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This month’s cover shows a man peering into the final work on display at the Helen Frankenthaler exhibition just inaugurated at Palazzo Strozzi. With lights seemingly flickering on the horizon, Driving East is the name of the painting created by the artist in 2002 as she was entering the twilight years of her career. The smaller canvas stands in stark contrast to the scale, colour and movement of Frankenthaler’s earlier oeuvre, and pays testimony to the curatorial genius of this cerebral exhibition. A couple of hours before the press preview at Palazzo Strozzi, I had the honour of sitting down with Douglas Dreishpoon, the show’s curator and director of the Helen Frankenthaler Catalogue Raisonné, and Christian Levett, art collector, owner of several of the artist’s works and a member of the Palazzo Strozzi Scientific Committee. The half-hour conversation proved insightful when walking around the show and I recommend browsing a complimentary copy of the leaflet curated by Dreishpoon for a deeper understanding of Frankenthaler’s works. Turn to the next page for the interview.
October is always exhibition season in Florence and we’ve done our damnedest to review some of the more interesting shows. From works by Le Corbusier and Giorgio de Chirico at Villa Bardini (page 6) to The Treasure of the Holy Land at the mesmerizing Museo Marino Marini (page 8) with artifacts from the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem, and a display of American artist Louis Fratino’s tender and forthright everyday queer life at Prato’s Centro Pecci (page 10), the fall is set to keep us enriched as the darker nights start to draw in. It’s not only the art scene that keeps us company: Florence’s movie theatres provide plenty of talking points during the Middle East Now, FánHuā Chinese and French Odeon film festivals this month (page 13). Plus, Teatro Niccolini continues its international cultural programming with a musical play I Found My Horn direct from London’s West End on October 5 + 6 and an evening with The Vault (page 22), a group of women leaders, moderated by former Prime Minister of Canada, Kim Campbell, on October 17. If you’re looking to plan ahead for 2025, we give you the full lineup of world-class opera, ballet and concerts at the modern Teatro del Maggio on page 19.
Culture aside, safety has been at the forefront of conversations of late in Florence. As a commuter, I find myself adopting “London mode”, AKA brisk walking and heightened awareness on night walks to Santa Maria Novella station and even on daytime tram rides. A recent survey on our Instagram (@theflorentine) and in our weekly newsletter confirmed the sensation that you too are feeling less safe in Florence.
The good news is that specially trained police will shortly be deployed on the city’s public transport system. Let’s hope that the move will improve matters and bring reassurance for locals and internationals alike. See page 24 for more information.
