Articles by arttrav
Florence parking: now scooters pay too!
Florence’s mayor Renzi unveiled a plan last week to increase the cost of parking downtown and in the peripheral areas of the city. Increases range from 50% to 300%. And in a surprising move, motorini (scooters, vespa’s) will pay 50 cents an hour to occupy a precious slice of asphalt. The car parking price is …
Campigotto in Venice – photography explores the soul of landscape
A breath of fresh air in the modern and contemporary art scene of Italy, in Venice during the Biennale and continuing until January 9, 2011.
Forty large scale, mostly black and white, photographs shot over 20 years by Luca Campigotto (Venezia, 1962), take the viewer on a trip through nature and photography, with historic and …
Rie Nakajima at Le Murate & reflections on the future of contemporary art in Florence
Last night at Le Murate I witnessed what might be the first breath of contemporary things to come in Florence. The performance by Rie Nakajima inaugurates the use of the space that is to become the SUC, a contemporary art space in the ex-jail that is Le Murate.
It was raining cats and dogs, which is …
Drinking the mayor’s water in Florence
Can you drink the tap water in Florence? Sure, but it doesn’t taste great (though it’s better now than it was when I got here a decade ago). However, Publiacqua and the city of Florence have launched a major campaign to “drink the mayor’s water”, i.e. tap water. And the Fontanelli ad Alta Qualità, or …
Context Travel offers welcome service for wary travelers to Naples
Context Travel has just announced a useful product: a greeting service, orientation walk, and informational handbook for a safe and seamless visit to Italy’s most misunderstood city: Naples. If you’ve ever considered going to Naples but been put off by its gritty reputation for garbage and mafia (neither of which are liable to attack you …
Renaissance dinner at Le Oblate
KeBuono cultural association proposes dinners from Renaissance recipes, complete with amusing names like Castrato in salsa di melangole e mele appie, two saturdays in the month of September: 10th and 25th. The location is the Caffetteria delle Oblate (via dell’Oriuolo 26) which has a great view of the Duomo not to mention excellent proximity to …
What Italians do with newspapers (other than read them)
Italians read fewer newspapers than most of their Western European counterparts – only 5 million Italians (out of 60M) regularly read books or newspapers – resulting in an always-amusing range of marketing tactics in order to sell more black and white print. Magazines are regularly bundled with irresistable gifts like large beach bags or a …
300 posts on arttrav
It seems like a milestone worth noting: This is post #300 on arttrav. I know that’s not much compared to many blogs out there, but for something that started as an experiment in html 6 years ago and that I kept up all through graduate school and my first jobs, I’m satisfied with that number.
Yeah. …
Zurlo photography exhibit in Sarteano Castle
I received this invitation to a photography exhibit from an old acquaintance who has been steadily working in black and white photography for a decade now. I was pleased to see that she has an exhibit called Radici in a rather magical location, the Castle of Sarteano (SI).
The title, Radici or Roots, refers to the …
From Chagall to Fellini: At Perugia, the Theatre of Dreams
Dreams are the theme of the exhibit in Perugia “TEATRO DEL SOGNO da Chagall a Fellini” that opens September 25th and runs until January 9, 2011. The show will be set up inside the Galleria Nazionale and contains works by modern and contemporary artists influenced in some way by Freud. The theme of dream and …
Blog Day: My favourite Italy blogs
Being a full time blogger means not just writing blogs, but keeping on top of the ones everyone else writes. For work I have to read everything people write about Tuscany, but sometimes my searches or other people’s links lead me to bloggers located in other parts of Italy. Being on twitter is also a …
Where is Civitella Marittima?
You would think that a place whose name includes the adjective “marittima” or maritime would be on the beach. Think again. Civitella Marittima on the map actually shows up as a fraction of Civitella Paganico, a comune that also includes Pari, Paganico and Petriolo (as well as other places that do not begin with “P”).
Civitella …
ArtTrav is a blog about expat life, art, and travel in Italy and Europe. I am Alexandra Korey, a Florence-based art historian turned blogger.
My goal is to help travelers and residents like you experience countries through culture and local living. If it takes geeky, long articles to do that, so be it! 
