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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.
Throughout the centuries, some individuals have been fortunate—or at times unfortunate enough—to witness history in the making and have felt compelled to write about what they saw. One such favoured ...
Though he planned a grand family tomb in Naples, Viceroy Pedro Álvarez de Toledo was ultimately buried in Florence’s Cathedral.
The many lives of the woman who turned a family fortune into Italy's National Trust
How a man from Greve in Chianti and his wife opened La Via del Tè, a revolutionary tea shop in coffee country.
Oreste Gozzini antiquarian bookstore, a treasure trove of antique, rare and hard-to-find books, treatises, drawings, prints and maps.
Celebrating 50 years of community and charity, AILO unites Florence’s international residents in giving back to the city they call home.
As San Salvi enters a new chapter, the story returns to the man who first redefined mental healthcare in Florence.
A look back on the architect responsible for the Grand Hotel Majestic, now the site of the new W Florence, along with many other significant public works.
The story of a Florentine artist who founded a university in Thailand, then known as Siam. Today, he's considered the father of Thai modern art.
The liberty-style Central Post Office on via Pellicceria is a stunning public work, displaying the care that went into such projects in the early 20th century.
When Florence’s lowest-paid textile workers seized power, and how betrayal and ambition brought their revolution to a bloody end.
With the reopening of Villa La Quiete, we recount the story of the woman who, before the Electress Palatine, founded a conservatory there.
Queen of Naples, Spain and the West Indies, and sister-in-law to Napoleon Bonaparte, she perished in Florence in 1845.
Forbes Italia, recently published its list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Italy for 2024. Mariangela Zappia is one of these outstanding women.
A little-known oratory in Florence is dedicated to the figure who inspired Santa Claus. Here is its history.
Completed in 1909, these neomedieval barracks are named after an important figure of the first Italo-Ethiopian war.
At the age of 52, Giuseppe Garibaldi would make a hasty romantic decision that he would regret for the next 20 years.
The northern Italian cyclist won the Tour de France in 1924 and 1925.
The writerly couple lived in Florence in the 1860s on the run from creditors.
