LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE
Most popular
The Florentine
A guide to 7 books that will provide a great route into the subject of Art History in Florence.
A group of book lovers that meet every month in the Tuscan towns of Arezzo and Cortona, to unite over the wonders of words and discuss all things literary: this ...
If you like to be kept on the edge of your seat, this list of mystery books set in Florence could be right up your alley. Mystery, suspense and thriller ...
As any avid book lover will know, there’s nothing quite like sitting down to a good read. Whether it be outstretched in a hammock on a warm Tuscan afternoon or ...
The Florentine: Your latest book, Italy Invades, takes readers on a tour of military history of il bel Paese. How extensive have Italy’s invasions been down the centuries? Christopher Kelly: Italians have really gotten around. Everyone knows about Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, but Italians have an amazing
Susan Kelley is an American expat who has spent 16 years living in Florence with her husband William Kelley, a renowned painter (see theflr.net/williamkelley). Now Kelley has published her ...
Lingering over a book and a cup of coffee, and maybe even a conversation, is a pleasure shared by many. Around the world, making it possible for customers to browse ...
John Hooper, Southern Europe editor of the Guardian and Italy and Vatican correspondent for the Economist, Hooper’s many years of experience as a journalist and observer of Italian culture make him the perfect person to field questions about the people we all know and love, yet rarely completely understand.
The 450th anniversary of the death, at 88, of the great Renaissance sculptor, architect, painter and poet, Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti, has produced a flurry of new books about him and his work. One of the best and unique among these is Carl Smith’s What’s in a
As part of a project to safeguard and promote a hidden part of Florence’s heritage, the Advancing Women Artists Foundation has sponsored the restoration of seven works in the Museo Novecento and has published a new book about the female artists whose art forms part of the Florentine
If I thought that my answer were to one who might ever return to the world, this flame would shake no more; but since from this depth none ever returned alive, if what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy. —Inferno XVII. 61–66 (
How many people have set foot in the church of Santa Croce in Florence in the 700 years of its existence? We can realistically estimate that the number is close to at least several million. For most of these visitors, we will never know what memories remained with them following
The portrait of American author Henry James is amongst the paintings by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) currently at Palazzo Strozzi in the exhibition Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists (see TF 159). James was a close friend of Sargent and instrumental in promoting the artist's career
The Fiddler's Elbow, also known as l'Irish has been frequented by locals in Florence, especially the English-speaking, for over 20 years. This popular watering hole in piazza Santa Maria Novella helped inspire CR Lloyd's book, The Second Shot, a controversial political thriller set in Florence, which
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
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
Josephine Rogers Mariotti Florence, Edizioni Polistampa, 2009 12 euro What is it about the Mona Lisa that keeps people talking-and publishing books-500 years after the fact? Is it the ambiguous smile? The mysterious identity? An obsession with all things da Vinci? At a time
Many know George Perkins Marsh as a pioneering environmentalist, statesman, author, lawyer, architect and linguist, but few know that he was an expatriate in Italy as the first and longest-serving American ambassador to Italy appointed by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Marsh was first stationed in Turin for four
The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano translated by Shaun Whiteside Doubleday €19,20 It's a terrible thing to say, but I was determined not to like The Solitude of Prime Numbers, the award-winning book by Italian author Paolo Giordano. I'd heard
Living in Florence in summertime may not be easy but at least it's colourful and bright. A far cry, then, from the grim November setting of A Time of Mourning, Christobel Kent's latest novel, which opens on il giorno dei morti, the day of the dead, when Italians
Until I read Stay Close: A mother's story of her son's addiction, the phrase ‘heroin user' conjured scrawny addicts shooting up in back alleys and cheap motel rooms; malnourished models getting their buzz in posh clubs. This book shattered my naïve image and showed me
