Suzi Jenkins

    Suzi Jenkins has been living and working in Florence longer than most people care to remember. Originally from the Docklands area in South London, she has a background in marketing and communications. After 30 years of pushing Tuscan small- and medium-sized companies towards their inevitable digital futures, she is now the owner and hands-on manager of Le Palaie Vecchie, just 20 km east of Florence, offering awaycation experiences in her home.

    Articles by the author

    NEWS

    Tuscany’s growing wolf population and how to handle it

    Three experts provide their perspectives on the increasing wolf population in Tuscany.

    THINGS TO DO

    parkrun: it was always about the coffee

    It was back in 2004 when a South African living in London named Paul Sinton-Hewitt gave birth to the first parkrun event, with his partner Joanne, three other volunteers and a ...

    COMMUNITY

    Covid-19 and the parenting experience in Tuscany

    I genuinely do not believe that I could have been any more shocked if you had picked me up and dumped me on Mars and told me to get on ...

    Lifestyle

    Parkrun for the win

    What brings together people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures and physical abilities? The answer is Parkrun—and it’s coming to Florence. Parkrun is an idea that began in London in 2004 ...

    Lifestyle

    Ditching the sack

    Faced with selecting an elementary school for my six-year-old daughter, I was flummoxed. Whilst her state school experience in the Scuola d’Infanzia had been wonderful, I was not at all ...

    THINGS TO DO

    Run4Meyer

    It’s that time of year again! On November 27, Firenze Marathon will uniting approximately 11,000 runners, attempting the route over 42km and 195m taking them past all that is astoundingly ...

    FOOD + WINE

    What exactly is a Bistecca alla Fiorentina?

    The steak is cut from the loin, just below the rib cage and above the round or rump (depending on which side of the pond you come from!). The higher ...

    THINGS TO DO

    Barefoot running in Florence

    If you’re a runner you’ll know that there’s a right shoe for every conceivable situation: hard surfaces or trail runs, sturdy training days or lightweight race days, summer and winter, ...

    THINGS TO DO

    Join a running group in Florence

    On a quiet walk through the semi-deserted city on a Wednesday night, pay attention if you hear shouts of ‘Fate passare! Fate spazio’ (‘Let us through! Make way!’): it’s not uncommon to suddenly find yourself in the path of 600 excited runners all

    Lifestyle

    #RunforMeyer at Firenze Marathon

      I have only ever run one marathon in my life, which certainly doesn’t make me an expert, but it does make me a member of a rather exclusive club. ...

    THINGS TO DO

    What Florence can gain from Hollywood

    Love him or hate him, Dan Brown deserves a huge thumbs up for having done more for the Florentine economy in a relatively short period of time than anyone else in recent years. First came the book, Inferno (theflr.net/o0xc19) in 2013, in which The Florentine got name-dropped.

    COMMUNITY

    More than shared coffee breaks

    Not that long ago, the only facilities in Florence for travelling business professionals or those without permanent office spaces were those offered by Marconi World Office, Centro Servizi Firenze Nord and Executive Service, all of which still provide offices and support services but with prices and facilities aimed at top

    COMMUNITY

    Internships in Italy

    Placing interns at a local business in Florence is a service offered by an increasing number of American universities with campuses in Florence, such as Syracuse University (theflr.net/syracuse), and professional intern placement agencies, such as Global Experiences (theflr.net/globalexperiences). While most internships are in social media and

    COMMUNITY

    The volunteer economy

    Culturally and historically, Italy does not have an overtly philanthropic nature, or perhaps it is fairer to say that, traditionally speaking, giving back to the community has not represented a mainstream mentality: while the important charity work of confraternities and the like have centuries of history, and Italy is at

    COMMUNITY

    The changing faces of Tuscan tourism

    Once upon a time, we talked about change across centuries, generations and decades. Of late, time has condensed, shrunk and undergone inverse exponentialism. Now we can actually talk about astounding changes to the face of Tuscan tourism in terms of months.   In general terms, the ‘hardcore’ Tuscan

    COMMUNITY

    The Dan Brown economy

    UPDATE, NOVEMBER 8, 2013: The Florentine has just released its Inferno Florence Guide app. Written by TF editors, the guide takes you through the places of Inferno, giving you historical and visitor information about the locations experienced by the book's protagonists to get to know Florence in depth. Download

    COMMUNITY

    The nonni economy

    If you are thinking about having children in Italy, you probably need to sit down in front of a Google spreadsheet and first start playing with some numbers. Among the obvious costs associated with children (adequate housing, food, clothes, toys, possibly private schooling) is the glaringly large figure that is

    COMMUNITY

    Stealing jobs or stimulating the economy?

    Italy is struggling with one of the most difficult recessions in the last 50 years. Unemployment has peaked at 11 percent, with youth and women, especially in the south, suffering the most from the stagnant economy and lack of jobs. But what about the almost 5 million foreign-born residents,

    COMMUNITY

    Power to the people

    The Internet and the new interpretation of freedom of speech it offers has long been causing headaches to many different members of global society: governments, businesses and individuals. However, many are now learning to manage it rather than fight it. With some surprising results.   Two years ago, TripAdvisor was

    COMMUNITY

    Blood is thicker than water

    Sometimes the best innovation is right under our noses and we just need help seeing it. At a time when economists are desperately searching for sustainable business models that go ...

    Lifestyle

    Greening Tuscany

    This millennium's wake-up call: ?Hey, guess what? The world does not have infinite resources or infinite space to dump used-up resources, or an infinite capacity to naturally clean up all that human-created mess!' It's a hard, expensive and massively urgent question that all world economies

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