Here’s our round-up for May 25-June 1, 2023.
It’s finally time to shed your long shirts and pull out the sunnies, summertime weather is upon us. Celebrate the heatwave with a list of fun activities around the city. With festivals, film screenings and shopping opportunities, you’re bound to keep your planner full.
On the night of May 26, 1993, a car bomb was detonated in the city center of Florence. This resulted in the 5 deaths and 48 injuries. Thirty years later, two Tuscan photographers Paolo Cagnacci and Matteo Cesari present a visual investigation of the via dei Georgofili massacre. After years spent reconstructing events as well as researching with investigators, families of the victims, witnesses, and lawyers from the trials, they have created this exhibition. Along with the works seen in the museum, there will also be a video installation set up in the Sala d’Arme of Palazzo Vecchio.
The Art With Love foundation was born out of Brisbane, Australia before making its way to Florence in 2016. The objective of founders Steve Ninnes and Leticia Francini was to preserve and disseminate art. They deeply care about art accessibility so the space is free of charge and open to anyone who wants to explore their own creativity. Students, seasoned artists, people who paint for pleasure and even families and children are welcomed in this space and well equipped with art supplies to create. This exhibition is a collective of works done by the participants of the space. The openness of Art With Love is apparent as the works feature a range of subjects and themes including everything from Renaissance and abstract paintings to portraits and landscapes.
A group of talented young singers from the Mascarade Opera Foundation join The British Institute for a musical performance. The Mascarade Opera Foundation holds performance training programs designed to help promising emerging artists, singers, and répétiteurs from all over the world develop their careers. This vocal performance will feature songs by Schubert, Strauss, and Brahms.
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Sink your teeth into some steak at this three-day meaty affair. Organized by the Florence Steak Festival Association, this second edition will promise booth after booth of Tuscan farmers, chefs, masterclasses and more, all centered on Florence’s beloved T-bone steak.
The Angel Academy of Art, one of Florence’s leading institutes for teaching realist art in the tradition of the Great Masters, will open its doors to the public with an exhibition of works created by students over recent years. The show will shine a spotlight on works by students from Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Finland, China, the Philippines, Australia, Mexico and Hawaii, who all came to Florence for a three-year programme at The Angel Academy of Art.
A group of international artists called Intreccio Creativo host a day of creative workshops. With the mission to share “the pleasure of making”, guests will have the opportunity to participate in activities such as sewing, Japanese painting, woodwork, pottery, cord work, paper flowers, and personalized salt. Each workshop lasts an hour and a half and cost 20 euro each.
Expect street food, cold drinks and good music along with amazing vintage finds at this riverside market. Complete your spring/summer wardrobe the sustainable way with curated and affordable vintage goodies.
Cinema Astra screens Dalíland starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley. This film is a biopic of Salvador Dalí, one of the 20th century’s most controversial artists. The film is screened in English.
FILE or the Fondazione Italiana di Leniterapia, is a charity organization that aids people facing serious ailments and their families. This Sunday, they present another one of their charitable events at the steps leading to the Abbazia di San Miniato. They will present a 260 meter square cape consisting of 3,000 cloth squares all made by hand by over 100 people. Volunteers, supports, and members of FILE have all come together to create this colorful cloak in a symbolic gesture of everyone’s lives being intertwined together, just like the stitches between each cloth. This idea was birthed during the pandemic, only furthering its symbolism of resistance, transformation, and protection.
Memorial Day in the United States is celebrated on May 29. What is usually considered the official start of the summer paired with backyard barbecues and poolside chats is also an important day in honoring those who died while serving in the US armed forces. Here in Italy, there is an official ceremony at the American Military Cemetary of Falciani in Impruneta. The ceremony will be followed by a luncheon at Villa Macchiavelli l’Alergaccio and a round table discussion on ‘A Path of Memory along the Gothic Line’ featuring historians and public administrators. The cost of the luncheon is 35 euro. Please RSVP by Friday, May 26 by emailing info@studiomancianti.it, davis@texnet.it or calling 055/9751105
Join 25hours Hotel for a special dinner that is more than your typical tasting menu. Enjoy your meal with a spectacular performance of light shows, stilt walkers, acrobats, juggling, and more. Food just tastes better when there are people flying across the room, right? Guests can choose between a traditional and a vegetarian for 60 euro including water, wine and coffee. Info + reservations: Tel: +39 0552966955. Mail: restaurant.sanpaolino@25hours-hotels.com
Cecilie Hollberg joins The British Institute of Florence to discuss the importance of the recently restored Gipsoteca in the Galleria dell’Accademia. The Gipsoteca, meaning hall of models, houses a collection of 19th century plaster casts by Lorenzo Bartolini, a sculptor and professor of the Accademia delle Belle Arti. The registration fee for this event is 10 euro.
Register here
Ultravox Firenze has officially opened up for the season and is filled with a program of summertime events. Themed festivals, concerts and shows, the Ultravox sports village, outdoor cinema, and children’s entertainment can all be expected throughout the warm weather season. Fill your calendar with some of the amazing events on the horizon for this season.
Join Irene Bar every Thursday throughout the month of May for cocktail nights with live music. Head barman Federico Galli reinterprets the art of Florence through his specialty drinks that are inspired by renowned artists who have left their marks on the city. Some of the artists these creative cocktails are inspired by include Olafur Eliasson, Antonio Signorini, Igor Mitoraj, and Tony Cragg. The cost is 18 euro and includes a cocktail and cicchetti.
Luciano Sabadin hosts his first solo show in Florence curated by Francesca Sacchi Tommasi and Ilaria Maria d’Urbano. The show features 30 or so acrylic paintings depicting strong black and white contrasts. Sabadin initially began his creative journey through music and songwriting before switching over to painting after the pandemic.
Young Florntine painter Gianluca Braccini opens his solo show in dedication to the 30th anniversary of the Via dei Georgofili massacre curated by Arianna Canalicchio. Viewers will be able to learn more about the crime and the stories of the innocent victims through Braccini’s interpretive paintings of journalistic images from the event.
American artist Enrique Martínez Celaya takes up two homes in Florence with his second exhibition opening at Secci Gallery. This time showing works of a different medium but equally grand size, Celaya presents an exhibition of paintings with flowers as the main subject.
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.
Manifattura Tabacchi expands their horizons with new spaces dedicated to restaurants, cafes, stores, offices, artisanal workshops, and even a roof top garden. What was once an old tobacco factory is already one of the most innovative spaces in the city, working as an event space, art residency, and university campus for several years now. This new expansion morphs the multifunctional space into a true creative factory and a hub for creative culture.
Kicking off the artistic side of things, Manifattura Tabacchi hosts the works of Katja Novitskova, an internationally renowned Estonian artist. This exhibition is in part with the Reaching for the Stars exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi and is on display until June 18. Among other artistic efforts is the new B11 workshop, which has been transformed to house initiatives such as the Toast Project Space for contemporary artists.
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 info
New York University Florence (via Bolognese 120) is planning a busy program for the 17th edition of The Season. The events at Villa La Pietra will explore the wider currents of history, art, literature and music. Guests can enjoy lectures from artists, theatrical performances and concerts. To RSVP, please send an email to lapietra.reply@nyu.edu, or call +39 055 5007210.
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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
This architecture exhibition curated by Laura Andreini features the works of internationally renowned architects.
