscany’s lesser-known culinary offerings, crafted with home-grown, flora-filled ingredients, cater to even the sweetest of appetites.

A key part of "Heavenly Bodies" explores the influence of Catholicism on fashion over the years, and while this may, partly, manifest in the Met through jewel-encrusted crosses adorning racy dresses, the Church played a crucial role in the flourishing textile trade of Renaissance Florence.

The “wear whoever, whatever, whenever we want” mantras of 2018 could not be further removed from the clothes-curbing, classist ethos of early Renaissance Florence governments. “Sumptuary law”—legislation that, by its kindest definition, strived to restrain luxury and extravagance—began sweeping Europe in the late Middle Ages, making Italian landfall via Genoa in 1157. What Florence may […]

As Florentine tourist tracks go, the streets encircling the Accademia’s entrance are some of the city’s most congested. Constantly filled with art-frenzied visitors, all of whom are eager to get an eyeful of Michelangelo’s David, the surrounding shopfronts reflect the surge in multinational chains and corporations pervading Florence. Yet amid this contemporary chaos, one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it […]

For many a seasoned Florentine sojourner, artisans of little- or largely-known status are as crucial a part of the city’s fabric as its best-loved landmarks. From the long-frequented jewellery purveyors lining the Ponte Vecchio to the tucked-away cabinet makers in San Frediano, such high-calibre craftsmanship is integral to the Tuscan capital’s DNA.       […]