We’ll
keep you up-to-date on the latest and greatest in culture, music and more
English-friendly entertainment here in our Top Picks!
Enjoy
Florence.
TF
Events/KnitLounge2
June 23, 7 to 10pm,
Le Murate SUC, 1st floor
The
Florentine and BettaKnit present a reprise of the highly successful event last April, when more than 30
people showed up to knit in good company in the former prison of Le Murate. If
you missed the last one, sign up to reserve the easy-to-make Lulu necklace from
BettaKnit (the kit costs 10 euros) or book a space to bring your own project.
Space is limited; RSVP required at bettaknit@gmail.com or 055/2306616.
mixer/ToscanaIN
& SUF Aperitivo
June 29, 7pm, Le
Murate restaurant, piazza Madonna della Neve
This
event invites study-abroad students and young Italians to meet (you must be
under 30 to participate). ToscanaIN business networking association and
Syracuse University Florence sponsor this causal aperitivo where the conversation will be about food, fashion and social habits. Italians
are asked to wear something green, Americans or others something red, in order
to play a fun mixing game! 5 euro gets you food and drink; RSVP required at
info@toscanain.org.
folklore/San
Giovanni Battista+Calcio Storico
June 24, Florence
Every
June 24, Florence celebrates its patron saint with fochi (fireworks) launched from piazzale Michelangelo. The fireworks start once it’s
dark enough to enjoy them, but make sure to claim your spot along the Arno
early! With markets, concerts and cultural parades throughout the day in the
historic centre, you can make a day out of it. See www.sangiovannibattistafirenze.com
for more info. One way to celebrate the holiday is by attending Calcio
Storico, the historic Florentine sport for
the strong-stomached: it’s a bloody battle between neighbourhoods that’s a
combo of rugby, wrestling and soccer. Worth seeing at least once, especially
since it was cancelled in past years. This year, matches are scheduled on June
18 (Bianchi vs Rossi), 19 (Azzurri vs Verdi) and 24 (finals) For tickets and
information, see http://www.boxol.it.
open
house/NYU ‘The Season’
June 16 to 28, New
York University’s Villa la Pietra and other locations
NYU
annually organizes a series of talks, concerts and events around Florence and
in the celebrated gardens of its breathtaking campus. Now in its seventh year,
‘The Season’ brings together distinguished actors, musicians, writers, and
artists to present professional performances ranging from classical concerts to
readings of new works. It kicks off with a writer’s talk by Zadie Smith on June
16 at Le Murate, while the highlight of the programme is Shakespeare’s As
You Like It in the gardens on June 19. See the
full schedule online at http://www.nyu.edu/global/lapietra.
Reservations are required via email to lapietra.reply@nyu.edu.
white
night/Nottarno
June 25, Florence
Oltrarno
One of our
favorites: in the Oltrarno, shops, restaurants and bars will be open and
celebrating well past midnight. Every piazza in the district will hold concerts
and live performances, so take your pick from the San Frediano, Santo Spirito,
San Niccolò and piazza Pitti areas for what’s sure to be a spectacle. There is
far too much to list here, from street art demos to late night dinners, jazz
quintets and Latino music to rock concerts and DJ sets. The website (www.diladdarno.it, click on the Nottarno banner
on the lower left) will soon update its awesome, page-flipping interactive
catalogue with an hour-by-hour, piazza-by-piazza and street-by-street schedule,
so stay tuned. See you there!
art+architecture/
Vasari, the Uffizi
& the Duke
May 27 to 29, Parco
Mediceo di Pratolino, via Fiorentina 282
Some say that
when Cosimo I de’ Medici met Vasari, Florence was truly born: Vasari managed to
meld this city’s art with its patrons, its power with its people and urban
fabric, through meticulous architectural design. The exhibit traces what
Florence looked like before the Uffizi was built, the precedents from which it
drew, how power was spread about the city before its conception and the various
stages of design and construction of what today is perhaps the best-known
masterpiece of sixteenth-century architecture. For more information, visit http://www.unannoadarte.it or call
055/23885.
contemporary
art/EX3
Until September
11, Ex3 Center of Contemporary Art
A dual
exhibition starring Marzia Migliora and Salla Tykka. Migliora’s exhibition,
RADA, was inspired by the maritime flag that means ‘stop carrying out your
intentions and watch for my signals.’ Her mixed-media installation of light,
images and objects uses this naval concept as an invitation to the public to do
the same. Tykka’s exhibition, White Depths, blends film and photography to
reflect upon beauty, and how the West, in its dominance of culture and nature,
has determined how we define it. For more information, visit http://www.ex3.it.
wine+music/Festival Melodia del Vino
From June 28 to
July 8, Florence and Tuscany
The Florentine is a media partner for this event
of sextets: six days, six classical music concerts at six historic villas,
featuring wine tastings. The event opens in Florence on June 28 at Teatro Verdi
with a concert by Premio Chopin 2010 winner, concert pianist Yulianna Adeeva.
The other settings include stunning estates in the countrysides of Grosseto,
Val di Pesa, Lucca and Siena. For tickets and information, see http://www.melodiadelvino.it.
sports/Men’s
Water Polo World League: Final 8
June 21 to 26,
Paolo Costoli Pool, Florence
Watch
world-class men wrestle in the pool for an Olympics berth. The eight
international countries participating, including Italy, are competing in two
groups: Serbia (the defending champions), the United States, Italy and China;
Canada, Australia, Croatia and Montenegro. The tournament winner will qualify
for the 2012 summer Olympics in London. For more information (in Italian), see http://www.federnuoto.it; for tickets (in
Italian), see http://www.boxol.it (look for
the Men’s Water Polo banner on the homepage). Each ticket is valid for an
entire day of competition, which includes four games: at 4pm, 5:30pm, 7pm and
8:30pm.
exhibit/Amarti
Ora e Sempre: Eleonora Duse
Until June 28, SACI
Gallery, Palazzo Jules Maidoff, via Sant’Egidio 14
In honour of
Italy’s big 150th anniversary, the exhibition examines the life of Eleonora
Duse, the early twentieth-century actress of the Belle Epoque, known as Italy’s
unofficial ambassador for her beauty, talent and success in revealing the
country’s culture and the language of Dante to the world (see Italian Sketch in
TF 139). Photos, drawings, letters and videos recount her life, her long and
turbulent love affair with politician and poet Gabriele D’Annunzio and her tour
of the United States. For more information, see http://www.saci-florence.org.
