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The Florentine
Rumours were rife all over the city. Many said the Anglo-American troops had already reached the outskirts of the city. However, one thing was certain. On the afternoon of August 3, 1944, the German High Command in Florence had the following ordinance displayed on the street corners: Beginning from
Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici (1667-1743) ought to be one of the most famous and popular Florentines of all times, for it was she who turned Florence into a cultural mecca. With a stroke of her pen, she bequeathed the Medici’s jewels, pictures, sculptures, manuscripts and
Walking along the Arno, you’re almost as likely to hear the rhythmic beatings of a dragon boat drummer as a motorino’s horn. The sport of dragon boat racing, introduced to the west less than two decades ago, is thriving at Società Canottieri Comunali Firenze, as
As you wander up Via dei Benci towards Santa Croce, you find a curious little nook just beyond the clattering keyboards of the Internet Train. Descending from the street level entrance into the Fine ArtS Cove, you encounter an unexpected surprise as the space opens up into a contemporary art
In a year that marks not only the 100th anniversary of his birth but also the 30 years that have passed since his death, contemporary Italian artists have come together to acknowledge their great common debt owed to director Luchino Visconti. The respect and admiration held for the renowned filmmaker
In The Stones of Florence, Mary McCarthy describes Florence in shades of brown, gray and black. Not so in this fall’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s updated production of Mozart’s early opera, La Finta Giardinieria. Jesús Ruiz, Spanish scene designer
The Christmas I’m used to includes fighting over the last ‘perfect’ gift in an over-crowded shop-ping mall and sitting on my Italian-American grandmother’s plastic covered couch watching her decorate her tinsel covered tree. As much of a pain these things are,
If the cliché holds true that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ then the inaugural exhibit at the new Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia presents a history of Italy during a crucial century that might fill an encyclopaedia if told in words. This special exhibit, entitled
Make believe for a moment that you’re the Medici’s favourite architect Bartolomeo Michelozzo. The year is 1444, and Cosimo the Elder has asked you to design him a new town palace. ‘We,’ says Cosimo, ‘will have our courtyard with columns, arches, archivolts, roundels
In a city where people come from all over the world to feast their eyes on the most classic bits of art, hurried tourists and eager students have become quite commonplace. To keep its masterpieces viewable, Florence is constantly in a state of restoration under the watchful eyes of its
It would be easy to miss the Marini museum, sandwiched as it is between two of Florence’s busiest and most elegant streets, Via della Vigna and Via della Spada (where shops such as Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce and Gabbana, Ferré are found). There is nothing to proclaim
It is not often that one witnesses an exhibition curator pushing a large black projection box balanced precariously on bicycle wheels through the streets of Florence. It is also decidedly rare to see the side of the Duomo being appropriated as a make-shift screen for an independent short film.
Have you ever noticed those small little windows in the walls of the old palazzi in Florence—not really windows at all but more like Lilliputian doors? Miniature copies of their full size counterparts, the main entrances to each palazzo, these tiny doors are made of solid wood, sometimes
Afather carries his raggedly dressed child upon his shoulders as his wife hangs behind, guiding along their other son and lugging the family’s only suitcase. The father solemnly dresses the youngest boy, whose eyes see not the soiled linens hanging behind him but in-stead reveal an eagerness
As William Shakespeare once wrote, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’ (As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7). Florence has always been host to some of the most interesting and renowned casts of characters in the world, many
Once the cradle of the rebirth of art, Florence is again host to an exciting new way forward for art. ‘The Shape of the Mind’, an exhibition of psychedelic art by American artist Isaac Abrams, consists of all new works by the artist, both large-scale oil paintings
The unstoppable success in the last two years of The da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has certainly renewed interest in Leonardo Da Vinci, already one of the most popular Italian Renaissance masters. In order to meet the public’s desire for more knowledge regarding Leonardo and his
