Italian Trend: contemporary design bookshop cafe’s
February 8, 2010 – 12:11 pm | Comments

Lately I’ve noticed a trend that I like very much: the bookshop/library, contemporary design, cafe/restaurant. I mean really, this combines everything I love best! This week I had the fortune of finding two examples of …

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“Fuori Porta” literally means outside the city gates. Anywhere outside Florence!

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An art historian’s approach to the monuments of the eternal city.

Tuscany

Featured region! art, sea, mountains, islands, shopping, hiking, culture… Tuscany has it all.

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That Cupid has arthritis and Mona Lisa has high cholesterol (a rebuttal)
February 1, 2010 – 2:28 pm | Comments

caravaggio_sleeping_cupidI don’t normally write reactionary pieces, but this bit of news has me frothing at the mouth. This Prof. Vito Franco from the pathology department in Palermo has taken to diagnosing illnesses in famous Renaissance works of art. He presented his findings at a conference in Florence in early January, but has not published a paper about them. He’s been in many major newspapers for this, most in Italian but also in the Times. Amongst his findings: Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid has rheumatoid arthritis, Mona Lisa has high cholesterol, Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto has a thyroid problem, Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck has Marfan’s syndrome… and Michelangelo’s Night is a transsexual, or man with fake breasts. Like we haven’t heard that one before! Read the full story »

Libraries in Florence editable map (Biblioteche di Firenze)
January 25, 2010 – 11:30 am | Comments
Libraries in Florence editable map (Biblioteche di Firenze)

At a conference on the use of internet by libraries, archives and museums that I attended the other day (live blog here), Elena Farinelli brought up an interesting fact: if you search “Biblioteca Firenze” on …

Touring Tuscany in a Tiny vehicle
January 24, 2010 – 7:14 pm | Comments
Touring Tuscany in a Tiny vehicle

Here’s another pre-trip research post from Robert Kimberly, who likes strange things, and apparently also likes small cars.
As an American, huge cars are almost a birthright. My first cars were a 1950 Mercury …

Mediocre Trattoria in Florence - via The Onion
January 24, 2010 – 10:09 am | Comments
Mediocre Trattoria in Florence - via The Onion

I don’t normally post “retweets” as blog posts, but this is the funniest thing I have read in a long time - an article in The Onion about a “mediocre trattoria” in Florence that parodies …

Landscape art in Tuscany: sculpture in fields
January 20, 2010 – 7:31 pm | Comments
Landscape art in Tuscany: sculpture in fields

Some art has gotten too big to hang on a wall. Perhpas due to a new feeling for nature, some artists prefer the countryside to the city for the display of their works, and fields …

Traveling Strange: A Collector of Eccentric Attractions Comes to Florence
January 18, 2010 – 1:30 pm | Comments
Traveling Strange: A Collector of Eccentric Attractions Comes to Florence

Guest post by Robert of Neon Poisoning, who is looking for weird things to see in Florence.

Edward Hopper exhibit in Milan (and Rome)
January 13, 2010 – 10:52 am | Comments
Edward Hopper exhibit in Milan (and Rome)

At Milan’s Palazzo Reale is the first major retrospective in Italy dedicated to the American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the famous realist painter. This show moves to Rome in February so if you cannot see …

Saturday night at Le Murate
January 12, 2010 – 12:20 pm | Comments
Saturday night at Le Murate

This Saturday Jan 16 2010 is a very special PREVIEW night at Le Murate. If you’re in or near Florence, plan to swing by and check out this new space. Well, not so new space… …

Stay where you eat
December 30, 2009 – 10:29 am | Comments
Stay where you eat

We have a new guideline for accomodation when traveling: stay where you eat. This differs from “eat where you stay” in a clever inversion that fully excludes the dreaded hotel restaurant.
A few months ago we …

History of the Palazzo Vecchio (funny video)
December 27, 2009 – 11:07 pm | Comments
History of the Palazzo Vecchio (funny video)

This video was made by a Syracuse University Florence student, Remi Evans. It was her final project for a course called Masterpieces of Renaissance Art, a favourite of students for many years, taught by the …

Frozen Folon Sculpture in Florence
December 20, 2009 – 7:47 pm | Comments
Frozen Folon Sculpture in Florence

This weekend Florence was graced with a slight dumping of snow and the coldest temperatures we’ve had here in years. The city was spared the most of it, while in the hills people have been …

Handmade in Florence: Jody Mattioli
December 18, 2009 – 10:41 am | Comments
Handmade in Florence: Jody Mattioli

I recently met Jody Mattioli, a young artist who designs and hand-makes the most exceptional metal objects. I was struck by the originality of his sole wine rack in particular (see photo), and think it …

Contemporary art in Florence: Review of “Manipulating Reality” @Strozzina
December 14, 2009 – 12:44 pm | Comments
Contemporary art in Florence: Review of “Manipulating Reality” @Strozzina

This Fall (until late Jan 2010), Palazzo Strozzi offers two important exhibits on realism and art. The major show “Art and Illusions - Masterpieces of Trompe l’Oeil” has received a lot of attention from the …