“It’s a fractal” is the reply I received on enquiring about the effect applied to this month’s cover pic snapped by our very own Marco Badiani. Still as unclear as the focus on the front page, Google provided a helping hand of boundless dimensions: “a never-ending pattern”, “created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop” and “fractals are images of dynamic systems – the pictures of Chaos”. Admittedly harmonious on our September cover, disorderly images have been captured about Florence this summer: a woman getting amorous with a Bacchus statue near the Ponte Vecchio; two Germans spraying football-related graffiti on walls beneath the Vasari Corridor; a dad and daughter walking a walk in the Arno on one of those torrid nights. There’s something about Italy in the summer that brings out the best and the worst in humans, as if a watercolour is painted by day and a “tourists go home” tag by night.
Issue 314 – Re-focus on Florence
BUY THIS ISSUE – The Florentine September 2024
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This issue is the usual September mishmash of news, events and community life.
Over the years, I have talked a lot about life resembling a bubble in Florence. A city with a population shy of 400,000, reassuring stone streets and buildings that have stood steadfast for centuries can lull us into a false sense of security as if crime were a foreign concern and the town unaffected by our behaviour. That bubble is bursting (has burst?) as tourist numbers soar to unsustainable levels and authorities all around the world struggle to restore order to the issue of overtourism. Not that life in Florence is really that bad—on the contrary; otherwise why would all these people be visiting our city in the first place?
Every single one of us is responsible for protecting and preserving the fragility of Florence, The Florentine included, which is why we will be publishing a special issue about overtourism later this year. For contributions and to get involved, please drop me a line at h.farrell@theflorentine.net. In the meantime, for more on the social, cultural and psychological aspects of antisocial behaviour in Italy in recent years, I recommend reading Julia Buckley’s ‘Tourists in Italy are behaving badly this year: Here’s why’ article for CNN.com.
Although this issue’s “wrapping paper” might appear orderly, the interior is the usual September mishmash of news, events and community life. From the pride parade in Lucca on September 7 to the diverse perspectives offered by Uncomfortable Tours in Florence (see page 8) and Jurassic Park movie star Jeff Goldblum headlining the season opening of central Teatro Niccolini with his jazz band on September 20 (page 12), the lineup of late-summer events have never been more eclectic. Highlights include Firenze Jazz Festival (11 days, 30-plus concerts, myriad locations) from September 4 to 15, the 30th anniversary of acclaimed arts and crafts fair Artigianato e Palazzo in the Corsini Gardens from September 13 to 15 and the return of the Florence International Antiques Biennial at Palazzo Corsini from September 28 to October 6. The end of the month brings abstract expressionism to Palazzo Strozzi with American artist Helen Frankenthaler.
Subscribers of The Florentine will find the latest notebook-style exhibition catalogue enclosed with this month’s issue. The Curators’ Quaderno, created by Calliope Arts and styled by The Florentine Press, delves into the French-American artist’s Louise Bourgeois exhibition currently ongoing at Museo Novecento. Later in the year, subscribers will receive similar publications about the women trailblazers showing at the Festival dei Popoli international film festival and Marion and Wanda Wulz’s photographic archive at the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia.
So, the message is clear: subscribe now to The Florentine and you’ll receive more culture!
