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The Florentine
Art and culture from Florence, Italy, focusing on exhibitions, museums, artisans and more.
The recent release of director Michele Placido’s film Vallanzasca: Gli Angeli Del Male, based on the 2009 autobiography by the same name, written by one of Italy’s most notorious criminals ...
Like the panettone, fairy-lit tree and nativity scene, the bright red flower known in Italy as the stella di Natale is synonymous with Christmas in most Italian households. In 1833, ...
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. . . any man’s death diminishes me, because ...
Singer-songwriter, actor and showman, Renato Zero, turned 60 on September 30, 2010. He celebrated his birthday by giving six unique concerts entitled Sei Zero in Rome’s piazza di Siena. ...
Here's a question for you: when was the last time you visited the Museo degli Argenti at Palazzo Pitti? I confess that I had not been since my long-ago student days, when the collection of jewels, crystals, cameos, semiprecious stones, ivories and, of course, silver, had paled in
All year round he sits there, resting on his haunches, patiently putting up with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of tourists rubbing his now very shiny snout and dropping coins at his feet in the hope, according to legend, that they will one day return to Florence.
I'm not sure what I had expected from the exhibit Portraits and Power at the Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi's contemporary art space, because it is running in tandem with the Bronzino exhibition upstairs and I (correctly only in part) assumed that it is about how contemporary figures construct powerful
December 12, 1969 is a date indelibly printed on the pages of recent Italian history. On that cold winter's day, at 4:37 in the afternoon, a bomb exploded inside the crowded Banca Nazionale dell‘Agricoltura situated in piazza Fontana in downtown Milan. In the carnage that resulted,
Unique in Europe for the dimensions of its structure, the most recent bridge to cross the Arno river in Florence was opened in 1978. It links the suburbs of Peretola to the north of the river to Isolotto to the south. Constructed on two levels, one for motor vehicles and
His bestselling books and the films that followed have made Dan Brown famous around the world. But this American is not the only author to be fascinated by conspiracies involving the catholic church and the Holy See. For centuries, the high walls surrounding the Vatican have inspired stories of
Seeing a convoy of vintage cars wind through Italian medieval towns and countryside is like watching the passage of a magnificent parade of designs, technology and colours from another epoch. ...
No doubt, many of us have walked past buildings being constructed, restored or painted all over Italy without giving a minute's thought to the intricate cage of tubular steel scaffolding encapsulating them. The man who invented the labyrinthine system of vertical and horizontal tubes and fixtures was, in fact,
His iconic homes took the U.S. architectural world by storm in the early twentieth century. Considered the ‘best American Architect of all time' by the American Institute of Architects, Frank Lloyd Wright is the original ‘household name,' known worldwide for the stunning, uniquely organic design he pioneered.
Andrea Ponsi's Florence: A Map of Perceptions takes an unusual and innovative look at the birthplace of the Renaissance through the eyes of an architect. Ponsi, who has lived both in Florence and in the United States, takes both a personal and professional view of a city in which
Living two days short of 100 years is a feat in itself, but occupying the main part of those years, as the architect Giovanni Michelucci did, by designing some of the most significant buildings constructed in Italy during the twentieth century has left us with an enduring record of his
Corporea is an Italian edition of a bilingual collection of contemporary English and American poetry. This book features a wide variety of women's voices, including such recognizable names as Lucille Clifton, Margaret Atwood, Adrienne Rich, Sharon Olds, Maxine Kumin, Marge Piercy, along with lesser-known poets. What makes
When I was approached about writing a review for a book titled Speak the Culture: Italy, I groaned-loudly. Writing about culture is hard. Writing about national culture in a land where no one feels particularly national about anything is even harder. The list of authors and editors boasted an
The next time you see someone who seems to be cleaning the marble exterior of a Florentine monument, look closer. It is likely vigilante ‘smog artist' Alessandro Ricci collecting material for his next artwork. Born in Florence in 1968, Ricci has been creating his ‘paintings'
In 1978, Giovanni Leone, a Christian Democrat senator and president of the republic resigned after a smear campaign claimed he and his family had been involved in corruption related to the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation bribery scandal. Although these allegations were never proved true, the prestige of the high office that
Nearly 400 pairs of eyes follow the visitor down the elevated passageway that stretches from Florence's Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti. In 1565, Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to design and build (in just five months!) the one-kilometer structure that became known as the Vasari Corridor
For years, students have taken his ‘Masterpieces of Art' course or his ‘Michelangelo' course at the Syracuse University Florence (SUF) campus located in Piazza Savonarola. Now, he has made Savonarola an entirely new figure of study for the art world. Ten years ago, SUF professor Rab Hatfield
With luck, you might see his bright purple helicopter flying over the Tuscan skies. Or one of his Ferraris whizzing down via Tornabuoni, home of his elegant store and funky café. Or glimpse a limousine with dark tinted windows taking one of his celebrity guests, Sharon Stone, perhaps, or
