Editor-in-Chief of The Florentine, Helen writes about food, wine and all things literary. She is also a freelance contributor to Decanter. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Instagram @helencfarrell.
Meet the food heroes of Florence. As 2021 begins, thank you is due to the people who nourish us, belly and soul. Farmer to the rescue: La Valle del Sasso Nobody does customer service like Flavio Giannetti, a farmer and family man who cares as deeply about his carnivorous […]
Made in Tuscany is a bellwether of style and functionality. We start 2021 by bigging up the brands who make a difference in our daily lives. Top left to bottom left (clockwise): IVV glassware, Mangusta Yachts, Locman watches, Laika caravans, all made in Tuscany The sun is rising over the […]
Nirav Tolia is an über-successful entrepreneur who studied at Stanford University before working for Yahoo! and going on to found his own businesses including Epinions and, most notably, Nextdoor. With his wife Megha and their three children, Nirav is currently enjoying an extended sabbatical in Florence as a member of Palazzo Tornabuoni. […]
Last Friday, I saw the stars again. In the pitch black of the Tuscan hills, the constellations studded the night sky. Overwhelmed, I couldn’t look away; months had passed since the sacrosanct brightness of Orion’s Belt and the Seven Sisters had illuminated my retina. My Guide and I, our journey to […]
This year’s pandemic has left governments and journalists scrambling to find the right words to communicate unprecedented situations. The term “social distancing”, now largely ditched in favour of the more spatial “physical distancing”, was first used in the New York Times in 2006 referring to Avian flu. In Italy, we have witnessed a dusting down […]
Understandably suffering from a smidgen of pandemic fatigue? Too whacked to shake your own? Don’t fret, have cocktails brought to your door in Florence for Fridays night in (or any day of the week, come to that). Floreal Firenze delivers canned cocktails (1 can for 7 euro, 15 cans for 90 euro) anywhere in […]
Ragini Gupta has served as a US diplomat since 2002 with previous assignments in Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan and India, as well as serving as director of the Office of Broadcast Services in Washington, D.C. As of July 2020, she assumed the position of US Consul General in Florence. Ragini Gupta spoke live to The Florentine […]
A lady is dressed in nineteenth-century garb as we walk into the farmhouse where “memory sequences” are being filmed between wooden beams and terracotta tiles. Hershey Felder’s latest online-only performance, A Paris Love Story, featuring the music of Claude Debussy, recalls deeply personal memories of the performer losing his mother at a young age and […]
In her home in the Florence hills, The Right Honourable Kim Campbell is proudly wearing the Order of Canada, a snowflake pin with a maple leaf in the middle, an acknowledgment of the 19th Prime Minister of Canada’s lifelong service to her nation. A champion of women’s rights and dynamic advocate for democracy, Kim Campbell […]
On wine + food pairing at Il Santo Bevitore: “People who don’t drink have a right to enjoy themselves just as much as someone who does. We have tons of wines, and there’s always at least one that can be paired with each of our dishes, but we have a dedicated sommelier, so she takes […]
