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Deirdre Pirro

    Deirdre Pirro, author of Italian Sketches: The Faces of Modern Italy, Famous Expats in Italy and Royals in Florence, published by The Florentine Press, is an international lawyer who lives and works in Florence. Her writing focuses on modern Italy, its people, history and customs. Follow her on Twitter @dp_in_florence or contact her at ddpirro@gmail.com.

    Articles by the author

    ART + CULTURE

    The Questura building

    Florence's police headquarters was once a hospital.

    COMMUNITY

    Mary McCarthy

    Mary McCarthy’s 'The Stones of Florence' (1959) still has much to offer.

    ART + CULTURE

    Renato Balestra

    A brief history on the iconic Italian fashion designer Renato Balestra and his impact on the world of fashion.

    ART + CULTURE

    Carlo Adolfo Schlatter

    Home-atelier museum Casa Schlatter houses a collection of over 350 Schlatter works and artefacts that are available for public viewing.

    FOOD + WINE

    Rivoire

    An insightful history about hot chocolate and where to find the best cup in Florence.

    ART + CULTURE

    Isabella Stewart Gardner

    Isabella Stewart Gardner spent over one million dollars between 1894 and 1903 building her collection of over 40 old masters’ paintings.

    ART + CULTURE

    The Queen of Naples buried in Florence

    Maria Annunziata Carolina Bonaparte, the youngest sister of Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen of Naples, was buried in the San Salvi Church.

    ART + CULTURE

    Giuseppe Fiorelli

    Summer 2022 brought exciting discoveries in Pompeii, the largest working archaeological site in the world, attracting millions of tourists every year. About 24 kilometers south of Naples, this Ancient Roman ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Margherita Hack

    The centenary of the birth of Margherita Hack, one of Italy’s most illustrious astrophysicists and the first woman to become the director of an astronomy observatory (Trieste, 1964–87), was celebrated ...

    ART + CULTURE

    The Fanciullacci brothers’ ceramics factory in Montelupo Fiorentino

    The history of Montelupo's ceramics factory and the story of the family that were behind the potter's wheel for over a hundred years.

    ART + CULTURE

    The Caccini Garden

    The Caccini Garden, off borgo Pinti, was one of the most beautiful and exotic gardens in Florence at the end of the 16th century.

    ART + CULTURE

    The Bank of Italy in Florence

    The Bank of Italy in Florence is an imposing Neo Renaissance-style building along via dell'Oriuolo that dates to between 1865 and 1869.

    ART + CULTURE

    Amalia Moretti Foggia della Rovere

    Amalia Moretti Foggia della Rovere, aka “Petronilla”, was one of the first woman doctors in Italy as well as a leading journalist.

    ART + CULTURE

    Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, Queen of Yugoslavia

    On March 20, 1944, a member of the Royal House of Karadjordjevic and the last king of Yugoslavia, Peter II married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark in a ceremony ...

    FOOD + WINE

    Capon for Christmas

    Many will remember the story of Renzo in Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed, who sets off to visit the lawyer Azzeccagarbugli in order to seek advice about resolving the situation regarding ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Angelo de Gubernatis

    Florence hides many unexpected jewels, but they take time for the visitor to find, visit and savour. One of these is the Indian Museum, an anthropology and ethnology section of ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Sylvano Bussotti

    For five days between September 20 and 25, as part of Estate Fiorentina, several major Florentine cultural organisations will celebrate the 90th birthday of Sylvano Bussotti, one of the city’s ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Enrico Magnani Pescia handmade paper

    Note it in your diary today so you won’t miss this unique upcoming event. From September 16 to 19, the 27th edition of the Artigianato e Palazzo exhibition will be ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Francesco Carletti

    The son of Antonio Carletti and his wife Lucrezia Macinghi, Francesco Carletti was born in Florence in either 1573 or 1574. His father was a descendant of an old merchant ...

    COMMUNITY

    St. Mark’s English Church

    To encourage trade through the port of Livorno, Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici passed an edict in 1595 that allowed freedom of religion to all merchants. Soon, an English ...

    ART + CULTURE

    The Busatti Family: weavers since 1842

    A friend telephoned me a month ago and said, “I’m coming by to take you to see a real piece of industrial archaeology”. He did that and so much more. ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Elvira Gemignani Puccini

    On November 29, 1924, aged 65, the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died of a heart attack as a result of radiation treatment he was undergoing for throat cancer at the ...

    ART + CULTURE

    The Buffalo Soldiers

    Bob Marley wrote “Buffalo Soldier” with Noel “King Sporty” Williams, but the song was released by Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1983, two years after the singer-songwriter’s death. It ...

    ART + CULTURE

    Felix Le Monnier

    The court case lasted almost 20 years and created a sensation at the time because it involved one of Italy’s most beloved authors and a prestigious French publisher, who had ...

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