Florence News & Events May 2015

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May 2015 PAGE 7

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Filming Dan Brown’s Inferno in Florence

Uffizi Gallery Re-Opens Five Rooms

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History and Culture Merge at St Mark’s Church

Visiting the Amalfi Coast with Bus2alps

EXPO IS SERVED

Florence whets its appetite for six months of art and gastronomy Mark Massey The impact of Milan Expo is being felt in Florence, as the city serves up a platter of exhibitions and events related to the Expo’s theme of ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.’ The events take place throughout the duration of the Expo from May 1 to October 31, and are expected to draw an additional one million visitors to Florence. Venues throughout the city are participating to showcase Florence’s cultural and historical roots, starting with a modern take on Brunelleschi’s dome. Entitled I_Dome, the three-dimensional installation been created with

video mapping and invites visitors to step into a full-immersion experience in the courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio. Taking place at refectories around the city, the Orti e Cenacoli (Kitchen Gardens and Suppers) project features a series of six suppers prepared by Tuscan chefs, based on recipes from Tuscan monasteries and including ingredients drawn from urban gardens. In addition to showcasing regional food and wine producers, a temporary mall known as Casa delle Eccellenze (House of Excellence) displays Tuscan innovation in the fields of fashion, homeware, crafts, mechanical construction and technology, alongside a se-

ries of seminars and workshops.

Local Bio highlights the emphasis on sustainability, where visitors can expect to see and taste many traditional, organically produced products, while the Jellyfish exhibit located by the Arno River encourages visitors to think seriously about the issue of sustainability, reflecting largely upon the concerns faced by the agricultural sector.

Putting the spotlight on the Tuscan region, I Giorni del Fare (Days of Action) presents guided tours of selected regional companies that are different by virtue of their cultural, historical and traditional heritage.

Towards the end of the Expo

an international forum entitled Grani e Pani (Grains and Bread) takes place at Orsanmichele, once Florence’s granary.

Aside from hosting experts on grain-milling, bread-making and ancient grains, it also includes book presentations and tastings. In addition to city-wide events and exhibits, Florence also features at Expo events in Milan between May 2–10, with the opening of the Tuscan area at Milan’s Società Umanitaria, where visitors are able to enjoy cooking exhibitions, gastronomic tasting and other activities in the cloisters of the former Franciscan monastery, close to Milan Cathedral.

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Franciscan Art in Asia at the Accademia

Ancient Greek Bronzes on Display

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Lorenzo Picchi PROOFREADER: Lucy David GR APHIC & W EB DESIGN: Naz Kangal CONTRIBUTORS: Chiara Becchetti, Brooke Feichtl, Lee Foust, Avani Kapur, Jhovanna Lopez, Mark Massey, Lara May, Dylan Nikoletopoulos, Philippa Norton, Natalia Piombino, Ivana Scatola, Olivia Turchi, Virgina Wright PUBLISHER: IAF PRINT: Rotostampa SRL Via B. Buozzi 21, 50145, Firenze REGISTERED AT THE TRIBUNALE DI FIRENZE No. 5801, 3/11/2010

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Mark Massey In a joint collaboration, the Accademia Gallery and the Order of Friars Minor present an exhibition highlighting the art of the Franciscan movement between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.

The exhibition also highlights the Franciscan order’s success in spreading the gospel throughout Asia.

Franciscan Art: Masterpieces of Italian art and Asian lands from the 13th to the 15th centuries runs till October 11 and displays such notable works as the cuspidate panels from the altar of Santa Croce’s Bardi Chapel, painted glass by the Master of Figline, a significant artist in fourteenth-century Italy, and a panel depicting St Francis Offering the Sultan Ordeal by Fire from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which will be displayed alongside fellow panels from its

original location of Santa Croce for the first time.

In addition to sculptures and paintings, the exhibit features a selection of archival documents and archaeological finds from the Museum of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem and the Museum of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Artists’ works on display include those attributed to Giunta di Capitino and Coppo di Marcovaldo, as well as those by the Master of St Francis and the Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes.

Franciscan Art:

Masterpieces of Italian art and Asian lands from the 13th to the 15th centuries

Until October 11 Accademia Gallery Tues – Sun 8:15 a.m.–6:50 p.m. www.uffizi.firenze.it

Palazzo Strozzi hosts Power and Pathos

Palazzo Strozzi is hosting the exhibit Power and Pathos until June 21. Organized by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation in collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles and National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany, the exhibit showcases some of the ancient world’s most important sculptural masterpieces. Sculptures are drawn from leading Italian and international museums and include 50 bronzes that trace artistic development during the Hellenistic era.

Hellenistic sculpture saw the birth of a genre known as ‘portraits of power,’ at the same time it revolutionized the style of Classical art by imbuing its figures with pathos. Monumental statues of gods, athletes and heroes

are on display alongside portraits of historical figures, and a newly restored bronze sculpture of a horse’s head dating back to 350 BCE once owned by Lorenzo the Magnificent, which is on display after lingering for more than a century in storage at the Archaeological Museum of Florence.

Power and Pathos allows visitors to explore the fascinating stories behind the discovery of these works and learn about production, casting and finishing techniques.

Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World Until June 21 Palazzo Strozzi Open daily: 10 a.m.–8 p.m. (until 11 p.m. every Thursday) www.palazzostrozzi.org

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Uffizi Gallery Re-Opens Five Rooms

Gherardo delle Notti Exhibits Until May 24

Virginia Wright

Mark Massey The Uffizi is reopening five of its most significant rooms, following almost a year of renovations. Referred to as salette in Italian, the five rooms feature masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance from the fifteenth century. The new rooms boast a total of 44 works, including 12 from the Uffizi’s collection depository. The renovated rooms make up part of the oldest section of the gallery, and are the first rooms to be modernized after the octagonal Tribune room.

In Room 1, inaugurated last June, renovations are very subtle. New skylights, window openings, and sunshades make up the majority of improvements in the space.

There are also monitors in the ious Sienese artists. Changes to room to regulate air quality, hu- Room 4 are largely based on the midity, and temperature, as well new format of painting displays. as security cameras. Some of the Set against a white background, paintings have also been moved, both small and large paintings allowing for more space between have been set so as to give visitors what director Natali calls a “visual works.

Room 2 features pieces of Italian poem.” medieval art, including a paint- In Rooms 5 and 6, which show ed and gilded cross by Pacino di the beginnings of fifteenth-cenBonaguida. Works by Pacino, Lip- tury Florentine art, visitors get a po di Benivieni and the Master of glimpse of Gothic and early ReSaint Cecilia can be found here naissance works. Lorenzo Monaas well, with pieces on display by co’s Coronation of the Virgin and Adoration of the Magi are located some of Florence’s great painters.

In Room 3, Simone Martini’s An- here; the former remains the cennunciation can be viewed along- terpiece of the room. The space side works by Pisan artists such also shows Neri di Bicci’s Assumpas Francesco Traini and the tion, which has been relocated, Master of San Torpe, Simone dei and Giovanni dal Ponte’s Stories Crocifissi from Bologna, and var- from the Life of St Peter and Saints.

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The Uffizi Gallery’s first monographic exhibition of Gerrit van Honthorst, Gherardo delle Notti: Most bizarre paintings and merry suppers, finishes on May 24.

A Caravaggesque painter from Holland, van Honthorst was better known to the public as ‘Gherardo delle Notti’ for his love of painting nocturnal scenes. He lived in Italy for nearly 10 years before departing to his native Utrecht in 1620.

His years in Italy, during which he joined Caravaggio’s naturalistic revolution, proved to be the most innovative and stylistic of his career.

Van Honthorst gained fame throughout Italy and his work adorned important altars, a rarity for naturalistic painters. Grand Duke Cosimo II was inspired to collect some of his paintings, which is why today the Uffizi

boasts five works by the artist, including The Adoration of the Shepherds, which was severely damaged in the Mafia car bomb attack of 1993.

The exhibition displays paintings from some of van Honthorst’s biggest influences and followers, in addition to his most famous works.

The National Gallery in London, Berlin State Museums, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and many others have granted loans for this exhibit, which forms part of the tenth edition of Un Anno ad Arte (A Year in Art).

Gherardo delle Notti: Most bizarre paintings and merry suppers Until May 24 Uffizi Gallery Tues – Sun: 8:15 a.m.–6:50 p.m.

Cost: €12.50; €6.25 reduced www.uffizi.firenze.it

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Dream and Glory

Frederick Stibbert’s collections unveiled Hosted in one of the most valued museum houses of the nineteenth century, the exhibit Dream and Glory showcases the collections of Frederick Stibbert and his exclusive taste.

Known for his passion for guns, Stibbert’s collection comprises one of the largest collections of ancient armor and weaponry in the world, both Italian and foreign, as well as photographs, antiques and works of art.

Dream and Glory displays the beauty and complexity of Stibbert’s collection, and re-creates one of the artisan workshops that Stibbert commissioned to restore the items in his collection to their original state, in which artisans ranging from goldsmiths

to cabinet-makers and gunsmiths worked. The exhibition rooms are arranged as they would have appeared in 1884, when notable figures, including Oscar Wilde and Queen Victoria, visited the museum space.

The Stibbert collection is a testament to nineteenth-century European culture and its fascination with civil and military costumes.

Dream and Glory Until September 6 Stibbert Museum Open: Mon, Tues & Wed: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.; Fri, Sat & Sun: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Cost: €8: €6 reduced; schools €2 www.museostibbert.it.

Medici Devotion at the Medici Chapels

Jhovanna Lopez

The Medici Chapels Museum is presenting an exhibition showcasing the Medici family’s richest collections of sacred objects called Nel segno dei Medici: Tesori sacri della devozione granducale.

The pieces showcased go far beyond Medici rule in Florence to the Holy Land and Goa in India and include gifts of various kinds and types, including altar mounts, chalices and altarpieces, which are testimony to grand-ducal worship linked to various sanctuaries.

Jiří Kolář: A Workshop of Imagination on Display in Prato

The great works of sacred gold were commissioned by Cosimo II and Maria Maddalena of Austria.

The exhibition completes two major displays dedicated to devotional themes that preceded it: Sacred Splendor at the Medici Treasury and The Other Half of Heaven at the Casa Martelli Museum.

Nel segno dei Medici

Until November 3 Medici Chapels Museum Open daily: 8:15 a.m.–5 p.m.

Cost: €8; €4 reduced www.polomuseale.firenze.it

An intellectual both cosmopolitan and enduringly grafted into the history and traditions at the root of contemporary Europe; a masterful interpreter of that cultural disquiet that signified the twentieth century, Jiří Kolář is the protagonist of a noteworthy exhibition event at the Museo di Pittura Murale in San Domenico and Galleria Open Art, both of Prato. Curated by Francesca Pola and Mauro Stefanini, produced in cooperation with Galleria Open Art and showing more than 150 works, the exhibition is the first wide-ranging retrospective to be dedicated to Kolář in Italy since his death in 2002.

For Kolář, images are the ideal substrate on which to condense the complexity of human thought: it is on this grate that fragments and traces of culture, art and communication catch and mix – talking fractals of the landscape of the world. He builds them according to a canon of destruction,

by harkening techniques harking back to the practice of collage, inflected in an almost inexhaustible proliferation of operational variants. He catches the nuances of the ‘becoming’ of the world itself, its dynamics of union and separation; composition and conflict; to regenerate over and over again.

On occasion of the exhibition, Jiři Kolář: A Workshop of Imagination, Carlo Cambi Editore is publishing a 300-page monograph edited

by Francesca Pola: a comprehensive, careful and detailed historic-artistic contextualisation that unites a highly emblematic corpus of works with many texts by the artist and period documents, in the interests of achieving a new and more complete reading of Kolář’s art. Among these documents is previously unpublished material on the artist’s solo exhibitions at the Museum Haus Lange of Krefeld (1973), at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of New York (1975) and at the Museo

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Nacional Reina Sofìa of Madrid (1996), exhibitions that were crucial to Kolář’s life in art; the Prato retrospective presents some of the most significant works exhibited by the artist on those occasions.

In collaboration with the Archivio Jiří Kolář. Under the auspices of the Comune of Prato and Honorary Consulate of Czech Republic for Tuscany.

Museo di Pittura Murale in San Domenico Piazza San Domenico, 8, Prato 0574 440 501 Mon - Sun: 2–8 p.m. (closed on Tuesdays) www.diocesiprato.it

Open Art Gallery

Viale della Repubblica, 24, Prato Mon – Fri: 3–7:30 p.m.; Sat: 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 3–7:30 p.m.

Closed on Sundays and feast days 0574 538 003 www.openart.it Free admission

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Bargello Showcases Medieval Journeying

Sculptures Also Die at Palazzo Strozzi

The exhibit Sculptures Also Die, on display at Palazzo Strozzi until the end of July, presents works by 13 Italian and international artists, including Francesco Arena (Italy), Nina Beier (Denmark), Katinka Bock (Germany), Giorgio Andreotta Calò (Italy), Dario D’Aronco (Italy), N.Dash (USA), Michael Dean (UK), Oliver Laric (Austria), Mark Manders (Netherlands), Michael E. Smith (USA), Fernando Sánchez Castillo (Spain), Francisco Tropa (Portugal), and Oscar Tuazon (USA).

The exhibit explores the rediscovery of ancient materials, such as bronze, stone and ceramic, by contemporary artists, and how these can be used in new ways to reflect on themes of the monumental, the fragment, the way materials wear over time, and the recovery of the recent modern-

ist past. The sculpture of the past survives today chiefly due to its ability to survive the test of time and yet bronzes often remain in a broken state, creating an impression of both durability and a certain ephemeral quality, thereby transforming our perception.

Sculptures Also Die ties in with Palazzo Strozzi’s Power and Pathos exhibition, offering museum-goers the opportunity to experience a dialogue between ancient and contemporary worlds of sculpture.

Sculptures Also Die Until July 26 Palazzo Strozzi Open daily: 10 a.m.–8 p.m (Until 11 p.m every Thursday) Cost: €10; reduced: free/€4/€8.50 www.palazzostrozzi.org

Divided in five sections and the result of a collaboration between the Bargello National Museum, Musée de Cluny in Paris, the Schnütgen Museum of Cologne and Catalonia’s Episcopal Museum of Vic, the exhibition The Middle Ages on the Road explores travelling in the medieval period.

The first section of the exhibit explores the boundaries and perceptions of the known world during the Middle Ages through a series of maps dating back to the fourteenth century, and, in particular, how the world was perceived from Florence at that time.

The maps showcased present the routes followed primarily by merchants, as well as other kind of travellers, while the dangers of

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sea travel are evoked through an iconographic section and the display of ancient navigation tools.

The second part is dedicated to presenting the different types of medieval pilgrims, including their travel garments, instruments, and the badges ‘conquered’ depending on the destinations reached, and also presents direct accounts by the Crusaders.

A third section documents land and sea travels through small objects, followed by an examination of the theme of travel made for business or political purposes, such as the missions undertaken by diplomats, messengers and ambassadors, with the display of various instruments necessary for such tasks, including document

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folders, trading cards and letters of exchange.

The final part of the exhibition focuses on the short trips made by royalty and aristocrats, together with their entourage, to visit their domains or properties; in short, trips that were simply a demonstration of power.

The Middle Ages on the Road Until June 21 Bargello National Museum Mon – Sun: 8:15 a.m.–5 p.m.

(Closed 1st, 3rd & 5th Monday of the month) Cost: €7; €3.50 reduced 055 23 88 606 www.polomuseale.firenze.it

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Romanelli Studio Offers Sculpture Workshops

Heir to five generations of sculptors, Raffaello Romanelli specializes in portraiture and opens his family workshop at the Romanelli Studio Gallery to individual and group lessons. This practice continues the ancient tradition of master and apprentice, in which young boys worked under a master craftsman in order to learn his secrets (known as andare a bottega).

Raffaello guides the students in learning the basic technique of modeling a realistic subject in clay with the traditional ‘sight-size method’, which trains the eyes to measure the proportions and volumes of the figure. The studio also offers the opportunity to learn how to prepare works for kiln firing, as well as the molding technique to cast it in plaster.

The Romanelli Studio Gallery is one of the oldest active sculpture studios in Europe. Originally a church, it became a sculpture studio in the early nineteenth century under Lorenzo Bartolini, who was then succeeded by his favorite student, Pasquale Romanelli.

Five generation later, the studio is still owned and run by the Romanelli family.

The studio offers weekly courses from Monday to Saturday, as well as part-time courses and single lessons. Each class lasts three hours and takes place at the studio’s historic workshop in Borgo San Frediano in the Oltrarno district, the haunt of Florence’s top artisans. Participants can coordinate the program and class schedule with the teacher, and classes are also open to beginners.

Exhibit Re-Creates Renaissance Sugar Buffet

Dolci Trionfi e Finissime Piegature at Palazzo Pitti The exhibition Dolci Trionfi e Finissime Piegature: Sculture in zucchero e tovaglioli per le nozze fiorentine di Maria de’ Medici is on display at Palazzo Pitti until June 7.

Curated by Giovanna Giusti and Riccardo Spinelli, the exhibit aims to re-create the famous banquet held in Palazzo Vecchio on the evening of October 5, 1600, created by some of the most influential Florentine sculptors of the time on the occasion of the proxy wedding of Maria de’ Medici and Henry IV, King of France, which was celebrated in Florence.

That day the most established artists of the period, including

Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (to whose account we owe detailed knowledge of the event), Bernardo Buontalenti, Giambologna, Pietro Tacca and Gasparo Mola, showcased some of the most famous sculptures of the time made of sugar instead of bronze. Michelangelo’s account describes decorative food, real pieces of art, and tablecloths and napkins shaped as sculptures.

Among the statues that most impressed Maria de’ Medici and Henry IV were the sugar sculptures representing Henry IV himself riding a horse, which was 115cm height, and those inspired by the Labours of Hercules.

Dolci Trionfi e Finissime Piegature evokes that magnificent day of feasting, glory and international tribute received by Florentine artists, and is one of the city’s events being displayed at Milan Expo.

Dolci Trionfi e Finissime Piegature:

Sculture in zucchero e tovaglioli per le nozze fiorentine di Maria de’ Medici

Until June 7 Palatine Gallery Palazzo Pitti Cost: €13; €6:50 reduced www.polomuseale.firenze.it http://dolcitrionfi.it (Italian only)

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Renzi Engages Obama

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi met with US president Barack Obama at the White House last month. Discussing topics from the migrant crisis facing Europe to a transatlantic trade deal and lingering tensions with Greece, the meeting gave both leaders the chance to exchange their views.

While Renzi stressed the crisis in the Mediterranean concerning immigration, he also declared that Milan Expo could be the catalyst for a new war on poverty.

Obama offered praise to Renzi for his recent economic reforms in Italy and promised US support to Italian forces in promoting stability in Libya.

During the bilateral meeting, Obama and Renzi also focused on the need to continue supporting Ukraine, the USA’s new framework deal reached with Iran, Italy’s role in the international coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants, and the importance of job creation and opportunities in Italy.

Ron Howard Shooting Dan Brown’s Inferno in Florence

American director Ron Howard is filming scenes in Florence for his movie version of Inferno, Dan Brown’s sixth novel. The Tuscan Film Commission and Florence mayor Dario Nardella accompanied Howard during his scouting visit, which included stops at the David statue in the Accademia Gallery and Ponte Vecchio.

Anti-Expo Protesters Devastate Milan Mark Massey The start to the 2015 Milan Expo on May 1 saw property damage and three cars set afire, as a group of 100 demonstrators took to the street in a ‘No Expo’ march. The demonstrators, protesting against globalization, threw Molotov cocktails, paper bombs, bottles and rocks at police. Dressed in full riot gear, the police responded by using tear gas in an effort to

disperse the demonstrators.

In the center of Milan, Largo d’Ancona, between Corso Magenta and Via Carducci, was cordoned off by police after protesters set the three cars on fire, who also formed a barricade with garbage cans. Police had bottles thrown at them from the group in Corso Magenta as well, and at least one building in downtown Milan had a paper bomb thrown into it.

Sparked by protesters dressed in

the ‘Black Block’ style, the marches occurred at the same time that the Expo kicked off. Protesters had already started to gather in the city center, with permission from the Milan police. Although the march was allowed to proceed, the demonstration was kept away from the main entrance of the Expo. Milan’s mayor Giuliano Pisapia said, “We must isolate, identify and punish the criminals who are devastating Milan.”

Nardella also accompanied Howard in a tour of Palazzo Vecchio, which Florence City Council is renting out to the film crew for the hefty price of €250,000, with particular focus on the Map Room and Salone de’ Cinquecento.

The historical importance and striking beauty of Palazzo Vecchio make it a perfect backdrop for

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the latest film in the series. Mayor Nardella said that the filming of Inferno would be an opportunity for the city, and employment in particular. Not only this, but Florence will also receive increased international promotion as a result of the film. To allow filming inside Palazzo Vecchio, its museum will be closed to the public between May 2 and 6, with the exception of the Hall of Arms, which is currently hosting the exhibition Magnificent. Howard has recently shot scenes in Venice, including St Mark’s Square, and the Rio della Canonica, site of the Bridge of Sighs. Starring Tom Hanks as professor Robert Langdon, Inferno features Omar Sy, Irrfan Khan, Felicity Jones and Sidse Babett, with screenplay by David Koepp.

The film’s release is planned for October next year. In addition to Florence and Venice, filming production is scheduled to include Istanbul as well.

New Colosseum Floor Proposed Italy’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Dario Franceschini last month voiced his support for putting the floor back in the Colosseum, pledging that visitors would be able to walk in the center of the ancient arena.

Should Franceschini’s statement become reality, it would not only allow Rome to host a variety of shows in this unique venue, but also help to restore the central archaeological area.

President of the High Council on Cultural Heritage, Giuliano Volpe, has already given his support to the minister’s proposal. Unlike Franceschini, however, Volpe opposes altering the existing center of Rome into an archaeological park, citing the concerns of marginalizing locals in an area that would “be visited mainly by tourists and would run the risk of being a non-place, expelling citizens.”

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LITERATURE

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A Library in Shambles?

MAIN LIBRARIES

A look at the conditions of the National Central Library of Florence

Natalia Piombino

Coordinator of the Reader Association of the National Central Library of Florence

The conditions of the National Central Library of Florence, the most important in Italy due to the number and value of its volumes, are getting worse day by day.

The fundamental causes of this degradation are the limited resources available and the shortage of staff, two factors that have led to a progressive deterioration of the services provided by the library.

These include the cataloging of material, the very few number of foreign books purchased, the continuing contraction of book distribution hours, and the flaws in the library’s online catalog in which, for instance, recent volumes have been cataloged but are unavailable for consultation as – we were told by the library’s staff – these books are distributed only two days a week.

Finding new premises for the library appears urgent, but the renovation alone of the Curtatone and Montanara barracks will take about €20 million. Money that, at the moment, the library cannot afford to spend.

The director of the library, Maria Letizia Sebastiani, has talked for months of a project for the creation of a national newspaper library but, as of today, the only certain truth is a notice on the library’s official website informing the public that the collection of magazines stored at Forte Belve-

dere is unavailable for an indefinite period of time.

The re-opening of the so-called ‘new wing’ in Via Magliabechi – following renovations financed with public money – which was supposed to include a coffee shop, a bookstore and more space for storing the books, seems to have disappeared from the library’s agenda. Will the magistrature ever establish if someone will have to refund the community for the money that was spent on the renovations?

The problem of the shortage of library personnel was dealt with through the employment of volunteer staff (Servizio Civile Regionale) and trainees (internships) instead of qualified workers. Last January, a note on the library’s

website announced the drastic reduction of the distribution of modern printed material: in other words, the absence of semi-volunteer personnel provokes the library’s semi-paralysis.

The staff still on duty work hard, but the library is now an inhospitable place where working is uncomfortable, for both users and staff.

Not just because of the lack of services, but also because the facilities are cold in winter and hot in summer, it lacks a coffee shop and decent spaces for readers to take a break, and because the internet is slow, and the wi-fi doesn’t even work in some rooms. The consequences are a gradual emptying of the Reading Room on the first floor (Sala di Consultazione),

which is prevalently frequented by researchers who need a better-equipped place to work in.

The degradation of the library has reached its peak with the organization of fashion shows and rounds of golf during opening hours.

Alongside services that are increasingly getting worse, the hosting of conferences and exhibits has flourished to the extent that research seems to have become a residual interest for the library.

The reform promoted by the government has been based on the principle, often repeated by Minister of Culture and Tourism Dario Franceschini, of the ‘profitability’ of culture.

Thus, museums and archaeological sites, as they represent sources of profit, have taken priority and garnered much more attention.

It is for all these reasons that the Readers Association of the National Central Library of Florence, which has been fighting to revive the library for more than 20 years, has engaged in a political struggle for the defense of public libraries as well as of Article 9 of the Italian Constitution.

In keeping with what was stated by the Constitution, forms of privatization of the cultural heritage that compromise its democratic functions must be considered unacceptable. Italy’s most important library survives thanks to volunteer work and some, yet inconsistent, donation.

All this poses a question: is Italy a republic solely based on volunteerism and philanthropy?

BIBLIOTECA GABINETTO G.P. V IEUSSEUX Piazza Strozzi 055 28 34 2 www.vieusseux.fi.it BIBLIOTECA MARUCELLIANA Via Cavour, 43 055 21 06 02 // 055 21 62 43 Monday to Friday: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. www.maru.firenze.sbn.it BIBLIOTECA MEDICEA-L AURENZIANA Piazza S. Lorenzo, 9 055 21 07 60 www.bml.firenze.sbn.it BIBLIOTECA NA ZIONALE Piazza Cavalleggeri, 1/a 055 24 91 91 // 055 24 91 91 Monday to Friday: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. www.bncf.firenze.sbn.it IRIS Piazza Strozzi, Palazzo Strozzi www.iris.firenze.it/index_e.php BIBLIOTECA COMUNALE CENTR ALE Via S. Egidio, 21 055 26 16 512 www.comune.firenze.it/comune/ biblioteche/comunale.htm BIBLIOTECA DEI R AGA ZZI Via Tripoli, 34 055 24 78 551 BIBLIOTECA PAL AGIO DI PARTE GUELFA Piazza Parte Guelfa, 1 055 21 47 40 www.comune.firenze.it/comune/ biblioteche/ppguelfa.htm THE UFFIZI LIBR ARY 055 23 88 647 Tuesday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Wednesday: 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Thursday-Friday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. biblioteca@polomuseale.firenze.it

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Why Read the Commedia?

9

LITERATURE

Dante’s otherworld in 2015

Lee Foust About 710 years ago a 40-year-old Florentine poet in exile put quill to parchment and began work on a long narrative poem that would become his magnum opus. No European author had written such a work in his native tongue (discounting a few Germanic and Scandinavian monster stories) since Nonnus penned the Dionysiaca in the fifth century. The author was of course Dante Alighieri and the poem the Commedia, a fairly common Christian tale of a journey to the otherworld (about 99 such texts, most in Latin prose, predate Dante’s poem) composed in Florentine vernacular verse with a veneer of classicism to make it shine.

Why would we still want to read such a poem after 700 years? Surely we have returned, for the most part, to classical values of honor and strength, leaving most of our Christian morality to the zealots—pride, Epicureanism, and selfishness are all virtues now.

Allegory, the primary literary style of the Middle Ages has been replaced by realism and a slightly more subtle symbolism. Lastly, we prefer novels these days; we find verse pretentious, and episodic encyclopedic works seeking to contain all of human knowledge overbearing and silly in our own new age of political spin and philosophical doubt.

Ah, but the Commedia compli-

cates all of these objections. The poem’s presentation of “the state of souls after death,” as the poet’s dedicatory letter to Cangrande della Scala puts it, is not wholly Christian, but rather an attempt to integrate the Christian concept of sin with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and the classical world’s concept of proper social comportment. Is not our modern legal system also such a hybrid? Do we not all live in a moral netherworld, nowadays, between the Ten Commandments, the Seven Capital Vices, the Golden Rule, and some version of Justinian’s law code?

We are vague: we call it a ‘moral compass,’ but ethics and/or morals are the foundation of our daily lives. We might do well to read an extended meditation on what it

means to do good or evil.

The modern reader will find the Commedia’s morality shockingly complex, I think, considering our generally condescending opinion of the Middle Ages. It goes after so many things we hold dear: romance, teaching, humanism, and shows how these good things can be used to lead one to a violent death, a waste of one’s intellect, forbidden knowledge. And, frankly, a world run largely by banks too big to fail, two generations of college grads permanently disabled by student debt, and an ongoing mortgage crisis, might want to take a second look at the ethics of lending money at interest.

While the allegory of medieval literature is often tedious—see Spencer’s Faerie Queene—the In-

ferno particularly integrates many literary strategies to get its point across. The borrowing of some of the landscape and monsters from the descent into Hades episode of Virgil’s Aeneid gives color and variety to the Commedia. Also the classical figures cleverly become avatars for Christian moral values: Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades, for example, stands before the gluttons, always hungry with his three mouths to feed. Although generally poetically metaphoric, the tortures in hell are described in gory detail, on a par with Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead for pure, visceral punch. Best of all, the short, pitiful soliloquies of the characters trapped for eternity in hell bring medieval people to life

in a way that no other text of the period does—not even Chaucer or Boccaccio, whose texts too often fall back on the actions of bawdy situation comedy over character study.

I concur that, philosophically, we know very little with any degree of certainty, and yet I marvel each time I read the Commedia—once a year as I teach it at two different universities every spring. I admire the poem’s outrageous scope and its desire to say everything there was, at that time, to say. Are we not rather too compartmentalized these days?

When I see politicians unable to look scientists in the eye, churchman out of touch with so much of humanity’s struggles, and armies thrashing through foreign wars their nations never needed or wanted, I wonder, isn’t it time to think through classical ethics and Christian morality again in a more holistic way? Right or wrong, for better or worse, agree with it or scoff, Dante’s Commedia forces us to re-consider such topics.

Lee Foust is a fiction writer and performer from Oakland, California who teaches literature and creative writing at various US universities in Florence. He is the author of Sojourner, a collection of stories and poems about the mystery of place, and the forthcoming Poison and Antidote, nine Bohemian tales of San Francisco during the Reagan era. Read more from Lee at www.leefoust.com.

International & national shipping service Packing material Full color digital copies Fax service Storage service Free pick up at school or home Monday to Friday: 9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 3-6 p.m.

Corso dei Tintori, 39/r | Tel.: 055 24 66 660 | Fax.: 055 24 66 067

MAY 2015

10 Florence News & Events

CULTURE

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Realizing Leonardo’s Projects

Exhibit showcases working models of da Vinci’s designs, as museum hits 10th anniversary

Lucy David

A family of Florentine craftsmen has discovered previously unknown theorems hidden in Leonardo’s mechanical designs, shedding light on the full scope of his genius.

Carlo Niccolai and his son Gabriele have spent decades constructing working models of Leonardo’s inventions through close study of his famous codices. In collaboration with a team of specialists, the Niccolai family re-creates the designs using materials such as wood, rope, fabric and metal that date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The rigor of practical and mechanical tests carried out on each model has given rise to a number of insights into Leonardo’s approach and surprisingly modern grasp of technology, such as his famous ‘robot’, which was originally believed to have been designed as an armored robotic knight. However, during laboratory tests the robot was discovered to be limited in its upper body movement and instead possess flexible wrists adapted to drumming, and is now believed to have been designed for use in parades and ceremonies.

In his studies for a European Commission-sponsored exhibition of the machines in Brussels earlier this year, Gabriele Niccolai noted how Leonardo appears to have deliberately scattered the mechanical components required to create his inventions over several different pages of his codices, allowing artisans to create individ-

ual elements but preventing their understanding of the machine as a whole. This may be due in part to the fact that Leonardo’s codices have been split up and reassembled over the years – sculptor Pompeo Leoni took the liberty of cutting and dividing several of the codices into scientific and artistic categories in the seventeenth century – however such a practice would have also safeguarded his inventions during times of war.

Leonardo’s catapult design in the Atlantic Codex is rendered useless without details of its ballistic adjustments, which are found in a different part of the codex as a series of self-locking mechanisms.

A deeper understanding of Leonardo’s codices has revealed that many of his technological innovations rested upon those of his engineering predecessors, such as Brunelleschi, Vitruvius, Heron of Alexandria and Archimedes of

Syracuse, which Leonardo adapted to his own context. His modification of a mechanism based on a description found in Herodotus and believed to have been used for building the pyramids surpassed all expectations when Niccolai created its working model in 2011: a 300kg concrete block was so reduced in weight that a six-year-old child was able to lift it.

The Niccolai family has been reconstructing working models of Leonardo’s designs since 1995, when Carlo Niccolai dedicated himself to the work full-time in a desire to realise Leonardo’s legacy.

His passion founded the Niccolai Collection, the largest private collection of Leonardo models in the world, comprising more than 300 working models created by himself and his sons, together with a team of artisans, engineers, historians and architects.

The models have been displayed

at more than 100 international exhibitions throughout Europe and as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, China, the US, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Finland. More than 50 working models are on permanent display at The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at Galleria Michelangiolo in Via Cavour.

Here visitors have the chance to not only observe but also interact with various prototypes, such as the aerial screw used in today’s helicopters, alongside a scuba-diving apparatus, glider, bicycle, tank and missiles; and view reconstructions of Leonardo’s studies of anatomy. The exhibit also displays copies of six codices, in which the visitor can view the sketches that reveal the workings of the great man’s mind.

The Niccolai family has been widely praised for its ongoing devotion to realising the vast inheritance that Leonardo left to science.

Professor Carlo Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies at the University of California, says, “Carlo Niccolai is an admirable figure, a talented craftsman who has developed his own way in studying the technological level reached by Leonardo da Vinci. Moreover, he is a person gifted with great simplicity and humility. His work is important to scholars because it helps our theories and contributes to study indepth Leonardo’s machines and all the technological discoveries made at that time.” Indeed, as Bill Gates’ $30 million purchase of the Leicester Codex indicates, we have much to be grateful to Leonardo for: next time your car gets a flat tire, you can thank Leonardo for inventing the jack.

Leonardo’s designs on display include the aerial screw (used in today’s helicopters), human robot, hydraulic drill, scubadiving apparatus, hang glider, tank, missiles, bicycle, floodlight, lifebuoy and jack.

The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci Michelangiolo Gallery Leonardo da Vinci Museum Via Cavour, 21 Open daily: 9:30 a.m – 7:30 p.m.

Cost: €7 (full price); €5 (reduced); €3 (groups of 15 or more).

Entrance, snack and drink promotion: €8 (between 11 a.m. & 4 p.m.).

055 295 264 www.macchinedileonardo.com

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events

CULTURE

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Flowers and Bonfires: Remembering Savonarola

In Florentine culture, May has always meant happiness, regeneration, and according to an Italian tradition called Calendimaggio, May has always been the period of trysts. Popular songs were dedicated to this magic moment of flowering and rebirth, accompanied by richly colored flowers and garlands in people’s dress. However, the history of May flowers in the city also has a deeper meaning.

It has been over 500 years since Florence’s infamous ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ took place. Girolamo Savonarola, Dominican friar, leader and, above all, killjoy of Florence, burned anything vaguely associated with moral laxity that might cause one to sin.

Board games, clothes, books, paintings and even musical in-

struments – these were all set aflame by Savonarola’s supporters, among whom Botticelli was a fervent participant and who also cast several of his works into the flames.

One of the most important festivals in Florence this month commemorates Savonarola’s memory by marking the anniversary of his public execution, which took place on May 23, 1498 in Piazza della Signoria and is known as La Fiorita.

A procession begins in the piazza at 10 a.m. and accompanies city authorities to the Ponte Vecchio, where flowers are thrown by Florentines and tourists alike into the Arno, as Savonarola’s faithfuls did with his ashes.

Other notable Florentine anniversaries taking place this month

include Dante’s 750th birthday (May 14–June 1, 1265, depending on sources), the inauguration of the Santa Croce facade (May 3, 1863) and the unveiling of the Dante monument in Piazza Santa Croce by the King of Italy (May 14, 1865); the deaths of Leonardo da Vinci (May 2, 1519) and Botticelli (May 17, 1510); the birth of Bartolomeo Cristofori, inventor of the piano (May 4, 1655); and finally the Mafia bomb that exploded in Florence (May 27, 1993). This destroyed the Georgofili Library and damaged an estimated 25 percent of the Uffizi Gallery’s artworks and part of the Vasari Corridor.

Five people died, including Caterina, the daughter of the library’s guardian, who was born just 50 days earlier. Some flowers are for them too.

11

Italy celebrates Dante’s 750th birthday

The 750th anniversary of Florentine poet Dante Alighieri’s birth is being celebrated throughout Italy with more than 180 events planned. Oscar-winning Tuscan actor Roberto Benigni launches the commemoration with a reading of Dante in Parliament on May 4, which is being broadcast live at 11 a.m. via RAI radio.

Best known for his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, Dante is also being honored with readings at the Florentine Baptistery between May 5 and 19 by actors Gioele Dix, Roberto Herlitzka and Michele Placido, as well as lectures by leading Dante scholars.

Although Dante’s actual date of birth is contested, May 14 was the date chosen the unveil his monument at Santa Croce in 1865 to mark his 600th anniversary. This

event is being re-enacted in 2015 together with a historical parade and the reading of 100 canti by Dante scholars and Florentines.

The cities of Ravenna, Rome and Verona, also associated with the poet, are staging various Dante-related events, while another 173 are planned outside Italy.

Dante Readings in Florence Baptistery readings begin at 6 p.m., with free admission.

May 5: Lecture: Emilio Pasquini; Reading: Michele Placido May 12: Lecture: Lucia Battaglia Ricci; Reading: Roberto Herlitzka May 19: Lecture Gianfranco Ravasi; Reading: Gioele Dix May 14, Santa Croce: 100 canti read aloud by Dante scholars and Florentines.

MAY 2015

12 Florence News & Events

OLTRARNO

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A Hidden Treasure in the Oltrarno History and culture merge at St Mark’s English Church

over the world. Austrian conductor Franz Moser and his group of talented singers captivate guests with opera of national quality, in an informal atmosphere with reliable acoustics.

Here, at St Mark’s Church, religion and art join the international and local community in a true cultural exchange that is both English-speaking and purely Florentine.

Olivia Turchi Walking along Via Maggio, nestled among the antique shops and the art galleries, there is a small, almost hidden treasure: St Mark’s English Church.

In the heart of Florence, just a few steps from the Ponte Santa Trinita, the church is a reference point for the English-speaking community in Florence. Over the years it has become an integral part of the Florentine community and an attraction for Italian and foreign visitors alike. In fact, like the whole Oltrarno area, it is both international and cosmopolitan at the same time, while remaining traditionally ‘Florentine.’

Many important personalities of the nineteenth century lived in the Oltrarno, from English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who actually lived just a few steps from St Mark’s in Piazza San Felice, where the Guidi Museum now is; to merchant Gian Pietro Viesseux, founder of Gabinetto Vieusseux that was initially located in Palazzo Buondelmonti before being moved to Palazzo Strozzi; to Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi’s mistress Jessie White Mario, whose apartment was in Via Romana, just to mention a few.

The building in which the church stands belonged to Niccolò Machiavelli in the fifteenth century.

In 1881, Reverend Charles inaugurated the church on the ground floor of the building. Its architec-

St Mark’s English Church Via Maggio, 16 055 294 764 www.stmarksitaly.com

ture and decoration mix the old with the new, standing out with its striking red columns that sustain cream-colored arches embellished with grey and blue floral decorations, crowned by a circular window placed above the altar.

It was English painter JR Spencer Stanhope who, with help of English and local artists, engineered and realized the wall and ceiling decorations at his own expense, in such a way that the Renaissance ambience merges beautifully with the Victorian decorations and English Pre-Raphaelite-style paint-

ing, of which the church is the only example in Florence.

Damaged by the 1966 flood, the internal decorations have not yet been restored, while a completely new white marble statue, inaugurated in 2008, is located on the external facade. The statue, called Apotheosis of St Mark, was made by sculptor Jason Arkles, the first American artist ever to obtain a public and permanent exposition in Florence.

Today, a community of at least 150 regularly gathers here. Father William Lister has become the hub of

the Florentine Anglican community, and at the same time the promoter of cultural events, definitely among the best quality that Florence has to offer. Literary and art meetings are frequent, along with writing labs by Florence Writers, while St Mark’s also collaborates with the Via Maggio Association, the Florence International Biennial Antiques Fair and the Festival of Europe.

The church’s crowning point is St Mark’s Opera, which was established 11 years ago and continues to enchant spectators from all

Olivia Turchi and the Via Maggio Association Born in France, but forever Florentine, Olivia Turchi grew up in the Oltrarno neighbourhood of Florence, where she learned to love history and artisan traditions. Turchi is the founder and president of the Via Maggio Association, a society born to protect the cultural identity and the unique connotations of the street and its historical quarter, which is composed of a voluntary committee of citizens, including business owners, artisans, antique dealers and residents.

MAY 2015

14 Florence News & Events

FASHION

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Ship Ugo Poggi Treasures Home

Established almost a century ago and now in the hands of its second generation, Ugo Poggi displays handmade Murano glass, crystalware, antique porcelain and silverware, and a range of contemporary tableware at its Florentine showroom.

Murano glass has long been noted for its quality and brilliance: produced around 1450 on the Venetian island of Murano, its formula was a closely guarded secret for centuries and known only to the island’s master glaziers. Today Ugo Poggi, son of the founder by the same name, personally designs the showroom’s Murano glass tableware, lamps and ornaments, which carry the Poggi name engraved on each piece as a guarantee of quality.

Porcelain items are selected with care from top manufacturers in Florence and England, with pieces that date back to the early twen-

tieth century, while the addition of its range of antique silverware has seen the Florentine Antiquarian Association count Ugo Poggi amongst its members.

While the showroom is considered the oldest of its kind in Florence, its business nous has moved with the times; not only does Ugo Poggi offer a range of modern tableware and kitchenware but it also ships its items throughout the world. It boasts a wide-ranging clientele, from the USA to China and Australia to Japan. Drop into the showroom on Via Strozzi, opposite Palazzo Strozzi, and browse the display or contact Ugo Poggi to ask about shipping products directly home.

Ugo Poggi Via Strozzi, 26/r

Tel. & Fax.: 055 216741 info@ugopoggifirenze.it

Reinventing Suitcases

The first company to introduce at which he worked to begin spethe American novelty of rigid suit- cializing in suitcases, is the reason cases to the Italian market, Valige- for its swift rise to success. By the ria Gazzarrini is a historic shop in 1920s Gazzarrini was already recFlorence, one that has marked the ognized for the quality of its prodcommercial history of the city. ucts at national and international The combination of innovation trade fairs, and four generations and determination that has char- later it supplies top leather good acterized the company since its and travel accessories worldwide. beginnings in 1911, when found- Today the story continues in the er Giuseppe Gazzarrini bought vein of its Florentine artisan roots, the leather manufacturing firm with a dual focus on quality Italian

goods such as Labiena 1856 and Orobianco, and emerging trends in international brands, including Longchamp, Tumi and Samsonite.

Valigeria Gazzarrini

Open daily: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Via Porta Rossa, 71-73/r 055 21 27 47 info@valigeriagazzarrini.com www.valigeriagazzarrini.com

Florentine Renaissance Perfumes on Sale

Florentine pharmacist Giovanni the period.

Di Massimo discovered Queen Currently, I Profumi di Firenof France Caterina de’ Medici’s ze includes more than 30 scents secret perfume formulas written crafted from sixteenth-century on a Renaissance manuscript. Di Renaissance formulas, as well as Massimo discovered his ‘treasure’ more modern fragrances. The hidden away in the pharmacy most popular fragrance in the colbasement following Florence’s fa- lection is ‘Vaniglia del Madagascar.’ More in tune with the season, mous flood of 1966.

Dr Di Massimo then started ‘Brezza di Mare’ and ‘Neroli Flor’ re-creating these Renaissance-era are popular choices as well. fragrances using only natural I Profumi di Firenze fragrances ingredients, including not only are sold at C.O. Bigelow in New fragrances commissioned by York, Fred Segal in Hollywood, Tithe Medici family but also other gerlily Perfumery in San Francisscents popular among nobility of co, and online at beautyhabit.com.

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 15

FASHION

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Fashionistas flock to Florence for ModaPrima 78

The 78th edition of international fashion show ModaPrima returns to Florence from May 22–24 at Stazione Leopolda.

Hosted by Pitti Immagine, ModaPrima is highly anticipated event on the fashion buyer calendar that presents ready-to-wear fashion trends and accessories for men and women. This edition previews the spring-summer 2016 season’s collection, with a special focus on bestsellers for fall/winter 2015–2016. ModaPrima aims to build relationships among the institutions that support both Italian fashion abroad and the players who work directly in the field of international distribution.

This edition presents 150 Italian manufacturers as well as carefully selected international brands.

Previous editions have seen more than 1,700 buyers, 800 of whom were international, with participants from more than 50 countries. Japan has represented the largest source of ModaPrima buyers in years past, as well as companies from Spain, Turkey, Portugal, France, Belgium, Russia, Germany, Holland, Greece, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, South Korea, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Canada and Sweden.

Last November’s edition of Modaprima 77 was declared a

Strolling and Shopping Florence Online A new plat- greater number of virtual clients, form for in order to promote the range and s h o p p i n g quality of items hand-produced in Florence in Florence. has been “We have united Florence and the l a u n c h e d ‘Made in Italy’ brand to enable online. En- those who can’t be here physicaltitled You- ly to stroll the streets of Florence MODY, the concept enables con- and go shopping,” says concept sumers to ‘stroll’ the streets of founder Lorenzo Bulgarini.

Florence virtually, and enter the Consumers can browse shops city’s most prestigious shops and that range in location from the artisan workshops to buy prod- city’s most exclusive thoroughfares, such as Via de’ Tornabuoni ucts.

It’s the first time such a compre- and the Ponte Vecchio, to the cenhensive approach has been taken trally located Via Porta Rossa, Via to online shopping in Florence. della Vigna Nuova, Via de’ RondiWhile the city is renowned for its nelli and Via del Parione; and Borcraftsmanship, many of these go San Jacopo and Via de’ Bardi in traditional workshops are hid- the traditionally artisan Oltrarno den away in its maze of winding district.

Items can be purchased online via streets.

YouMODY’s objective is to make computer, smartphone or tablet, these artisans more visible and and are delivered free worldwide enable them to be ‘visited’ by a by specialized courier.

great success despite a slight drop in the number of Italian buyers, an indication of how the nation’s ongoing economic difficulties are affecting domestic consumption.

Until 2001 ModaPrima was held in Milan but relocated to Florence for its 71st edition in 2011. Its host venue is an example of the innovation promoted by the event: once a disused nineteenth-century railway station, Stazione Leopolda has now become a hub for contemporary events happening in the city.

Pitti Immagine’s online exhibition project e-Pitti coincides with the event to allow buyers to discover new collections and increase business with new contacts.

MONTAGLIARI FARMHOUSE COOKING CLASSES & WINE TASTINGS

HAIRDRESSER AND BEAUTY SERVICES

Bus stop: ‘Cappelli’ between Lamole Panzano in Chianti.

Located near Santa Croce, Alchimia offers a variety of women and mens’s hair and beauty services using the finest brands.

Open daily from 9 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

Services include: • Haircuts, color and highlight • Long-length extensions • Keratin reconstruction & hair botox • ESSIE Gel reconstruction and permanent enamel • Acrylic nail care • Waxing • Massage (healing and relaxation) • Custom make-up

V. Montagliari, 29 Panzano in Chianti 055 85 20 14 info@fattoriamontagliari.com www.fattoriamontagliari.com

Via dell’Agnolo, 47–49–51/r 055 24 16 04 www.alchimia-hairdesign.com

Since 1720 Fattoria Montagliari has produced Chianti Classico DOCG, Chianti Classico Riserva, Brunesco di San Lorenzo IGT, grappa, brandy, amaro di San Lorenzo, aged vin santo, extra-virgin olive oil, and aged Trebbiano balsamic (20 and 28 years).

Products can be purchased from the online shop as well as in the farm store and restaurant. The farm, located in the heart of Chianti, offers cooking classes and wine tastings.

MAY 2015

16 Florence News & Events

CITY GUIDE

TOURIST INFORMATION Firenze Turismo 055 29 08 32 // 055 29 08 33 Via Cavour, 1/r Mon–Sat: 8:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

(Closed on Sundays and public holidays; see Comune info points below for Sunday hours.) info1@firenzeturismo.it www.firenzeturismo.it Florence Airport ...........................055 31 58 74 Via del Termine, 1 Daily: 8:30a.m.–8:30p.m. infoaeroporto@firenzeturismo.it Comune ....................................... 055 21 22 45 Piazza Stazione, 4 Mon–Sat: 8:30a.m.–7 p.m.

Sundays & public holidays: 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m. turismo3@comune.fi.it www.comune.fi.it Bigallo loggia .............................. 055 28 84 96 Piazza San Giovanni Mon–Sat: 9 a.m.–7 p.m.

Sundays & public holidays: 9 a.m.–2 p.m. bigallo@comune.fi.it

EMERGENCY SERVICES Police – emergency ..................................... 113 Police – carabinieri ...................................... 112 Police – municipal ...................... 055 32 83 333 Ambulance ................................................... 118 Fire department ........................................... 115 Tourist medical service .............. 055 21 22 21 Poison Center ............................. 055 79 47 819 Pharmacies (open) ...................... 800 42 07 07 Vehicle breakdown (ACI) ............................. 116 Obstruction& towed vehicle ...... 055 42 24 142 Civil protection services .............. 800 01 5 161 Child abuse hotline ...................................... 114 Emergency vet services ........... 055 72 23 683 Environmental emergency response ....... 1515 Lost & Found (Florence office) ... 055 33 48 02

TRANSPORT BUS & COACH ATAF (www.ataf.net) ................... 800 42 45 00 BluBlus (www.blubus.it) ............. 800 27 78 25 SITA Nord (www.fsbusitalia.it) ... 800 37 37 60 CAP (www.capautolinee.it) ........ 055 21 46 37 Vaibus (www.vaibus.com) ........ 058 35 87 897 TRAIN Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.com) .......... 89 20 21 Italo (www.italotreno.it/en) ............... 06 07 08

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MUSEUMS & GALLERIES Accademia Gallery* Alinari National Photography Museum* Bargello National Museum* Bigallo Museum* Cathedral Museum (Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore)* Costume Gallery (Palazzo Pitti)* Dante House Museum* Galileo Museum * Horne Foundation Museum * Jewish Museum* Michelangelo’s House (Casa Buonarroti)* MUDI Children’s Museum Museum & Florentine Institute of Prehistory Museum of Natural History sections: Anthropology & Ethnology* Geology & Paleontology* Minerology & Lithology* Zoology ‘La Specola’* National Archaeological Museum* Orsanmichele* Palatine Gallery (Palazzo Pitti)* Palazzo Davanzati* Palazzo Medici-Riccardi* Palazzo Pitti* Palazzo Strozzi* Palazzo Vecchio* Porcelain Museum* Science & Technical Foundation* Uffizi Gallery* Vasari Corridor

RELIGIOUS SITES Baptistry of San Giovanni* Brancacci Chapel* Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) ‘Dante’s church’ (Santa Margherita de’ Cerchi) Jewish Synagogue* Medici Chapel* Ognissanti San Lorenzo San Marco* Santa Croce* Santa Felicità Santa Maria Novella* Santissima Annunziata Santo Spirito

GARDENS Boboli Gardens* Botanic Gardens*

MARKETS ANTIQUES Borgo Allegri, Via dell’Agnolo, Piazza dei Ciompi, Via Martiri del Popolo Last Sunday of each month (except July): 8:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

CENTRAL MARKET Via dell’Ariento Monday–Friday: 7 a.m.– 2 p.m. ; Sat: 7 a.m.–5 p.m.

July and August: Monday–Saturday: 7 a.m.–2 p.m.

CASCINE PARK Food products, clothing, antiques and homewares.

J. F. Kennedy Every Tuesday: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

FLEA MARKET Piazza dei Ciompi Daily: 9 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

DIRECT BUS TO PISA AIRPORT Coaches depart from: Pisa Airport arrivals area, in front of the arrivals gate and Florence City Center S.M. Novella Train Station, outside the station. Journey: 70 minutes.

From Pisa to Florence: 05.00 - 08.45 - 09.20 - 10.15 - 11.30 12.15 - 13.05 - 13.50 - 14.30 16.15 - 17.15 - 18.30 - 19.30 -20.30 22.05 - 23.20 - 00.20 From Florence to Pisa: 3.30 - 4.30 -7.15 - 8.05 - 8.50 10.10 - 11.10 - 11.30 - 12.05 13.05 - 13.55 - 14.40 - 15.30 16.20 - 18.05 - 18.50

www.airportbusexpress.it

FLOWERS & PLANTS Via Pellicceria (under the loggia) Every Thursday (except public holidays): 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

PORCELLINO Clothing, textiles, Florentine straw products, leather and souvenirs.

Piazza del Mercato Nuovo, Via Porta Rossa Daily: 9 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

SAN LORENZO Leather goods (bags, shoes, clothing) and souvenirs.

Piazza San Lorenzo and neighboring streets Daily: 9 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

SANT’AMBROGIO Fresh produce, flowers, clothes and homewares.

PIAZZA GHIBERTI Indoor market: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday: 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; Wednesday & Friday: 7:30 a.m.–7 p.m.; Saturday: 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Outdoor market: Monday–Saturday: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

SANTO SPIRITO Piazza Santo Spirito Fresh produce: Monday–Saturday: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

Handicrafts & antiques: 2nd Sunday of each month

APPROXIMATE FARES Firenze-Pisa Airport ............................... € 140.00 Firenze-Bologna Airport ........................ € 180.00 Firenze-Montecatini ................................ € 90.00 Firenze-Arezzo ........................................€ 140.00 Firenze-Siena ......................................... € 120.00 Firenze-Livorno ...................................... € 160.00 Firenze-San Gimignano ......................... € 100.00 Firenze-Outlet Barberino ........................ € 65.00 Barberino A/R+ 1 hr ................................€ 120.00 Firenze-Outlet Leccio ..............................€ 65.00 Leccio A/R+1 hr ...................................... € 120.00 Firenze-Outlet Prada .............................. € 110.00 Prada A/R+1 hr ....................................... € 160.00 FLORENCE AIRPORT FROM/TO DOWNTOWN

Weekdays- € 20.00 + Luggage Holiday- €22.00 + Luggage Night – 23.30 + Luggage Taxi Bus 1 Pax 20 Euro** 6 Euro* 2 Pax 20 Euro ** 12 Euro* 3 Pax 20 Euro ** 18 Euro* 4 Pax 20 Euro** 24 Euro* 5 Pax 20 Euro ** 30 Euro* *then you need a Taxi/** more 1 Euro each bag

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events

17

CITY GUIDE

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Sixty Museums in 72 Hours with the Firenze Card COOKING COURSES IN SANTO SPIRITO In Tavola aims to spread Italian food- and wine-rich regional culinary traditions, such as those of Tuscany with its variety of dishes and recipes. Cooking classes as well as individual lessons for both professionals and beginners are offered, with special deals for students. Courses include: Market tour & cooking class, four-course dinner, easy dinner, easy lunch, home-made pasta and pizza & gelato.

Via dei Velluti, 18 • 055 21 76 72 www.intavola.org • info@intavola.org

THE RESTAURANT OF THE FLORENTINES Located in Via Ghibellina near Santa Croce, Da Que’ Ganzi offers a fresh seafood and meat menu for both lunch and dinner. Tuscan specialties include ribollita and authentic Florentine steak, and all of the cakes and sweets are homemade. A special weekday lunch menu for less than €10 makes the restaurant affordable for anyone. Special dishes: BAKED SEA BASS & TUSCAN STEAK Mon. to Sun.: 12–2:30 p.m. & 7–11:30 p.m.

Closed on Tuesdays.

Via Ghibellina, 70/r •055 22 60 010 www.daqueiganzi.it • info@daqueiganzi.it

DISCOVER RIVA LOFTS’ ‘SECRET KITCHEN’ Take the hassle out of hosting with EAST. We cater for private and corporate events at both award-winning Riva Lofts on the Arno and from the comfort of your own home, providing vibrant multicultural flavors with innovation and care. Enjoy fireside, poolside or garden dining options at Riva Lofts and such favourite dishes as basil panna cotta with prosciutto, grilled figs and rocket salad; and crispy Chinese pork belly served with rice and a warm caramel-chili sauce.

Contact Anna Bowcock: east@rivalofts.com Facebook: EastAtRivaLoftsFirenze

Become a Friend of the Uffizi

For €40 for youth under 25, €60 for an adult and €100 for a family (two adults and two children), the card offers a calendar year’s worth of free privileged entrance to the following museums: Uffizi Gallery Accademia Gallery The Pitti Palace The Palatine Gallery & Royal Apartments The Gallery of Modern Art The Costume Gallery The Medici Treasury The Porcelain Museum The Boboli Gardens The Bardini Gardens Bargello National Museum Museum of the Medici Chapels Museum of Palazzo Davanzati Museum of San Marco Garden of the Medici Villa of Castello Medici Villa of Petraia Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano Medici Villa of Cerreto Guidi & Historical Hunting Territorial Museum Cenacolo of Ognissanti Cenacolo of Andrea del Sarto Cenacolo of Fuligno Cenacolo of Sant’Apollonia Cloister of the Scalzo www.amicidegliuffizi.it

The Firenze Card is your one-stop pass to the museums, churches and gardens of Florence. For €72 it offers: • 72 hours of free access to 60 of Florence’s most popular and important museums, churches and gardens, including current exhibitions, permanent collections and museum activities; • Free use of public transport within Florence; • Immediate access to busy museums – skip long queues and pre-booking; • Dedicated smartphone application to help find the museums, access free wi-fi and give you updated information on exhibits and events; • Though the card can only be used once in each museum by one person, it also allows free entrance for EU citizens under 18 who are members of the same family unit of the cardholder.

See the website for full details: www.firenzecard.it

MAY 2015

18 Florence News & Events

FOOD & WINE

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Drawing From the Well A Taste of Florence’s Age-Old Sandwich Your one-stop shop for a lampredotto sandwich in Piazza dei Cimatori and San Lorenzo

Take a wine-tasting tour alongside Pozzo Divino’s 700-year-old well ‘Pozzo Divino’ is a witty play on words: literally meaning ‘divine well’, it translates as ‘wine well’ when read as pozzo di vino.

The ancient well in question is now part of a cellar that hosts Pozzo Divino’s wine tours. Dating back to 1312, the well is seven centuries old and was originally built to supply water through a vast system of underground tunnels and pipes to the prisoners of the local prison, known as the Stinche (now Teatro Verdi), that stretched as far as the Bargello.

Guests are offered a spectrum of Tuscan flavors to try, from a variety of the region’s renowned Chianti Classico to white wines that include Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio.

The wine-tasting ends with the most exclusive reds of the cellar: Bolgheri, Super Tuscan, Morellino and Montepulciano.

Upon request, guests also enjoy a buffet lunch comprising fresh

pasta, specialty Italian second courses, and “the best panini in the world” made by Pino himself.

Pino boasts that 90 percent of the wines he holds are of Tuscan origin, and that his tours prove so popular that he often ships back boxes of the wine sampled to America in order to appease impressed customers.

Pozzo Divino’s wine tours can be organized for tourist groups, families and universities, and cost only €15 a head.

Pozzo Divino Via Ghibellina, 144/r 055 24 66 907 Open from Monday to Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–12.:30 p.m./ 2–6:30 p.m.

Wine-tasting on Sundays by appointment (minimum 10 people) order@pozzodivino.com info@pozzodivino.com www.pozzodivino.it

In true Florentine tradition, the outdoor food cart provides trippa, lampredotto, lesso, poppa, matrice, porchetta, salumi, and wild boar sausages made fresh daily. L’Antico Trippaio is the best place to enjoy excellent panini and focacce like a true local. Just steps from the Duomo, it is one of the most frequented lunch spots in the historic city center.

Banned by Lorenzo de’ Medici, lampredotto remains alive at L’Antico Trippaio in Piazza dei Cimatori www.anticotrippaio.it

Lara May

The smell of tripe cooking on the streets of Florence was once so overwhelming that Lorenzo de’ Medici banned the kiosks altogether.

However, such was its popularity that once the Medici lost power, tripe returned in force and secured its place as a mainstay of Florentine street food.

Initially, tripe was a staple food for laborers and the working classes, and it dates as far back as the fourteenth century.

Simple wooden street carts served sandwiches stuffed with tripe, and this tradition continues today, albeit in the more sophisticated kiosks that can be found dotted around the city.

In order to fully understand this Florentine meal, an explanation of what tripe is and how it is cooked might be useful.

Trippa, or tripe, is made from the

cow’s pre-stomachs, and is soft, white, and mostly flavorless. Enjoyed in many regions of Italy, it is cooked in a variety of ways.

Lampredotto, however, is the uniquely local Florentine version, made from the cow’s fourth stomach, called the abomasum.

The name lampredotto comes, curiously, from the Italian word for lamprey eels, lampreda – once very abundant in the waters of the Arno River – as it resembles the inside of the mouth of a lamprey in shape and color.

Tuscan cooks rinse lampredotto well and boil it with tomatoes, onions, parsley and celery for two to three hours. The meat is then served in a Tuscan saltless bread roll (panino) with salt, pepper, chilli oil or salsa verde (green sauce), with the top slice of the roll dunked in the lampredotto stock.

For the most authentic and delicious experience of tripe, locals recommend L’Antico Trippaio,

which has a reputation for making the best panino con lampredotto in town. Located in the Piazza dei Cimatori, L’Antico Trippaio has an impressive track record; it has provided Florentines with high-quality yet affordable street food for more than 80 years.

This specialty attracts a wide variety of clients, with roughly 30 percent of customers being tourists, along with a large local fan base and visitors who come from as far away as Milan specifically for the famous sandwiches.

Indeed, approximately 250,000 kilograms of trippa and 80,000 kilograms of lampredotto are consumed in Florence each year, which indicates that this historical curiosity is far from losing its popularity.

The meat is tender, if a slightly disconcerting texture, and it is well-seasoned and dripping in delicious, herby gravy and topped off with salsa verde.

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 19

HISTORY

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The Glamor of the Renaissance Woman

Make-up, Body Care and Clothing of Yesterday’s Florentine Lady Chiara Becchetti Before the Renaissance, and until the fifteenth century, women were represented in art as religious and biblical figures, according to a conception deriving from Byzantine art.

The first artist to trace the new path was Giotto, who during the Middle Ages painted the first female breast in history, the Maestà di Ognissanti, today housed in the first room of the Uffizi Gallery.

Giotto’s woman was the first that was a real female rather than an icon, a real mother in her material and physical presence.

It was only during the Renaissance that this pattern of an idealized woman to adore was broken and that women began to be represented as human, females now bereaved of their abstract and religious meaning. Most of the merit for this revolution must be attributed to Brunelleschi, who invented perspective in the fifteenth century, making it possible to represent the third dimension of space and the different proportions of the human body, which in turn made a psychological representation of humans possible.

The Florentine Madonnas are significant in this regard, full of a grace and delicacy that hide a kind of beauty but at the same time are melancholic and unattainable. Symbolic of this is Botticelli’s Venus with her strabismus.

Still, the perfection that transpires from these portraits, a per-

fection that we still admire today, required and, at the same time, reflected particular efforts by women.

Skin-care treatments during the Renaissance were very similar to those of the Middle Ages, as were were bathing rituals, skin-care products, and cosmetics. What changed, however, was the attitude with regard to these practices. While medieval women saw cosmetics simply as a way to appear more attractive, those of the Renaissance wanted to reach a transcendent ideal that combined classical philosophy and art with physical beauty and human values. This new, idealized model of beauty became a composite of perfect and symmetrical features inspired by classical statues and humanist philosophy.

Visitors entering the room dedicated to Renaissance painters in the Uffizi may notice that women are all blonde (Filippo Lippi’s Madonna perfectly represents the idea of beauty of that period), and this is because in the Florence of the Medici being blonde was considered highly fashionable. But, since most Florentine females were brunette, methods to color hair needed to be invented, leading to the birth of the modern cosmetic industry. The most common method was a mix of alum, sulfur, soda and rhubarb.

Another common practice at this time was drying and decorating hair with stones, pearls, ribbons, and shimmering veils. Some women even spent entire days under the sun to lighten their hair with capless hats, as pale ivory

skin was considered sexy, while deep red color was used for the lips. Even though an overall pallor was desired, the Renaissance woman used just a touch of color on their cheekbones. Another typical habit of females of this period was cutting the hair of the eyebrows, forehead, and temples, considered to be a way of displaying intelligence.

Among the beauty secrets was that of the bella donna. This Italian term, meaning ‘beautiful lady,’ refers to the practice of dropping a distillate of herbs containing the juice of the belladonna plant into their eyes to dilate the pupils, giving them a ‘wide-eyed’ gaze that was considered sexy, so attractive that they even tolerated its nasty side effects, such as blurry vision, intoxication, hallucinations, and

in certain cases even poisoning.

Florentine language has preserved the expression “If you want to look beautiful, you have to suffer from a thousand troubles.”

Even with regard to dressing, the Renaissance had an enormous impact. Wealthy women – who were the ones establishing the trends – typically wore finer fabrics such as silks, brocades, and velvets, with elaborate details and expensive jewels. The typical dress was in one piece from shoulder to hem and touched the ground with a close-fitting waist and full gathered skirt. The long dress often had an overdress with open sleeves. The belt around it was embroidered and trimmed with gold, silver buttons, pearls, and precious stones.

These trends became the model for women from many countries.

When Italy was conquered by foreign nations such as Spain, France and Austria, the world of fashion in Europe changed dramatically, and the idealized woman of the Middle Ages was thus forever abandoned.

The new woman of the fifteenth century – who, it’s worth repeating, were aristocrats – was inspired by the models of beauty and glamor established by Florentine women, and by the elegance of the Renaissance look.

Chiara Becchetti is a professional tour guide with a background in fashion. To book a tour with Chiara, write to her at: chiarabecchetti@hotmail.it www.toptoursintuscany.com

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MAY 2015

20 Florence News & Events

CITY BEAT

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Dining with Dante

Taverna La Divina Commedia offers medieval-style dishes

Named after Dante Alighieri’s most famous work, The Divine Comedy, this homely, rustic taverna fittingly lies on Via dei Cimatori, only a few meters away from Dante’s House.

The venue prides itself on its innovative and creative idea of preparing solely traditional dishes based on medieval recipes. Some are adapted and revisited for the modern age but in a way that one maintains the omnipresent feeling of Florentine history and tradition – so much so that Dante himself could walk in and dine next to you. As a matter of fact, this is a regular occurrence at Taverna La Divina Commedia, as the venue regularly hosts recitals from Dante’s great work by professional costumed performers.

Traditional medieval-style dishes include home-made ribbon pas-

ta with wild boar and mushroom sauce, roast shin of pork with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables, risotto inspired by medieval Tuscan flavors, and tasting plates of assorted cheeses accompanied with fresh fruit and jams, including the taverna’s specialty hot red pepper jam.

Also serving as a wine bar and pizzeria, the restaurant offers an eclectic selection of wines from its cellar, an outdoor summer terrace, and is fittingly decorated in a medieval style with armour and banners – and, of course, a mandatory bust of Dante himself.

Taverna La Divina Commedia

Via dei Cimatori, 7/r 055 21 53 69 Open daily: 11.30 a.m.–12.30 a.m.

Buongiorno Firenze Calls For Photography Competition The cultural association Buongiorno Firenze (buongiornofirenze.eu) is launching is launching a photography contest called Lovely Cities in Clicks – Lights on the City.

The contest is open to both European and non-European citizens, ages 15 and above. Participants are invited to explain their unique vision of night and highlight the effect of light in the world’s most iconic cities, including Athens,

Beijing, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, and other smaller, less populated cities. Whether the images are of rivers, buildings, monuments or gardens, participants are encouraged to send in their best pictures.

The contest closes on Aug. 2, with an awards ceremony on Sept. 1.

Take Home Artisan Tradition With Furò e Punteruolo

Stepping into Paolo Fattori’s elegant leather workshop is a surprising experience: light and airy with clean lines and a minimalist feel, it’s where the modern world meets ancient Florentine tradition. Only the lingering scent of leather and the sight of Paolo busily working at an island bench indicates that this is, in fact, a bottega producing finely crafted leather bags, backpacs, belts and various articles from the hands of the man himself.

Rolls of jewel-colored leather line the walls, numbered and certified by Tuscan company Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale, which practises an artisan method of vegetable-dyed leather that has its origins in the Renaissance. Although Paolo has only been working in leather fulltime for six years, he’s already

made a name for himself both in Florence and as far afield as Japan.

However, manual dexterity runs in Paolo’s veins; his father and grandfather worked in wood and iron, and he credits them with his ability.

“In Tuscany, manual skill is widespread and forms part of the ge-

Murano glass and Carnevale mask enthusiasts need not travel to Venice for quality souvenir items. Alvise Giustinian is a gift and art store specializing in Murano-made items and that guarantees the sale of purely Murano products, with no importation. Products include masks, jewelry, and glass objects for the home.

Jewelry has proven to be the shop’s most popular item, due to the ease of transport and availability of products starting at merely €5, according to owner Paola. Alvise Giustinian’s spacious interior allows for an abundant selection of gifts and a comfortable shopping experience.

Paola’s customers tell her that pric-

es in this beautiful, museum-like shop are lower than those in Venice.

If you’re in Florence but looking for classic Venetian crafts such as papier-mâché masks and handmade glass, then Alvise Giustinian is a store worth a visit.

netic heritage of the region,” he says. Indeed, Paolo’s workshop is named after the two principal instruments of the trade: the furò and punteruolo.

Drop by and watch the craftsman at work on Via del Giglio, 29/r, tucked in between San Lorenzo and SMN train station.

Discover Venice in Santa Croce

Alvise Giustinian Corso Tintori, 19/r 055 246 62 95 www.alvisegiustian.com

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 21

CITY BEAT

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Artigianato e Palazzo Fabbrica Europa’s Performing Arts Returns from May 14-17 Festival Opens May 7

The garden of the historic Palazzo Corsini hosts the 21st edition of Artigianato e Palazzo, a festival dedicated to Italian craftsmanship, from May 14 to 17.

The garden is located in the Florence city center on Via della Scala and offers a serene and beautiful setting for the event among its lemon trees.

Promoting local and ‘Made in Italy’ works, the event focuses on handmade productions and consists of presentations from approximately 90 highly skilled craftsmen and displays of traditional guilds and age-old techniques.

Artisan demonstrations allow the public to feel as though they are in actual workshops and, in some cases, audience members can even participate as assistants.

Ceramics, bookbinding, mosaics, printing, inlay, jewelry, footwear,

perfume and hat-making are among the many artisan crafts shared with the public, as is the art of working with materials such as bronze, iron, marble, wood and glass. Producers of fine foods are also on display.

The 2014 edition was a great success, with more than 11,500 visitors in attendance. By inviting the public into the world of Italian and local artisans, Artigianato e Palazzo offers the chance to share crafts often at risk of dying out while helping to preserve the authenticity of Italian production.

Artigianato e Palazzo

Corsini Gardens May 14–17 10 a.m.–9 p.m.

Cost: €8; reduced €6; four-day pass €20 www.artigianatoepalazzo.it

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The 22nd edition of Fabbrica Europa’s annual summer festival begins on May 7 and runs until July 3. The opening program features the European premiere of ZAP by Korea’s Lee Hee-Moon Company, a hybrid of contemporary theatre, music and dance in the Asiatic tradition (May 7–8, 9 p.m., Stazione Leopolda), Sound of Kurdistan by Teatr ZAR, a visual performance accompanied by the forgotten songs of Kurdish tribes (May 7 at 6 p.m., Stazione Leopolda), and an installation/performance entitled Trees by Cristina Caprioli, one of the most important choreographers of the Scandinavian scene (May 7–17, Stazione Leopolda).

Other performances include a modern dance pieces by Aterballeto (May 12, 9 p.m., Stazione Leopolda) and Pupilla, performed

by Valeria Magli and DanceHaus

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Company (May 12, 9 p.m., Teatro ing a hub for artistic collaboration Cantiere Florida). Most perfor- and innovation in a city that has historically been weighted by the mances will take place at Stazione Leopolda but others will be held at preservation of the past.”

Palazzo Strozzi and satellite the- “Each performance seeks to redefine its genre, inventing, playing aters throughout the city.

Since its inception in 1994, Fab- and never stagnating,” says Embrica Europa has aimed to “build meline Adams, an American inbridges of knowledge and facili- tern at Fabbrica Europa. “And this tate moments of cultural discov- year the Fabbrica is offering major student discounts if you dance ery” throughout Europe. It has made significant contributions your student ID over to the box ofto the perception of Florence as fice at Via delle Carceri 1.” Regular a thriving multicultural hub and tickets and festival passes can be purchased at www.boxol.it. the formation of innovative public arts events. The European Union, recognizing the scope and value Fabbrica Europa 2015 of the Fabbrica’s initiatives, has provided financial support for Various locations within the city May 7–July 3 many of its projects such as The Tickets: €35 for five shows or Myth of Europe program in 2000, € 50 for 10 shows which focused on the relationship 055 2638480 between tradition and modernity www.fabbricaeuropa.net in the visual and performing arts.

MAY 2015

22 Florence News & Events

LEISURE

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Discover Villa Demidoff and the Medici Park at Pratolino

A short ride away on bus no. 25, Medici Park provides astounding just minutes north of Florence on widths of green and lovely views Via Bolognese, Villa Demidoff lies of Florence. waiting to be discovered on the The story of the estate began in hills near the town of Pratolino.

1568, when Francesco I de’ MediHidden in obscurity for the past ci, Grand Duke of Tuscany, bought several years, Villa Demidoff has the park for his wife Bianca Caprecently been reopened to the pello with the idea of turning it public, and visitors are welcomed into a fairytale landscape. Franto wander the grounds for free. cesco appointed the Italian arVilla Demidoff is a historic estate chitect Bernardo Buontalenti to that lies in one of the biggest and design an accompanying villa, most harmonious park areas in and Buontalenti created a fantathe outskirts of Florence. While sy land where nature, science and seemingly unspectacular at first art merged using grottos, water sight, the true beauty of nature tricks and ancient statues. The and architecture reveals itself park soon became known as the when taking a few steps down the ‘Garden of Wonders.’ former passage to the Demidoff The park of Pratolino was the residence. With wandering paths largest of the estates of the Mediand ancient oaks and cedars, the ci family, as shown in a detailed

view of the villa by Giusto Utens previously exhibited at the Firenze Com’era Museum. Yet, after the death of Francesco and Bianca, the property was abandoned by the Medici. Falling into a period of decline under the House of Lorraine, the villa continued to decay, statues were transferred to the more prestigious Boboli Gardens and the park turned into a romantic garden. Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Lorraine brought new life to Pratolino in 1818, when he commissioned Joseph Frietsch to transform the Medici gardens into a English-style garden typical of the Biedermeier period, adding 60 hectares of land to the garden.

The wealthy Russian Demidoff family, after whom the estate is

named, later bought the villa in 1872 and restored it in grandiose fashion to impress their guests with its elegance.

Water is still a central element of the estate and indeed a symbol of the entire park. This is reflected by the impressive Fountain of Jupiter, the Fountain of Mugnone with Giambologna’s statue and the Maschera fishpond, also used as a swimming pool and adapted for hot baths. The most noteworthy original work in the park is the Colossus of the Apennines, a huge statue sculpted by Giambologna in 1579–80.

Also worth visiting is the hexagonal chapel where the last Demidoff princess has her final resting place, as well as Cupid’s

Grotto, designed by Buontalenti in 1577.

During summer, Pratolino hosts many events such as classical concerts performed by the Demidoff Ensemble and special Renaissance Nights, including sixteenth-century music, dance, dinner and a historical procession. Visit this historic treasure any Saturday this summer to see for yourself.

Villa Demidoff & Medici Park

Via Fiorentina, 276, Pratolino Free entrance Opening hours: Saturday and Holidays; 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

MAY 2015

24 Florence News & Events

EVENTS

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FAIRS & MARKETS

EXHIBITIONS

ACCADRÀ DOMANI An ongoing archive of artists’ books Until May 9 Piazza S. Pancrazio 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays, Sundays & Public Holidays www.museomarinomarini.it

GHERARDO DELLE NOTTI Until May 24 Uffizi Gallery Daily 8:15 a.m.-6:50 p.m.

Closed on Mondays.

MARCELLO FANTONI Material and Color Until May 24 Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Loggia della Limonaia Daily: 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Closed on Wednesdays

NINO TIRINNANZI Metaphysics of Beauty Until June 7 Pitti Palace, Palatine Gallery Tuesday to Sunday: 8:15 a.m.-6:50 p.m.

Closed on Mondays.

DOLCI TRIONFI E FINISSIME PIEGATURE the Medici Court Until June 7 Pitti Palace, Palatine Gallery Tuesday to Sunday: 8:15 a.m.-6:50 p.m.

Closed on Mondays.

POWER AND PATHOS Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World Until June 21 Palazzo Strozzi Daily: 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

Thursdays: 9 a.m.-11 p.m. www.palazzostrozzi.org

Until June 27 Laurentian Library Monday to Saturday: 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Closed on Sundays, April 6th, May 1st, June 24th. www.bmlonline.it

1940-1944 FLORENCE AT WAR History and Memory Until June 28 Palazzo Medici Riccardi Friday & Saturday: 3 p.m.-6.30 p.m., Sunday: 11 a.m.-5p.m.

SCULPTURE ALSO DIES Sculpture Beyond 2000s Until July 26 Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Thursday 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Free Thursdays 6 a.m.-11 p.m.

Closed on Mondays.

10TH MAY MARKET AT CAMPO DI MARTE Viale Manfredo Fanti May 5: 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

FLORENCE CREATIVITY SPRING EDITION Fortezza da Basso May 8 - 10 9.30 a.m.-7.30 p.m.

FLORA FIRENZE Cascine Park Until May 11 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. www.florafirenze.com

IL MERCATALE DI FIRENZE Quality Products Market Piazza del Carmine May 16: 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

MAURO CORDA Another World Until May 30 Accademia delle Arti del Disegno Tuesday to Saturday: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.5 p.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m.-1p.m.

GREAT SMALL BRONZES OF THE MEDICI AND GRANDUCAL COLLECTIONS Until June 21 Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze Monday, Saturday & Sunday: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Tuesday to Friday 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

May 17 9.30 a.m.-5.45 p.m.

LA FIORITA Commemoration of Savonarola’s death Piazza della Signoria May 23

CIOMPI MONTHLY ANTIQUE FAIR Piazza dei Ciompi and surrounding streets May 31

FLORENCE DESIGN WEEK International Design Festival Piazza delle Murate May 27 to 31

THE ILLUSION OF SCILTIAN Until September 9 Villa Bardini Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Closed on Mondays.

ARTIGIANATO & PALAZZO Il Prato, 58 May 14 to 17 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

ARTOUR BEAUTY IN THE SQUARE Traveling trade fair of the Italian artistic handcraft Piazza del Carmine May 30 to June 6

SPORT VAN GOGH ALIVE Until June 2 Piazza di Santo Stefano, 5 Monday to Thursday: 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m.11 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. www.vangoghalive.it A CAPITAL AND ITS ARCHITECT Until June 6 Viale Giovine Italia, 6 Monday to Friday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Closed on Holidays. www.entecarifirenze.it

MIDDLE AGES ON THE ROAD Until June 21 Bargello National Museum Daily 8:15 a.m.-5 p.m.; Closed on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Monday of the month.

THE BOOK SHAPE From Scroll to Codex (300BCE – 1900CE)

ANTONY GORMLEY - HUMAN Until September 27 Via S. Leonardo 1 Forte Belvedere: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Closed on Monday Boboli Garden: 8:15 a.m.-7:30 Closed on the first and last Monday of the month.

THE ART OF FRANCIS Masterpieces of art and lands of Asia from the 13th to the 15th century Until October 11 Accademia Gallery Daily: 8:15 a.m.-6:50 p.m.

43RD GUARDA/MINI GUARDA FIRENZE Piazza del Duomo May 10 9:30 a.m.

FORTEZZA ANTIQUARIA Piazza Vittorio Veneto May 16 to 17 PALIO DEL BALUARDO Crossbow archery contest Via di Belvedere, 3

THE COLOR RUN FIRENZE Cascine Park May 23 www.thecolorrun.it

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 25

ENTERTAINMENT

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Italy Dreams at Cannes With Three Nominated Films

ODEON CINEMA

Piazza Strozzi, Firenze 055 214 068 Office: 055 295 051 www.odeonfirenze.com Tickets: Regular: €7.50; Reduced: €6* *Every Wednesday; students from Mon. to Fri. and selected partnerships.

DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick GENRE: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War STARS: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons PLOT: The slave Spartacus leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic.

DATES/HOURS: Tuesday, May 19: 8:30 p.m.

DIRECTOR: John Madden GENRE: Comedy, Drama STARS: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy PLOT: Now that the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is fully occupied with its regular longterm residents, co-managers Muriel Donnely and Sonny Kapoor dream of expansion, and they’ve found just the place for an Indian wedding.

DATES/HOURS: Friday, May 1: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 2: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 3: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 14: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 16: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 17: 4:30, 9:00 p.m.

DRAGON FILM FESTIVAL Festival of Chinese Cinema in Italy Thursday, May 7 to Sunday, May 10 The first part of the festival, later continued at Spazio Alfieri from May 21 to 23, presents a selection of 20 films arriving from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China.

ST MARK’S OPERA SCHEDULE

Three Italian films have been nominated for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 13 to 24.

The first film is Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre (My Mother), starring John Turturro and Margherita Buy. Buy plays the role of a director shooting a film with an American actor protagonist while her mother is dying in the hospital. She has just divorced her husband, Victor, and is trying to raise her teenage daughter Livia.

The second Italian film is Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. Produced in English, the film stars Harvey Keitel and Michael Caine, who plays an ageing writer and a composer reflecting on life and art while on vacation in the Alps.

The third is Matteo Garrone’s Il Racconto dei Racconti (Tale of Tales). The film is based on a collection of stories from the seventeenth century and stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and Alba Rohrwacher.

Composer and conductor Ennio Morricone, one of the most important Italian musicians on the international scene, performs in Florence on May 16. The announcement was made last month by Morricone himself, who was forced to cancel several shows last year due to health problems.

“Finally and after a long time I was able to conduct 10 concerts in several European capitals, including one in March in Milan, which was scheduled for November 8. The energy of the public gives me the greatest force, now I’m in perfect physical shape, and luckily I will soon return to perform in Italy,” said Morricone.

The recipient of numerous awards, Morricone has composed more than 500 music scores for television and film over the course of his 50-year career. Featured in 30 award-winning films, Morricone’s scores have also been included in symphonic and choral pieces. Morricone attended the National Academy of Santa Cecilia from the age of nine, where he took trumpet lessons, and began his professional career after graduating in 1946.

The Italian concerts scheduled in 2015 take place on May 15 in Bologna, May 16 in Florence, and September 12 at the Verona’s Roman arena.

Europe’s oldest and most prestigious music festival, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival, takes place in Florence until June 28. The program includes works, symphonic concerts, recitals and ballets from Italian and international artists.

The 2015 edition includes Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, with a plot centered on the fight against tyranny and the quest for justice.

Conducted by Zubin Mehta, recipient of nu-

merous awards and directed by Florentine native Pierluigi Pier’Alli, the performance showcases the range and skill of Maggio Musicale’s dance company Maggio Danza and take place until May 5.

Other performances include Mahler’s Third Symphony on May 7, also conducted by Mehta, Valery Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on May 13, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw from May 22, amongst others.

Morricone Announces Florence Concert

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival Running Until June 28

Via Maggio, 18 340 811 9192 DIRECTOR: Pierre Morel GENRE: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller STARS: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Jasmine Trinca PLOT: A former Special Forces soldier and military contractor, suffering from PTSD goes on the run from London to Barcelona and across Europe.

DATES/HOURS: Monday, May 11: 4:30, 6:45, 9:15 p.m.

Tuesday, May 12: 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 13: 9:15 p.m.

May 1: Love Duets May 2: La Bohème May 5, 12 & 23: Carmen May 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27 & 29: Love Duets May 7 & 19: La Traviata May 9 & 16: Madame Butterfly May 14: Tosca May 21: Rigoletto May 30: Barber of Seville

Opera at 8:30 p.m.

Love Duets at 9:15 p.m.

MAY 2015

26 Florence News & Events

SAN GIMIGNANO

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Musica Da Vino Returns on May 31

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas Brings Opera to San Gimignano

In a true celebration of the performing arts, a new production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is being held on May 21 and 22 at 9 p.m. at Teatro dei Leggeri in San Gimignano.

The opera Dido and Aeneas with libretto by Nahum Tate is probably the first and most well-known English opera, thought to have been first performed at a girls’ school in Chelsea in 1689.

Nahum Tate’s libretto is based on Virgil’s Aeneid, but includes some other characters, for example Sorceress and her witches. The artistic director is basing the performance on Virgil’s Aeneid for inspiration, emphasising the anti-heroic figure of Aeneas and the passion of Dido with fate symbolized by dancers that loom on the scene. It is interesting to note that, steering away from the traditional approach, the pro-

logue is also included (thought to Mugnaini; Sorceress by contralto be a later addition), partly sung and Alessio Barni; First Witch by soprapartly spoken, leading the audience no Martina Barreca; Second Witch towards a deeper understanding of by mezzo-soprano Chiara Manese; Spirit and Spring by contralto Elisathe opera.

The artistic direction is in the hands betta Vuocolo; Sailor and Phebo by of soprano Patrizia Morandini for tenor Luca Mantovani; Nereide by Ars Nobili, in collaboration with the mezzo-soprano Linda Tori; Venus by Coro Polifonico San Gimignano. The soprano Sunita Zucca; ‘He’ by barimusical direction is under the baton tone Paolo Breda Bulgherini; and of Antonio Bellandi, with string so- ‘She’ by soprano Elena Mancuso. loists from the Puccini Chamber Or- Tickets cost €15 and seating is limitchestra, while Donatella Cantagallo ed. To book tickets, contact: 347 6435 is responsible for choreography, 857. with dancers from the Dance PerforGetting to San Gimignano: Take mance School (DPS). the SITA bus from next to Santa The character of Dido is performed Maria Novella Station in Florence, by mezzo-soprano Sara Paone (May changing at Poggibonsi to San 21) and Alexandra Scicluna (May 22); Gimignano, and stay the night; or Belinda, her sister, by soprano Franrent a car and return to Florence cesca Becucci; Second Lady and after the opera (running time is Shepherdess by soprano Daniela approximately two hours).

Ciabatti; Aeneas by baritone Fabio

Wine-tasting and classical music: the Musica Da Vino formula experimented last year by Fattoria il Piano returns on May 31 with a concert entitled Two Germans in Tuscany based on the music of Peter Mueller (1791–1877) and Franz Danzi (1763–1826). The wine-tasting starts at 5 p.m and runs until 6:30 p.m, while the concert begins at 7 p.m. and last for an hour. The live quintet performs Ethos, and includes Elena Lala (flute), Alessio Donnini (clarinet), Barbara Giannelli (oboe), Costantino Frullani (bassoon) and Andrea Carlesi (horn). Perched at the top of a hill facing the medieval town of San Gimignano, the Fattoria il Piano offers guests a comfortable stay with apartments and a panoramic swimming pool featuring sunbeds, umbrellas and a changing room. Surrounding fields, woods

and stretches of agricultural can be explored on foot or mountain bikes which may be hired locally. A barbecue, utility room and washing machine are also available for use.

Fattoria il Piano offers wine-tasting tours with a stroll through the vineyards, family chapels and even the underground cellar. Accompanied by a selection of local foods, the tasting of local wines takes place on the veranda with a magnificent view of the San Gimignano towers.

Two Germans in Tuscany Sunday May 31 Wine tour and tasting from 5-6:30 p.m.

Classical music concert from 7-8 p.m.

Fattoria Il Piano Loc. Montauto 53037 San Gimignano (SI) Tel. & Fax.: 0577 940 551

Taste The Famous Wines of Colli Senesi Come Visit Fattoria Il Piano in the Hills of Siena

Be given a personal tour of the cellars and vineyards. Then taste our wines with typical local dishes. Read some of our reviews on TripAdvisor.

Reservations necessary.

Carlesi Zucconi Premier Wines How about a Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a Colli Senesi Chianti or even our Super Tuscan!

Spend time in peace and quiet watching the winter colours arrive.

Fattoria Il Piano San Gimignano

LOCALITA MONTAUTO -53037 SAN GIMIGNANO ( SI ) www.Fattoriailpiano.it | FB: Il Piano wines and wine tasting WINES & WINE TASTINGS : (0039) 320 631 46 55 • fattoriailpiano@gmail.com • AGRITOURISMO : (0039) 0577 940 551 • info@fattoriailpiano.it

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 27

SAN GIMIGNANO

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Explore the Gagliardi Contemporary Art Gallery

The Galleria Gagliardi was established in 1991, in a 400-square-meter space once used as a garage and farm machinery store. Today, the Galleria bears absolutely no resemblance to the original building apart from a section of the floor made up of oak boards, covering a hole which once enabled repairs to the underside of cars and machinery in the absence of a ramp. This work of art was created by the previous

owner, Dino Conforti, and has been left in his memory. Since 1991, the exhibition area of the gallery has been extended and the gallery has now become a cultural reference for the promotion and sale of contemporary art. Every work is chosen directly from the studios of artists who constantly experiment new solutions through their research, renewing their approach and skills.

The Galleria exhibits ceramic,

SELECT SITES OF SAN GIMIGNANO

bronze and marble sculptures; conceptual, abstract and figurative paintings as well as works in steel, iron and wood by Italian and international artists.

Galleria Gagliardi Contemporary Art

Via San Giovanni, 57 San Gimignano galleria@galleriagagliaradi.com www.galleriagagliardi.com

A Journey Through Human Cruelty The Torture and Death Penalty Museum displays more than 100 tools designed to torture and kill. Some of these tools are extremely rare, dating to the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They include the notorious ‘iron maiden,’ the guillotine, rack, torture chair and the chastity belt. Also on display are lesser-known sophisticated devices, such as the ‘heretic’s fork,’ the ‘noisemaker’s fife,’ the ‘Spanish spider’, and flaying instruments.

Via San Giovanni, 82 & 125 San Gimignano Open daily: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

0577-940526, 055-940151 Tickets: Full € 10 Concessions: € 7 - € 5 Groups Ticket valid for free admission to the Museum of Death Penalty www.museodellatortura.it

KEEP CALM & BUY SHOES

Podesta Palace, Tower and Art Collection Piazza Duomo, 2 0577 990 312 Entrance: €5; children between 6 and 17 €5; free entrance to children under 6; combined ticket good for all civic museums €7.50 Daily 11 a.m.- 5:30: after April 1: 9:30 a.m. -7 p.m.

Piazza della Cisterna San Gimignano’s medieval water well gives its name to this piazza Free (outdoors)

The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta (Duomo) Piazza del Duomo 0577 940 152; Entrance: €4; Combined ticket with the Sacred Art Museum: €6 (Apr-Oct) Mon to Fri: 10 a.m-7 p.m.; Sat: 10 a.m - 5 p.m.; Sun/Holidays: 12:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Ornithological Museum Located inside the church of San Francesco on Via Quercecchio 0577 941 388 info@sangimignano.com After April 1: 11 a.m.-5:30p.m.

Entrance €1.50

Archeological Museum - Santa Fina Herbarium - Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery Via Folgore, 1 0577 940 526; www.museodellatortura.it April 1: 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

Entrance € 3.50; € 2.50 for children between 6 and 17; children under 6 free; combined ticket with all civic museums €7.50

House of Saint Fina Via del Castello Former Podesta Palace and Rognosa Tower Piazza del Duomo

Rocca di Montestaffoli Climb the remains of an ancient fortress turret for stunning views of the area

Le Torri

‘MADE IN ITALY’ LEATHER

Located in V. San Giovanni, Cindarella offers shoes, jackets, socks, belts, bags, scarves, clothing and accessories all rigorously Made in Italy and selected for clients who wish to experience a unique shopping experience, just like in a fairytale...

Daily: 9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Daily: 9.30 a.m. - 8.30 p.m.

Via San Giovanni, 36 San Gimignano 334 397 4862

Sant’Agostino Church Near Porta St. Matteo on Via Cellolese Mon 4 p.m.– 6 p.m.; Tues-Sun 10a.m.-12p.m./3 p.m.-6 p.m.

Torture and Death Penalty Museum (Museo della Tortura e della Pena di Morte) Via San Giovanni, 82 & 125 0577-940526, 055-940151; Daily: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. www.museodellatortura.it Info & Reservations: tortura@iol.it Wine Museum 0577 941 267 Free admission 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

The company Le Torri was born for collecting, producing and selling highquality artisan leather goods with leather exclusively ‘Made in Italy,’ something that is not easy to find today.

The three shops are located in Via San Giovanni. Products include bags for women, business bags for men, belts, wallets, as well as other goods and can be purchased both online and in store.

“Cindarella is the living proof that a pair of shoes can change your life”

Ancient City Walls Walk along the 13th century walls with 15th century Medicean bastions Free (outdoors)

Via San Giovanni, 22-24 Via San Giovanni, 34 Via San Giovanni, 117 San Gimignano 0577 940 851 www.letorrionline.com

GELATO WORLD CHAMPION 2006/2007 - 2008/2009

In our gelato RAW MILK FROM THE FARM CAMPORBIANO (100% Organic farming cows fed only farm’s forage and without antibiotics)

san gimignano (siena)

www.gelateriadondoli.com

MAY 2015

28 Florence News & Events

SPORT

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Remembering Senna

Dylan Nikoletopoulos

close finishes. However his success truly began when he moved May 1 marks a historic date in the from Lotus-Renault to McLarrealm of Formula One racing. Ayr- en-Honda. ton Senna da Silva was 34 years The other driver for McLarold when he was killed 20 years en-Honda at the time was Alain ago in a tragic crash on May 1, Prost, a well-respected French 1994, while leading the 1994 San racer.

The team became a strong force in Marino Grand Prix.

Although there have been other the world of racing as they won all crashes and fatalities in the racing, but 15 Grand Prix in 1988. his death is the most recent driver Senna earned his first world fatality in Formula One and has championship that year and two left a mark on the history of the more in 1990 and 1991. In 1993 Senna finished runner-up and sport. moved from McLaren-Honda to Senna was Brazilian and started racing from a young age. In 1983 Williams. he won the British Formula 3 The season did not start or end championship and moved to For- well. Senna did not finish the first two races of the season. Entering mula One the following season.

From 1984–87 Senna won six the third race of the San Marino Grand Prix and had many other Grand Prix, which was being held

NAIMA

at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola, Senna was looking to finally start the season on a good note.

On the seventh lap, Senna’s car left the track and ran into the concrete wall at a speed of 145mph.

Senna suffered from fatal skull fractures, brain injuries and a ruptured temporal artery, and was declared dead hours later.

Today Senna is still voted as one of the best drivers ever, renowned for his wet-weather driving abilities and holding the record for most victories ever at the Monaco Grand Prix, which number six.

Ayrton Senna’s death continues to be remembered every year as Formula One continues to grow and a continuous effort is made to improve the safety of the sport for all.

Color Run Arrives in Florence

Inaugural Edition on May 23 Jhovanna Lopez A fun way to get active without requiring any preparation, the Color Run takes off in Florence at Cascine Park on May 23, the second of eight cities taking part in the event. Participants pass through one of four color zones every kilometer, where they are pelted with 100 percent natural colored powder. The 2015 edition also sees the advent of a glitter zone towards the end of the race.

The run begins with a crowd warm-up and start-line party with music to get participants in the mood, followed by the four color zones and glitter zone, concluding with an after-party. The event also

NAIMA

Via dell'Anguillara, 54/r I 347 19 41 013 sergiosalvifirenze@gmail.com

LIVE SPORT THE IRISH PUB IN SAN LORENZO The historic bar offers quality beer, fresh cocktails, sandwiches and snacks amidst a traditional Irish pub atmosphere. The pub also offers various promotions and contests with many exciting prizes. The genuine atmosphere together with the helpful and inviting staff make Dublin Pub an ideal place to spend fun nights in good company or enjoy a beer any time while listening to great background music.

Open daily from 5 p.m.

Via Faenza, 27 055 27 41 571 info@dublinpub.it www.dublinpub.it

includes games and giveaways.

Children who enter with adults can pay reduced ticket prices, and teams are allowed as long as they include four participants.

Other Italian cities taking part in 2015 are Turin (May 16), Trento (June 6), Trieste (June 20), Genoa (June 27), Bari (July 11), Rimini (August 1) and Milan (September 12).

The run is open to anyone. Ticket prices are as follows: single entry costs €23.99; teams of four or more participants pay €20.99 per person; children’s tickets (8–13 years) cost €11.99, and young children aged seven and under pay €3.

For more information visit: www. thecolorrun.it

MAY 2015

Florence News & Events 29

SPORT

www.florencenewsandevents.com

A Jog With a View

Fiorentina Pursues European Dream

Fiorentina May Home Games SERIE A

Fiorentina vs Cesena May 3 at 3 p.m.

Fiorentina vs Parma May 18 at 7 p.m.

Fiorentina vs Chievo May 31 at 8:45 p.m.

EUROPA LAEGUE Fiorentina vs Sevilla May 14 at 9:05 p.m.

Jogging in a crowded city with hardly any sufficient sidewalk space can be frustrating, and not to mention dangerous. Luckily, Florence offers some beautiful scenic routes for those who’d like to keep warm and explore the city at the same time.

To avoid pollution, the best place to run is along the Arno, but to avoid pedestrian and vehicular traffic, run along the bank of the river and not on the street. The riverbank is easily accessed from Lungarno Cellini.

Cascine Park is a great place to go running, with large, grassy open spaces along the Arno. It is located off of Via del Fosso Macinante, and is large enough to get in a full workout while exploring the entirety of the park.

If you head east out of the river, you will soon come across paved, treelined parks Parco dell’Alberetar and Parco dell’Anconella, which are perfect running spots. Equally, if parks are what you’re after to accompany you during your exercise, (or distract you), how about jogging down

to the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace?

There’s an entry fee but the garden holds spectacular artworks for you to look at whilst you’re jogging, and it is especially stunning at sunset.

For those looking for a flat but long run, start south of the Ponte Vecchio and continue east past Ponte alle Grazie. At the roundabout at Ponte di San Niccolò, turn right and follow the trees along Viale Michelangelo, and continue all the way around Piazzale Michelangelo. Turn right onto Via Galileo to bring you back down to the river and to your starting point.

An alternative route starts at the Duomo, heading south along Via dei Calzaiuoli and crossing the Ponte Vecchio, until the roundabout at Porta Romana. Turn left onto Via Machiavelli and follow the winding road which turns into Via Galileo.

Veer left upon reaching Piazzale Michelangelo and around the back of the square, following the bends onto Via San Miniato. Head for the river to get back to your starting point.

Tickets can be bought through When in Florence, online at it.violachannel.tv, at the stadium and at Fiorentina Point on Viale Manfredo Fanti, 85/A. Keep up to date with Fiorentina at en.violachannel.tv

Fiorentina is playing Sevilla in the semi-finals for the Europa League Cup on May 7 and 14, pursuing the dream of playing the Cup final in Warsaw on May 27.

In the other semi-final, Italian side Naples plays Ukraine side Dnipro.

It could be a repetition of last year’s Italy Cup final, in which Fiorentina played Naples in Rome in a game that has now become famous for the assassination of a Neapolitan supporter by a Roman hooligan and the surreal atmosphere of the final.

Winners of the inaugural European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961, Fiorentina’s last semi-final appearance was in 2007/2008 at the UEFA Cup. Fiorentina reached the semi-final after eliminating Dynamo Kiev.

In the Italian league, Fiorentina has suffered four defeats in a row that have compromised the chance to qualify for next season’s Champions League, while there are still hopes

that it will gain a fifth position, which would mean playing again next season in the Europa League.

Winning the Europa League Cup this month would be the only way for Fiorentina to transform the current season from a disappointment to a success.

The team suffered a negative period during the last two weeks in April, particularly related to problems with its defense.

The most positive aspect is that this season Naples, Fiorentina’s most likely rival in case of a final, has had problems too and doesn’t seem as strong as last season.

Throughout its history Fiorentina has won only one international success, the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961.

A success in the Europa League would give the team the self-confidence that it seems to lack whenever it is about to attain higher results.

MEDITERRANEAN SEAFOOD SPECIALTIES

THE BAR YOUR MOM WARNED YOU ABOUT

San Carlo bar offers continental and American breakfast and brunch, simple but refined lunch, a large aperitivo buffet, and an extensive wine and cocktail list. Music and art create a warm, lively atmosphere while friendly staff members are always ready to cater to any requests. San Carlo is a bar suited to any time of day: great for a quick coffee or snack, a leisurely aperitivo or meal, or simply an afterdinner drink with friends.

The newly reopened Jack is ready to rock ‘n’ roll! Come by for lunch or dinner and try the revamped menu featuring traditional Italian food and American staples. Enjoy live music, DJ sets and the costume parties that Jack has become famous for, as well as two HD screens showcasing special sporting events. If all that Italian espresso just isn’t hitting the mark, drop

by One-Eyed Jack’s to enjoy American coffee with a free refill between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Free wifi is also available.

Specialty: TUNA STEAK

Daily from 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.

Borgo Ognissanti, 32-34/r 055 21 68 79 info@sancarlofirenze.it www.sancarlofirenze.it

Piazza Nazario Sauro, 2/r 055 09 44 561 www.thejackpub.com

NEW JOMA FIORENTINA 2014-2015 KITS

Get your Fiorentina shirt with a 15% discount when you show this paper at the FLORENCE CURIOSITY SHOP next to Pizzeria O’Vesuvio in Via De’ Cimatori, 23/r.

HAMBURGERS AND AWARD-WINNING ARTISAN BEER Mostodolce craft brewery was the first of its kind to open in Prato and now supplies twin pubs in Prato and Florence with its award-winning artisan beer. From pitchblack stout to honey beer and a seasonal Christmas variety made from chestnuts, Mostodolce’s range appeals to the most earthy and subtle of palates. Match your choice with complementary dishes created in the pub kitchen: from the hefty flavours of smoked ribs and tortelloni with wild boar ragout to light snacks and the intriguingly named ‘birramisu’.

Open Daily: 11–2 a.m.

Via Nazionale, 114/r (near the train station) 055 23 02 928 www.mostodolce.it

MAY 2015

30 Florence News & Events

TRAVEL

Brooke Feichtl

www.florencenewsandevents.com

Limoncello, Sun and Black Sandy Beaches

Visiting the Amalfi Coast with Bus2alps

of Positano and Sorrento ideal.

When first visiting this region, visKnown for its picturesque sights itors are greeted with the sight of and a laid-back beach vibe that Mount Vesuvius looming over the has attracted celebrities, week- countryside and dramatic views of end jetsetters and college students traditional cities built into sloping from all around the world, the cliffs. As the tour journeys to the Amalfi Coast is one of Italy’s true Isle of Capri, visitors experience paradises. It is also the site of a va- a mystical place that is home to riety of unmissable destinations, many ancient myths, including including Naples, Pompeii and the sirens from Homer’s Odyssey. the Isle of Capri. Spring is the best On the private boat tour around time to visit this region because the island provided by Bus2alps, the crowds and heat have not yet you too will be captivated, not by swarmed the beaches, making mythical creatures, but by the natthe trip with Bus2alps to the Isle ural beauty of the area. Visitors of Capri and the seaside towns also journey to the world-famous

Blue Grotto and the peak of Mount Solaro. The grotto is not only exceptional because it is an accessible sea cave, but the sunlight that travels through the entrance illuminates the clear water and creates brilliant blue and green hues.

Mount Solaro is the tallest point on Capri, reaching 589 meters and providing unparalleled views of the landscape. After sunbathing and exploring the island, visit the seaside town of Positano, a short ride from Sant’Agnello and Sorrento. Positano is made up of multicolored buildings that cling to the cliff above the hot black sand

and pebble beaches. Visitors can enjoy people-watching in the glorious surrounds and a variety of water sports. Only the Bus2alps tour includes a ferry to Capri with a private boat tour of the island, as well as transportation to Positano and Pompeii. The last day of the trip includes a tour of the ruins of Pompeii accompanied by an optional private guide, who recounts fascinating tales of the ancient city’s history.

The trip was awarded Second-Best Tour Worldwide and is the twotime winner of Best Tour in Europe

by TourRadar in 2012 and 2013.

• • • •

• • • •

Included

Round-trip luxury coach transport (with A/C, DVD, & bathroom) Accommodation with your friends at top-rated hostels Breakfast Private ferry to island of Capri with a private guided boat tour of the island (with a stop at the Blue Grotto) Private transfer to Positano Private transport to Pompeii A Bus2alps trip leader The Amalfi Coast Bus2alps destination guide

Il Supermercato... da Gustare e deGustare

Sapori & Dintorni is the new way to do the shopping: in the heart of Florence there is a place where Food, Culture and Territory meet.

Get in and discover the Supermarket to test and taste!

Inside you will find many typical products of the Italian food tradition.

Buy your favorite product and taste it within the tasting area.

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Via dei Lamberti Via Porta Rossa

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Piazza di Santo Stefano

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Piazza degli Angiolieri

Sapori & Dintorni Borgo San Lorenzo

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Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore

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Sapori V&ia Dintorni L.G ori Largo Fratelli Alinari, 6/7

Basilica di San Lorenzo

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Via dei Sassetti

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Sapori & Dintorni Via de’ Bardi, 45/47

THE SUPERMARKETS ARE OPEN: • Monday - Saturday: from 08.30 am to 9.00 pm • Sunday: from 09.30 am to 9.00 pm