It seems cliché to speak of reawakening after a long Winter, but with the amount of rain we got this year, putting England to shame, even a slight glimpse of Spring is extremely welcome. Easter came early this year and for a few hours on Sunday morning here in Maremma, the skies cleared, the sun …
Read the full story »Chestnut picking in the park
It happens to be just the right time of year to pick chestnuts (castagne). We had guests this weekend in Maremma who are expert foragers and we wanted to show them what great foraging they could do in Tuscany, so we took them to a public park where we’d heard that one could safely and …
Contemporary Art in Umbria
Rebecca of Brigolante Guest Apartments in Umbria (near Assisi) is on a campaign to convince me that Umbria is cool. On occasion of Contemporary Art Day in Italy (which falls this Saturday October 9, 2010), she’s written this guest post about Contemporary Art in Umbria and suddenly I’m thinking that I may need to take …
Contemporary art day and Private Flat in Florence
This weekend is looking really exciting on the contemporary art front in Florence. Saturday October 9th is national “Contemporary Art Day” in Italy and there are various events in Tuscany taking place (follow that link for details specific to Florence and Tuscany).
At the same time (and obviously related), I’m really looking forward to Private Flat, …
Mario Botta at MART – an excuse to go to Rovereto?
The MART is one of Italy’s most important contemporary art museums , and last year they were one of only four Italian museums on twitter (now there are 7, wow. See followamuseum). This made me really curious, enough to stop in Rovereto on my way back down to Florence from my Sud-Tirol weekend this past …
Sushi in Florence map
Craving raw fish in Florence and not sure where to get it? Problem solved. Here is a google map of sushi restaurants in Florence and reviews of those we’ve tried below. Florence’s best nightlife blogger, Elena Farinelli, is a big fan of Japanese food so if you can read Italian, you can find more reviews …
Travel In Rome with Foursquare
Okay, the title of the post is a leeetle misleading… because last week I wasn’t so much traveling in Rome with Foursquare as actually in Rome, with the co-founder of Foursquare. Yup, yours truly got sent for work to an event held at Telecom headquarters called World Wide Apps at which Naveen Selvadurai was a …
Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library, Mannerist Tendencies
It’s high time I write something about the Laurentian Library as this post has been in my drafts folder for over a year! Perhaps it has remained there because Mannerist architecture is not exactly an easy topic, and it’s even more difficult when you’re not in situ (and when photos are prohibited in this location!). …
Budget travel tips for Florence
In Italian they call “braccino corto” a person who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money. A cheapskate. I think there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend “il giusto” – the right amount – rather than too much.
It is possible to travel in Italy, and in Florence, on a budget and still enjoy …
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 …
Who is behind ArtTrav?
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! Learn more.art history »
Being a woman in Italy… in the Renaissance
Anytime any of my friends expresses a preference for having lived in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, I like to remind them that had they done so, their chances of dying in childbirth would be much higher than their likelihood of receiving any education. A 10 percent chance of dying in childbirth awaited each …
Info and Events »
Katrin Grote-Baker – colours and signs in Florence
I’m happy to announce the exhibit of a friend of mine’s work opening in Florence at Immaginaria Arti Visive Gallery at via Guelfa n. 22/ a r, Florence, from October 6 to November 1, 2012. I personally love Katrin’s work and invested in one of her paintings a few years ago, so I’m looking forward …
