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The Florentine
It is probably fair to say that majority of expats come to live in Italy for work or romantic reasons. Robert Nordvall is quite a different case. Nordvall, known locally as Bob, was born in the Chicago area. The family of his mother, Carmella Craglione, was originally from Luccare, now
Think of fashion in the 1960s, and you are probably picturing Susan Nevelson's work. She pioneered the flower-power prints of the decade, working for her friend and designer Ken Scott. Her prints have been worn by celebrities like Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot. Aged 87, she
Think of the movie stereotype of the Protestant minister. Now picture Alison Walker, who is 36, female, married, drives a camper van and, yes, is a Methodist minister. Walker moved to Florence almost three years ago, speaking no Italian. But that had to quickly change. As pastor of the
Elaine Poggi has been living in Florence for almost 38 years, and for the past 10 years she has devoted her life to giving comfort and hope to patients and ...
Sometimes you meet someone whose vitality and dedication to a cause is so far beyond the norm that you are left speechless. Daniela Murphy Corella has such a ‘wow-factor.' Brilliant, energetic and eloquent, she is the kind of person who can make change happen. And change is what
Jeff Scurran is new in town and is here on a mission. As the new coach of Guelfi Firenze, Florence's American football team (www.guelfifirenze.it), he has travelled across the Atlantic from Tucson, Arizona, to get the team ready for the start of an exciting new season. The
Tomas Simcha Jelinek has many stories to tell. He has been living in Tuscany for the past 30 years, both in Florence and in the Chianti hamlet of Lamole, and he is currently the manager of Ruth's kosher and vegetarian restaurant (www.kosheruth.com), next to Florence's Synagogue
Elia Nichols grew up wanting to be an actress and one day live in Florence. And this is precisely what she set out to do. Today, after five years of living in the city, this very determined young woman is not only an accomplished actress, but she also created an
Alessandro Soltrani smiles a lot, and he has a lot to smile about as the owner of one of the most popular bars in Florence, Enoteca Sant'Ambrogio Caffè, situated in the Santa Croce district. Born and raised in Iran, he first came to Italy as a student back
We all know the fairytale scenario of a young female foreigner being swept off her feet by a romantic Italian and moving to Florence to live happily ever after. After all, it's not easy for an Italian man to start a new life away from Italy, and it's
On March 21, the British Embassy in Rome announced that the British Consulate in Florence, after a presence in the city lasting over half a millennium, will close. Effective on December 31, 2011, British consular services for Northern Italy, including Florence, will be available through the British Consulate General in
When Elaine Ruffolo was an undergraduate studying baroque art in Rome for two weeks, she took a train to Florence for a visit. She had such a strong sense of ...
Petra Casini had always dreamed of making her own path in life, one that would not involve her family business of stone cutting. She spent her entire life surrounded by stones: she was born and raised in Idar-Oberstein, the capital of Germany's gemstone industry, and comes from a
Rieko Hayashi had always dreamed of living abroad, which is why she studied English and European culture at university. While most of her classmates traveled the world before starting their careers, Rieko went straight to work. During her vacations, she traveled to more than 20 countries, and was eventually inspired
Daniel Graves had the makings of an artist since the age of three, when he began drawing. But it wasn't until he was 15 and saw Rembrandt's self-portrait at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, that he decided to become a realist painter. He was
Mother Mary Taylor had always been attracted to religious life, but didn’t make the decision to become a nun until she came to Florence. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Mary ...
A musician at heart becomes a travel writer A few years after Nicky Swallow was born in London, her family moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland. She grew up there, ...
June Bellamy was born in Burma to a Burmese princess and an Australian pioneer. Burma (now known as Myanmar) was occupied by the Japanese during the war, and ...
Mestre Boca Nua, whose real name is Cosme Soares de Oliveira, was destined to become a mestre (master) of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian art form that combines music, dance and martial art, and whose origins go back to the sixteenth century when African slaves, after arriving in Brazil, combined the
After growing up in a small suburban city outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Kristin Lanese decided to move to the West coast to attend the University of Southern California (USC) with the hopes of becoming a teacher. Before even graduating, she was teaching English at language schools and after-school programs.
Margarita Martinez was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in a surf town south of Melbourne. While other children were out at the beach, Margarita was practicing the piano. Because both of her parents were professional musicians-her Australian mother a pianist and her Spanish father an organist-everyone
Bettina Schindler, who was born and raised in Austria by a German mother and a Swiss father, was told that the results of a school aptitude test indicated that she would make a good art restorer. While most of her classmates did not follow the test's advice, Bettina did.
When David Joseph Yacus was 12 years old, he was introduced to the trombone at his grammar school in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Even though he was initially attracted to the saxophone, ...
Florence is home to many expats: those who have longed to live here, those who have found love and moved here, and those who have come to Florence and felt immediately at home here. Many people arrive here at a point in their lives when they seek to redefine themselves:
