Here’s our round-up for April 6-13
Pull out the colomba cakes and get ready for the pastel-colored egg hunts. This Sunday celebrates the Easter holiday and Florence has plenty of ways to take part around the city. Included in the festivities are a number of ways to simply enjoy the springtime surroundings.
Alevtina Ioffe joins the Orchestra della Toscana as the first Russian woman to lead the Michaylovsky in St. Petersburg. With an affinity for Late Romanticism, she takes the ORT through three important musical figures of the period: Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák. Accompanied by Italian-Romanian violinist Anna Tifu, the performance promises to be a wonderful way to welcome in the Easter holiday.
Tickets from 15 euro
As part of an initiative running throughout the spring, visitors can enjoy a free guided tour of the 18th-century lemon house in the Boboli Gardens on April 7. A Boboli Gardens admission ticket as well as a reservation is required.
Email to book your spot
National Geographic returns to Pisa’s foremost exhibition space for a major photographic show that revolves around the exploration of Planet Earth. Starting with a set of images that National Geographic’s photographers captured to document the beauty of our ecosystems, the show zooms in on what we know (and don’t know) about the planet where we live, as well as the human impact on the environment over the millennia.
Exhibition infoAdvanced vocal ensemble and concert choir students from the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy Lauralton Hall in Milford, Connecticut, USA visit Florence and perform a choral concert. They perform music from Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi and more as part of their American Celebration of Music in Italy trip. The students will be led by fine arts department chair Margy Sargent and entrance for the concert is free at 7pm.
9pm. Promoting and preserving the performance of sacred music and art, the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arta Sacra supports a concert featuring the Gustavus Choir (USA). This prestigious student choir consists of almost 300 members who perform globally and specialize in both historical and contemporary composers of religious music. This performance is the second in a series of five promoted by the Fondazione to be performed throughout the year.
April 12-23
Shaken or stirred? Florence Cocktail Week is back with the promise of meetings, masterclasses and events for spirits professionals and enthusiasts. Following Tuscan Cocktail Week (April 10-16), Florence’s focus will stay in bars and other establishments within the Tuscan capital. Bartenders throughout the city present original twists on classic beverages, while introducing new innovations and flavors to the world of cocktails.
Check events
More than 50 works connected to the Gallery of Mirrors and Biblioteca Riccardiana will make up this major exhibition at Palazzo Medici Riccardi on Baroque master Luca Giordano (1634-1705). Expect a series of sketches on loan from the National Gallery in London as well as other important artworks from private collections in Europe and the United States, the Uffizi and the Opera del Duomo Museum in Siena, among others.
Exhibition info
April 12
Afro-Italian actor, screenwriter, and film director Daphne di Cinto joins NYU for a screening and conversation about her award-winning short movie, Il Moro, the untold story of Alessandro de’ Medici, the Black Duke of Florence.
Register hereInternational human rights attorney and environmental advocate Flynn Coleman will speak at the official April meeting of the International Women’s Network in Palazzo San Niccolò about how artificial intelligence is redefining who we are. Tickets cost 20 euro for members and 25 euro for non-members.
Florence/based British drummer and composer Phelan Burgoyne joins forces with Kiwi rising star pianist Alex Ventling in a new duo project entitled Trinkets. Tickets are 15 euro.
Artist Nicoletta Gatti hosts her first solo exhibition in Florence curated by Carlo Pizzichini. Her use of strong monochromatic colors and obscure layering create potent works that require time from the viewer to sit and ponder each piece. Her use of red, white and black, and even some green are meant to tie in with the natural elements.
April 15
The Canada-born best-selling author Ross King speaks with Paola Vojnovic for a special zoom event. The two will discuss the Florentine Renaissance and its rediscovery of architecture and visual space. The minimum suggested donation is 20 euro and due to time changes, the hour of the event goes as follows: 10am Los Angeles, 11am Phoenix, 1pm NY & Toronto, 6pm London, 7pm Florence. If you would like to RSVP, please send an email to Paola50122@gmail.com.
More on Ross KingJoin Cinema Astra for a new talk series (in Italian) on films dedicated to the “baddest broads” in the movies. April 1 will focus on damning Disney antiheroines with a talk by Luca Malavasi, while film critic Pier Maria Bocchi leads a discussion on vampiresses, femme fatales and the iconic Marlene Dietrich on April 15. Check out Cinema Astra’s website for original language film showings.
A cultural showcase inspired by the documentary film Florence, City of Water, on April 2 from 3 to 6pm, participants can enjoy a guided walk along the Mensola stream, a tributary of the River Arno. As a celebratory wrap up of the events, Villa Il Palmerino will open up its garden for dance and video art on April 15 and 16. Choreography and poetry by Silvia Giordano promise an exciting and dynamic spectacle.
For one of the cutest ways to welcome in the spring, visit this pick-your-own-flower farm with 300,000 tulips from more than 100 different varieties to choose from. We can’t think of a better way to get outside and spruce up your living room with a fresh handpicked bouquet.
Cuba-Born artist Enrique Martínez Celaya opens his sculpture exhibition Watching and Waiting at the Museo Marino Marini. Celaya originally comes from a scientific background and has experimented with several other art mediums such as photography, videography, and writing. He resides in Los Angeles and this is his first show in Italy. He will feature his sculptural works from 2005-2023.
Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-Ho visits Florence for the Florence Korea Film Fest. Mastermind behind thrillers such as Parasite, Mother and other noteworthy films, this is Bong Joon-Ho’s first trip back to Florence since 2011. Events will welcome a lineup of other directors, actors and film powerhouses to participate in this fest dedicated to contemporary South Korean cinematography.