Here’s our guide to Florence’s eight Michelin-starred restaurants: Enoteca Pinchiorri (3 stars); La Leggenda dei Frati (1 star); Il Palagio (1 star); Borgo San Jacopo (1 star); Ora d’Aria (1 star); La Bottega del Buon Caffè (1 star); and two new 1-star restaurants for 2020: Gucci Garden Osteria and Santa Elisabetta.     Enoteca Pinchiorri “For decades Pinchiorri has represented luxury and haute […]

Italian cuisine has long since been a favourite, but in recent years chefs in Tuscany have been scaling the heights of culinary excellence. Here’s an overview to 2020 Michelin-starred restaurants in Tuscany, which vaunts five new 1-star entries for the region: Santa Elisabetta and Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, in Florence; L’Asinello, Senio Venturi, in Castelnuovo Berardenga; Virtuoso […]

Florence has been rated the top European city for its creativity and cultural vibrancy, according to the second edition of the European Commission’s Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor. Tommaso Sacchi, city councillor for culture, fashion and design, speaks to The Florentine about the international recognition.         Helen Farrell: It’s quite an achievement […]

This month’s cover story of The Florentine concentrates on a local event of global resonance for the future.   Research has shown that up to 20 percent of adolescents are experiencing mental health disorders and approximately 15 percent of children in low- and middle-income countries have attempted suicide. In order to change the conversation about […]

The #paroledasalvare campaign is attracting word lovers to Florence’s piazza Santa Croce, the latest stop on Bologna-based dictionary publisher Zanichelli’s nationwide tour. The aim is to save more than 3,000 Italian words that risk being lost forever.             Open between 11am and 7.30pm until October 19, the #AreaZ has already […]

Stepping into the stylish lobby of the Helvetia & Bristol is always a treat, especially now that the historic hotel has been extensively renovated and the restaurant has welcomed a new talented chef.             Ensconced in the Bristol Winter Garden with its Liberty-style glass ceiling and Tuscan fauna wall coverings, […]

Suvereto charms travellers with its medieval architecture, slow pace and green surroundings. Its wines are equally beguiling: scented like the Mediterranean maquis, refreshing like a dip in the nearby sea and sincere as a sojourn under the southern Tuscan sun.         Petra was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta.       […]

  The thriving vineyard of Tenuta Prima Pietra unfurls along a winding woodland road above the hillside town of Riparbella as a stylish wooden gate and stone sign announce the discreet entranceway. With the sea in the distance and salinity in the air, cypress trees escort visitors down the reddish track to the brick-fronted farmhouse, […]

  As the Year of Leonardo draws to a close, Florence celebrates the Tuscan genius with a spectacular exhibition bridging art, nature and science in the dormitory and great cloister of the Santa Maria Novella complex, where Leonardo sketched preparatory cartoons for The Battle of Anghiari in the early 16th century.     On stepping into […]

  You might not be searching for the philosopher’s stone down via di San Niccolò, but strolling into Sileno Cheloni’s signature atelier feels like you’ve found it. This blue-hued den is a cabinet of curiosities that charms passersby powerless before personalized perfumes.     Helen Farrell: Do people come to you with a clear idea […]