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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Lorenzo Picchi EDITORS: Kerre Lattanzio, Lauren Critelli, Julia Dowd GR APHIC & L AYOUT DESIGN: Narine Nalbandyan, Ekaterina Chebotareva CONTRIBUTORS: Christine De Melo, Catarina Brambilla, Chloe Kucera, Tana Foley, Lee Foust, Thomas Ricciotti REGISTERED AT THE TRIBUNAL OF FLORENCE N. 6008, ON 9/12/2015. PUBLISHER: FMS PRINT: ITS, Cavaglià (BI)

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Vasari Corridor to Reopen in 2021

2019 Leonardo’s Year

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ayor Dario Nardella announced last November that, besides the Leicester Codex exhibition currently running at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence will host three other major exhibitions to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death next year: one on the Codex Atlanticus, one dedicated to Leonardo’s master Andrea del Verrocchio, and one on Leonardo’s botanical studies. Nardella made his announcement on occasion of the second day of the conference of the European Capitals of Culture at Palazzo Vecchio. The exhibit dedicated to Andrea del Verrocchio will be at Palazzo Strozzi. Leonardo was taken to Florence by his father to begin his apprenticeship in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio in the 1470s, when Verrocchio was working on the bronze ball for the Cathedral.

T Verrocchio’s workshop was the most important in Florence and, besides Leonardo, ‘generated’ artists such as Botticelli and Perugino. The workshop produced marble and bronze statues, painted panels, goldsmith objects, and marquetry. It was here that Leonardo, besides learning techniques that formed him as an artist, became an enthusiastic experimenter. The exhibition of the Codex Atlanticus, which will be courtesy borrowed from the Milan Ambrosiana Library, will showcase table grapes on works that Leonardo made in Florence. The exhibit will start next spring. The Codex Atlanticus, named after the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo’s notebook pages, is a twelve-volume bound set of drawings and paintings and comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519. Its contents cover a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry, musical instruments, mathematics and botany. The third exhibition will be held during the second part of 2019 and will be dedicated to Leonardo’s studies on botany.

he Vasari Corridor will reopen in 2021, and not in 2020 as it was announced last October. The corridor will be renovated in the next 18 months. The cost of the project is estimated to be 10 million euros. The executive project for the renovation was presented last month by Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt. A tender will be put out soon, and work will start once the contract will be assigned. “The reopening of the Vasari Corridor could be the restructuring work most quickly done in Italy in the last few years,” Schmidt said last October. “The executive project is complete in every detail and ready to be carried out; since, after deduction of administrative and legal practices, the works for the restoration of the corridor are not that ponderous and challenging, we can conclude that the reopening of this space can be considered the public work most quickly carried out in Italy in recent times.” The restoration works, which were initially estimated to be 7 million euros, include the construction of emergency exits, improvements of the anti-seismic systems, elimination of architectonic barriers, addition of new toilet facilities and the recovery of spaces for the exhibition of artworks. The Vasari Corridor traces a route

through the rooftops of Florence from Palazzo Vecchio, across the Ponte Vecchio, and to Palazzo Pitti. It was designed by Vasari in 1565, on the orders of Cosimo I de’ Medici, to commemorate the marriage of his son Francesco to Joanna of Austria. The corridor would allow safe passage for the Medici duke and his family between their residence at Palazzo Pitti and the government offices at Palazzo Vecchio, high above the butchers’ knives and plebeian crowds on the Ponte Vecchio below. The corridor stretches for more than a kilometer and showcases a collection of artworks from the 17th and 18th centuries. In the early morning on May 27, 1993, a bomb exploded on Via de’ Georgofili in Florence, killing five and wounding 48. The attempt was carried out with a small car packed full of explosives parked near the Torre dei Pulci, the seat of the Accademia dei Georgofili, located between the Uffizi museum and the Arno River.

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Leonardo and Florence

Exhibit on display at Palazzo Vecchio

n May 2, 1519, five hundred years ago, Leonardo died in the French castle of Clos-Lucé. Until that very last day of his life, the Tuscan genius never quit to feel the deepest attachment to his home city of Florence. For his entire life, he kept on calling himself a ‘Florentine painter’; right before his death, he expressed the wish to be buried inside the ‘church of Saint-Florentin of Amboise.’ He wrote one of his last writings on June 24, 1518, the day of Florence’s patron saint, which was dedicated to the menagerie of lions behind

the Palazzo Vecchio. It is in the name of this never-ending connection between the city and the artist that the exhibition Leonardo da Vinci and Florence: Selected Pages from the Codex Atlanticus has been produced. The exhibit, on display until June 24, showcases 12 of Leonardo’s handwritten folios courtesy donated for the occasion by the Milanese Biblioteca Ambrosiana, where the Codex Atlanticus is stored. The codex, composed of 1119 folios, writings and drawings produced from the 1470’s to 1519, was

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published for the first time in 1884 and was recently restored in 2008. The twelve selected pages are the only ones of the codex that allude to Florence. The first folio recites ‘Sandro, you don’t say why such second-level things appear shorter than [those in] the third [level]’. With all probability, this was a criticism of the approach to the use of perspective in painting adopted by his friend, and rival, Sandro Botticelli, with whom Leonardo had shared his artistic formation in Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop. Another one of the folios on display is a drawing that shows that Leonardo had seen up close the gold-plated copper ball that his master, Verrocchio, had placed on the lantern of the dome in 1471. In Milan, Leonardo never lost contact with Florentine merchants, bankers and travellers, and acted as a liaison between the court of Ludovico Sforza and Florence, fulfilling a variety of tasks. Another of the displayed folios testifies in fact that he was asked to procure a text on the government of Florence, probably written by Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican preacher who established an ephemeral theocracy following the expulsion of the Medici before being excommunicated and burnt at the stake in 1498. Leonardo certainly met with him when he was consulted on the construction of the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1500, after about 20 years, Leonardo returned to Florence, where he remained until 1503. On the day

of his father’s death during this second stay in the Tuscan capital, as one other displayed folio testifies, he deposited his savings in the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. In that same period, he also studied human anatomy through the dissection of corpses. Another folio records the childhood memory of the ‘kite dream’ which has taken its place in the

history of psychoanalysis for having inspired Freud’s 1910 essay. This revealed Leonardo’s passion for the study of flight. It was in the years of this second Florentine stay that Leonardo made his attempts to fly at Monte Ceceri, while also studying the hydrography of the Arno valley, which brought him

to propose a change of the river’s course by means of a canal that would simplify its winding path. The ‘instructions’ for Leonardo’s The Battle of Anghiari, to be painted in the Palazzo Vecchio to rival Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina are impressed in one of the other exhibited folios. This painting was also Leonardo’s salute to Florence. Shortly thereafter, in fact, he returned to Milan, in the service of the French. From Milan he then moved to Rome where at the court of Pope Leo X, he consolidated his relationship with the Medici family and particularly with Giuliano, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Two of the showcased folios testify of his ties to the Medici, which began in the final decades of the 1400’s under Lorenzo’s reign and continued, although not without tensions, with his descendants. The exhibition closes with a painting that is somehow a counterweight to the drawings: the Busto del Redentore (a portrait of Jesus Christ), attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, an artist known as Salaino, courtesy of the Milanese Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, to which the work was donated in 2013.

Leonardo da Vinci and Florence: Selected Pages from the Codex Atlanticus Palazzo Vecchio Until June 24

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Extorted Uffizi Painting May Soon Be Returned L

Palazzo Strozzi Tributes Verrocchio, Leonardo’s Master Exhibit runs until July 14

alazzo Strozzi celebrates Andrea del Verrocchio, an emblematic artist of the Florentine Renaissance and Leonardo’s Master, with a major exhibition showcasing over 120 paintings, sculptures, and drawings coming from museums from all over the world. The exhibition begins March 8, and the museums from which the artworks on display were borrowed include the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Uffizi Gallery. The exhibition, which has a special section at the Bargello Museum,

brings together for the first time Verrocchio’s masterpieces and works by the most famous artists who did their apprentice in Verrocchio’s workshop, such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci. Thanks to loans and juxtapositions, the exhibit also reconstructs Leonardo’s early artistic career and interaction with his master. Curated by two leading experts in the art of the Quattrocento, Francesco Caglioti and Andrea De Marchi, Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo is one of the events taking place this year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, and the first retrospective

ever devoted to Verrocchio. Born Andrea di Michele di Francesco di Cioni, Andrea del Verrocchio was a Florentine painter, sculptor and goldsmith, who became known as Verrocchio after the surname of his master.

Verrocchio, The Master of Leonardo Palazzo Strozzi Open every day, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. (Thursdays 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.) Palazzostrozzi.org

ast fall, the Public Prosecutor of Florence filed a complaint for extortion to the descendants of a Nazi soldier who stole a painting from the Uffizi Gallery during World War II. The reason for the complaint was that the family of the soldier said that they were prepared to return the painting, but only on receipt of a 500,000 euro payment. At the beginning of this year, on Jan. 1, Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt made a YouTube appeal for the restitution of the work made by Dutch painter Jan van Huysum. The following day, the president of the Tuscan Regional Council, Eugenio Giani, issued a formal request to the president of Bundesrat, the legislative body that represents the 16 federal states of Germany. The objective of the request was to provide any help necessary to avoid problems deriving from the administrative procedure to return the artwork. Last month, the German government finally gave an encouraging reply, making it publicly known that they have serious intentions to do everything possible to return the stolen piece to its original home: the Uffizi Gallery. The story of the painting begins during the Nazi occupation of Italy beginning in September 1943, after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies following their invasion of the southern part of the penin-

sula. During this time, Florentine authorities hid some works of art to prevent the occupiers from stealing them. Such attempts at avoiding thefts, however, were often vain. A few years ago, the Polo Museale Fiorentino, the Florence Museum Complex (dismantled in 2014 after its operations were taken over by the Uffizi, the Academy Gallery, and the Bargello Museum) received a letter proposing the buyout of a painting. As letters continued to arrive, the buyout proposal reached a sum of about 500,000 euros. The letters were signed by an intermediary writing on behalf of the “owner” of the painting, who remained unknown until last November, when Italian investigators were able to identify him. As the Florence Museum Complex refused the offer to buy a painting that belonged to them, the Public Prosecutor Office of Florence started a case. The charge, initially against persons unknown, was extortion. Investigators also discovered that the painting was stolen by Nazi soldiers and sent to Germany not via train or plane, but as normal parcel post. Although the heirs of the Nazi soldiers have been finally identified, it has not been possible yet to recover the painting because of difficulties in the cooperation between the judicial authorities of Italy and Germany.

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‘‘Can an Object Be the Catalyst for New Thoughts and Behaviors?’’ Antony Gormley on display at the Uffizi

his exhibition, on display in the Aula Magliabechiana of the Uffizi Gallery from Feb. 26 to May 26, showcases works by Antony Gormley, one of the most important living British sculptors. The sculptures selected are made of different materials and scales and explore both the body in space and the body as space. At the core of the show is a dialogue between two sculptures, Passage and Room, made 35 years apart, that deal with the space of the body. Passage (2016), is a 12 meter-long Corten steel tunnel in

human form, while Room (1980), is a set of Gormley’s clothes cut into a continuous 8-millimeter-wide ribbon expanded into an enclosure 6 meters square. The show is predicated on these two works and the dialogue between stasis and movement: imaginative and actual space. “I use the indexical impression of my own living body rather than mimesis to make work that both displaces and encloses, to engage and activate attention,” Gormley once said in an interview. The exhibition also includes works

made specifically for this show such as Veer II (2018), a three-dimensional life-size cast iron evocation of a tense nervous system at the core of the body, and Breathe (2018), a large lead-covered expansion work that applies the cosmic principles of the Big Bang to the singularity of a subjective body. Departing from ideas about an exhibition as a space for aesthetic contemplation or the enjoyment of narrative or representation, Essere invites our active participation as connectors between defined objects and open space in which mass and void, dark and light, hard and soft engage the viewer’s presence in space. Antony Gormley is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. His work has developed the potential opened up by sculpture since the 1960s through a critical engagement with both his own body and those of others in a way that confronts fundamental questions of where human beings stand in relation to nature and the cosmos. Gormley continually tries to identify the space of art as a place of becoming in which new behaviors, thoughts

and feelings can arise. Gormley’s art has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and internationally with exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK (2018); Long Museum, Shanghai (2017); National Portrait Gallery, London (2016); Forte di Belvedere, Florence, Italy (2015); Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2014); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia (2012); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (2012); The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2010); Hayward Gallery, London (2007); Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (1993) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (1989). He has also participated in major group shows such as Documenta 8, Kassel, Germany (1987); 42nd

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Venice Biennale (1986); and 40th Venice Biennale (1982). Permanent public works include the Angel of the North (Gateshead, England), Another Place(Crosby Beach, England), Inside Australia (Lake Ballard, Western Australia), Exposure (Lelystad, The Netherlands) and Chord (MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts).

Essere

Antony Gormley Uffizi Gallery Until May 26

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Water Horizons T

APRIL www.florencenews.it fresh energy and attention.” “In an emotional dialogue with this zoo of fabric, feathers, leathers and more, the visitor is surprised and involved in the discovery of the wonders of the animal world, which becomes a source of inspiration for designers and creates unexpected juxtapositions in the observer’s imagination,” said exhibit curator Patricia Lurati.

A tribute to Galileo Chini

he exhibition Water Horizons in Painting and the Decorative Arts, by Galileo Chini and other early 20th-century artists will run at the Pretorio Palace in Pontedera until April 28. The show was curated by Filippo Bacci and Maurizia Bonatti Bacchini. The exhibit featured Chini, one of the most important artists of International Modernism, and other artists who shared artistic experiences ranging from Symbolism to Art Nouveau, the Viennese Secession, and the suggestions of Orientalism. The theme of the exhibition was water, a recurring subject in artistic movements such as Symbolism and Divisionism. Water is a constant in Chini’s art, an element that accounts for the artist’s sense of harmony with the backgrounds of his paintings. Whether it be fresh water or an ocean, the rivers in Bangkok, Venice and Florence or the beach of Viareggio. The first room of the exhibition had the painting La Quiete, shown for the first time in 1901 at the fourth edition of the Venice International Biennale which gained Chini international success. In 1907 in Venice, the king of Siam had the opportunity to appreciate another exhibition by Chini and decided to entrust him with the decoration of the new Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok. The exhibition is divided into four

Animalia Fashion

sections, each representing a different historical phase: Symbolism and Divisionism, water as a subject in decorative work, Orientalism, and the Secessionistic and Klimtian. Each section showcased paintings, sketches and ceramic artifacts. On display will also be works by other 20th-century Italian artists such as Plinio Nomellini, Leonardo Bistolfi, Duilio Cambellotti, Aroldo Bonzagni, and Salvino Tofanari.

Water Horizons PALP Palazzo Pretorio Pontedera Piazza Curtatone and Montanara, Pontedera (PI) Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 10 a. m. – 8 p.m. Admission: € 8, reduced € 6

Animalia Fashion

he exhibition showcases items created between 2000 and 2018 loaned by some of the most famous fashion brands and emerging stylists from all over the world. In an entertaining and poetic manner, and at a time when climate change related problems are bitterly debated, Animalia Fashion explores the relationship between fashion and animals. In this showcase, clothing, accessories and jewels become an experience: a journey of exploration probing the history of zoological science and a discovery of forms and colors that conjure up images of animals.

Museo della Moda e del Costume, Pitti Palace Tickets: € 16; € 8 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25 Free for those younger than 18 Tuesday – Sunday: 8.15 a.m. – 6.50 p.m. Closed Monday Until May 5

The exhibit opens with a section devoted to spiders and continues with others devoted to swans, shells, hedgehogs, fish, coral and more, ending with butterflies. “In this array of almost 100 pieces ranging from dresses and handbags to shoes, jewels and accessories, Haute Couture interprets a fabulous universe in which mannequins become the creatures of a modern and poetic bestiary,” Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt said. “It is also a tribute to the artistic and technical qualities of contemporary fashion, an industry to which the Museo della Moda e del Costume di Palazzo Pitti is devoting

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Female Perspectives

Exhibit on display at the Pitti Palace

naugurated on occasion of International Women’s Day, the exhibition Female Perspectives. Women of Talent and Commitment 1861-1926 is on display at the Pitti Palace. The showcase focuses on the professional commitment and talent of women in Italy from the late 19th century until the mid-1920s. The time frame chosen goes from 1861 to 1926, two years that mark important steps in the history of women’s redemption as far as their image and public role were concerned. In 1861, right after Italy’s

unification, women joined the Artisans’ Brotherhood; in 1926, Grazia Deledda won the Nobel Prize for literature with her novel Canes in the Wind in 1926. Works of art, photographs and a variety of objects illustrate the jobs performed by women of all social classes. Peasant women were often involved in farm works but also in other activities such as mending, knitting or weaving straw. A different life awaited the educated women of the middle class, who could go into teaching or even become artists or writers. In the latter

cases, however, women had to focus on subjects that were considered feminine, such as children’s books, school textbooks, articles for magazines about the household, etiquette, good manners and so forth. Between the early 1860s and the mid-1920s, Florence was a favorite destination for women who had established a solid reputation in the arts or were socially and politically engaged. Among them, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jessie White Mario, Theodosia Garrow Trollope, and Margaret Fuller should be mentioned. “In the space of just over half a century, the time frame explored in the exhibition, conditions developed for women’s social liberation and for a new independence for them, so that they were no longer restricted to the sole role of angel of the hearth. The exhibits tell the story of a time when the question of women came to the fore, when engagement in the workplace, political interests, intellectual life and independence were still a privilege or the result of a struggle,” said Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt. “Women had to build their own identity in society and in the workplace while continuing to play a crucial role in the daily life of the family and in the home,” exhibit curator Simonella Condemi said. “We have endeavoured to pay tribute to women’s tireless toil by showcasing both the variety of different ways in which it that toil was expressed and women’s talent in the fields of art, photography, writing, teaching, politics and many

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NEWS other spheres.” “Florence was a magnet for foreign women artists who sought to carve out ‘a room of their own’ in the salon and the studio – and, eventually, the academy itself. International female artists are well represented in this exhibition because ‘expat women’ enjoyed a brand of freedom in Italy that was unknown in their home countries,” Linda Falcone, director of Advancing Women Artists said, a Florence-based US organisation devoted to researching, restoring and displaying art by historic women in Tuscany’s museums and museum storehouses. “In the show, this freedom is represented by works painted by German symbolist Julia Hoffmann Tedesco who emulated her Mac-

chiaiolo husband’s interest in portraying women and their personal sphere, Irish portraitist, poet and palatine for the Italian cause, Louisa Grace Bartolini, Mary Egerton Bracken, an English socialite and painter who frequented the Browning’s entourage at Casa Guidi, and French-born Nabis artist Elisabeth Chaplin, the youngest and most prolific artist represented in the Gallerie degliUffizi’s collection,” Falcone said. The exhibition runs until May 26.

Female Perspectives Sala del Fiorino, Modern Art Gallery, Pitti Palace Until May 26

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Fiesole Commemorates Its Anti-fascists

he city of Fiesole presents an exhibition celebrating the Monument to the Three Carabinieri, an imposing bronze sculpture created in 1964 by Marcello Guasti for the town’s new panoramic terrace designed by architect Giovanni Michelucci. The work was made in honor of three carabinieri - Alberto La Rocca, Vittorio Marandola and Fulvio Sbarretti - who helped anti-fascist partisans in the fight against the occupying German troops during the Second World War. The Nazis killed the three in the summer of 1944. The exhibit, titled Marcello Guasti, Giovanni Michelucci, and the Monument to the Three Carabinieri, begins on Feb. 17 in the Sala Costantini. The first part of the exhibition is called “The Genesis of the

Monument: ‘The Leap towards the Infinite.’” The second part, called “Guasti and his Contemporaries: A Dialogue with the Antique”, will begin in May. The exhibit runs until Sept. 30. With this event, Fiesole commemorates the three antifascist heroes while also paying homage to Giovanni Michelucci, one of the most important Florentine architects of all times, and Marcello Guasti, one of the most acclaimed Florentine sculptors of the postwar period, who died last January.

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‘What I Saw on the Road’ Kiki Smith on display at the Pitti Palace

he exhibition showcases about 40 works produced over the past 20 years by Kiki Smith, a West German-born American artist who has primarily addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. The works, on display in the Andito degli Andolini of the Pitti Palace, were produced with brightly colored jacquard cotton tapestries, fragile bronze, silver and wood sculptures, and works on paper. The exhibit focuses on Smith’s most recent production from 1990s onward. Until the 1990s, Smith’s

approach was exclusively centered upon the female body in all its fragile mortality, often torn and at times even dismembered, but also heroically and proudly capable of redemption and rebellion. In her later production, Smith broadened her horizons towards a more multifaceted look at what goes on outside the body. What I Saw on the Road is thus what interacts with our existence as we cast a poetic gaze on the relationship between the body and the world, between man, nature and the cosmos. “The extremely elegant grace of Kiki’s latest works, whose often fragile and precious matter is an effective metaphor of the human condition, especially that of the woman, has the loftily ethical aim of recreating unity and harmony in what is so often a world of brutality and discord, unleashing a deeply revolutionary energy: hers is the vocabulary of a new, unexpected and disconcerting pietas,” said Uffizi director Eike Schmidt. In this exhibition, Smith stages a fairy tale of nature whose leading players are animals, onto whom we transfer our human feelings and fears in a tangle of groves and thickets. “It is a contemporary cosmography useful for underscoring the organic, psychological, spiritual and imaginative continuity that knows

no hierarchies among living beings and that constitutes the common backdrop against which the affairs of the entire natural universe are played out,”, said exhibit co-curator Renata Pintus. The exhibit runs until June 2.

Kiki Smith What I Saw on the Road Pitti Palace Until June 2

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Exhibit runs at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

early 1970s. “It was in 1972 that I started looking for David Bowie. And I still am now,” Sukita said. There will be events and concerts during the three-month exhibition. The exhibit bookstore will sell books on the two artists. The exhibit runs until June 28.

Heroes - Bowie by Sukita Palazzo Medici Riccardi Until June 28

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Il Ponte Presents Nagasawa

Heroes - Bowie by Sukita

“Seeing David Bowie on stage opened my eyes to his creative genius. He was different from any other rock star, he had something special that I felt I had the duty to photograph.” These words by Japanese photographer Masayoshi Sukita are perhaps the best to introduce the exhibition currently running at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, in which 60 photos by Sukita – some of which have never been shown before – are on display. The pictures retrace the relationship between one of the most revolutionary artists of the 20th century and a great master of photography that lasted over 40 years, since the

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he contemporary art gallery Il Ponte presents the exhibition Hidetoshi Nagasawa. Sculpture in the 1970s from March 1 to May 10. The exhibit tributes an artist recently passed away, with whom in the recent past the gallery collaborated in quite a few occasions beginning with the 2005 exhibition Interference. The exhibition is centered upon a rare and important set of works made in the 1970s including Colonna (1972) and Viti di Bagdad (1975).

Nagasawa arrived in Italy in 1967. Here, he matured as an artist. His most important sculptures, which often found their way of expression in the minimal reliefs of the surface, were made between 1969 and 1979. The idea that the work must take on body and soul, in a close relationship with the environment, is of fundamental importance in Nagasawa’s art. As Francesco Poli wrote, Nagasawa’s sculptures originate from a meditated strategy of involving the space aesthetically activated by the staging of installations, elaborated to a greater or lesser degree, made up of elements that maintain their primary expressiveness and function as catalysts and generators of physical and mental tensions. The result is a new dimension characterized by a sense of suspension and lightness, by a sober and refined elegance of plastic constructions that intertwine different materials (wood, stone, marble, iron, and other metals such as copper and brass) with depths and conformations that also include the presence of living plants. Hidetoshi Nagasawa was born in Tonei, Manchuria in 1940. After his graduation in Architecture and Interior Design at the Tama Daigaku in Tokyo in 1963, he moved to Milan and came into contact with Castellani, Fabro, Ni-

gro, Trotta and Ongaro. in 1992 he took part in the 9th Documenta in Kassel and in the 1993 Venice Biennale with his own room in the Padiglione Italia.

Hidetoshi Nagasawa. Sculpture in the 1970s Il Ponte Art Gallery Via di Mezzo 42b galleriailponte.com

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Showcasing Models of Leonardo’s Designs T

he exhibit presents working models of Leonardo’s designs that the Niccolai family has been reconstructing since 1995, when Carlo Niccolai dedicated himself to working full-time with the desire to realize Leonardo’s legacy. His passion founded the Niccolai Collection, the largest private collection of Leonardo models in the world, comprised of 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 as Australia, New Zealand,

China, the US, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Finland. The exhibit also displays copies of six codices that reveal the inner workings of this great man’s mind. The Niccolai family has been widely praised for their ongoing devotion to realizing the vast inheritance that Leonardo left to science.

Le Macchine di Leonardo da Vinci Via Cavour 21 www.macchinedileonardo.com

Genius’ Room

he ‘revolution’ of the Uffizi Gallery continued last year as three of Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest masterpieces, previously housed in separate rooms, are now on display together in a room dedicated exclusively to Leonardo. The three paintings – the recently restored Adoration of the Magi, The Annunciation, and The Baptism of Christ (which Leonardo painted together with Verrocchio) – are now housed in one same room to bring out “the fullness of the forms that are so typical of Leonardo’s style,” said the great promoter of this revolution, Uffizi director Eike Schmidt, at the inauguration of the new arrangement. The room dedicated to Leonardo completes a triptych highlighting the museum most important works, together with two other arrangements, one with Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and the masterworks of Raphael, and the eight-room section dedicated to the works of Caravaggio. Schmidt also said the next development will be this coming fall with the opening of new rooms dedicated to 16th-century Venetian artists including Giorgione, Tintoretto, Tiziano, Bernardo Licinio, and others. The new room showcasing Leonardo’s works was set up as part of the celebrations for the 500th’s anniversary of his dead.

Florence News 13

NEWS

Leonardo’s Florentine Steps

lorence is not home to many works of art by Leonardo. However, those present are fundamental to understanding him. Here are are a few steps in Florence to explore the personality of this genius of History.

things, the documentation of the life and works of Leonardo. The museum also provides a rest stop, the Caffè Michelangiolo, included in the entrance fee to the exhibition, and a bookshop rich in publications and gadgets.

Uffizi Gallery

For further information see: www. museoleonardodavincifirenze. com/2/

The Uffizi offers a room completely dedicated to the artist, including the paintings The Baptism of Christ, The Adoration of the Magi and The Annunciation. In The Baptism of Christ you can see the hand of Leonardo at the age of 16, when he was part of Verrocchio’s workshop. The Adoration of the Magi testifies of Leonardo’s originality in drawing, while in The Annunciation we see his first optical illusion.

The Leonardo da Vinci Museum Located on Via Cavour 21, this exhibition is composed of more than 50 functioning models that spread across four areas: a large hall, in which you can find his civil engineering machines, one dedicated to his flight machines, another to machines of war and, most recently, one showcasing a collection of anatomic models. At the museum it is also possible to picture, in the grand scheme of

Fiesole Historically, the Parco di Montececeri owes its notoriety to the fact of having been chosen by Leonardo da Vinci in 1506 as the starting point for his experiment with his ‘flying machine.’ Inside the park, in memory of the first-ever attempt to fly, stands a monument that carries Leonardo’s epigraph. The monument is located in a small panoramic stopping point where Leonardo’s machine first took flight. The Parco di Montececeri has its two main entrances at Borgo di Maiano and Via di Doccia. From Maiano you proceed straight along until you find the first abandoned stone quarries on your left; at a certain point, you pull away from the left onto a sharp rise and a path that winds up to the point where Leonardo experimented with flight.

14 Florence News

HISTORY

A Resistant Italy

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Taking Back April 25

NATALIA PIOMBINO

ust a few years ago, on occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Italian state, as many recalled the Risorgimento (the process that led to the unification of the nation) it

became evident that the values of honor, sanctity and family that inspired this nation-building movement could not be considered anymore as the foundation of our sense of belonging. On the other hand, in the wake of Habermas’ thought, a “constitutional patriotism”, (that is, the need to identify the Republican Constitution as the source of allegiance to the nation), seems closer to our sensibilities. This constitutional pact is, therefore, that which unites us and the ethics of anti-fascism represent a “civic reli-

gion” that in turn makes us a community. At least from the early ‘90s, when the request for pacification of national memory became stronger, anti-fascism and the Resistance were the subjects of revisionist interpretations that tried to give equal treatment as ‘patriots’ to

partisans and RSI fascist (those fighters who, after the armistice of September 1943, kept on to fight alongside Mussolini and the Nazis). This revisionism has attempted to undermine the concept of anti-fascism as the source of national identity and sentiment. Instead, anti-fascism should be emphasized as not only an integral part of the Italian Constitution, but as its fundamental feature - its bedrock. Today, Italy’s Constitution is understood as the fruits of the remarkable visionary capacity of

the Republic’s founding fathers. Within it, there are references to concepts such as “social utility” and “social purpose,” concepts proclaiming the superiority of the general interest of the public and the configuration of a state whose guiding principle is constituted by bene comune, or common good. The fundamental rights (beni comuni) indicated within the Constitution as those deserving protection include labour, health, education, equality and liberty, namely all “goods” which affect each of us. It is evident that the attacks on the Constitution and its cardinal principles impact all of us. The Constitution certainly needs to be upheld, yet not in a manner that distorts its guiding principles but in the way in which these principles are implemented. Unfortunately, the amendments to the Constitution proposed in the last few years, for example the hypotheses of presidentialism, tend to erode, behind a veneer of efficiency, the democratic equilibrium that the document outlined and to prefigure an authoritarian drift. In other instances, such revisions resulted in a relinquishment of sovereignty in favour of supranational entities, as has recently occurred (in the realm of control of our public finances) with the amendment of ART.81.

Revisionism and negationism have made it possible to underestimate the threat of fascism and have allowed the diffusion of a dangerous belief pertaining to the existence of a “good” or “acceptable” fascism. This has paved the way for associations like Casa Pound – a fascist, xenophobic, and sexist association – which has opened headquarters in many Italian cities including Florence, where in 2012 a

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Casa Pound activist shot and killed Modou Samb and Mor Diop and wounded three other members of the city’s Senegalese community. A “constitutional patriotism” that entails inclusion without homologation can be an antidote to the anti-liberal, anti-union, and xenophobic currents that have infiltrated our society.

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April in Florentine History

n the classic Florentine song ‘Mattinata Fiorentina,’ April is personified as a romantic figure who steals the hearts of young ladies at the Cascine Park. But in local traditions, April is not just the month of this well-regarded 'thief', to whom we should actually apologize for the unmasking. April also marks the death of one of the great symbols of Florence, the artist who, together with Donatello and Masaccio, is considered the 'father' of the Renaissance. Filippo Brunelleschi left us on April 16, 1446. Regarded as the father of modern architecture, Brunelleschi completed the cupola of the Dome, a work of revolutionary artistic engineering that became a symbol of the power that the city had reached; today a symbol of the magnificence of the past. Brunelleschi died at 69 and was, of course, buried inside the church. This is also the month of the Pazzi Conspiracy, which took place on April 26, 1478. It was Easter Sunday when two killers hired by the Pazzi family, rivals of the Medici, stabbed Lorenzo di Medici’s brother Giuliano to death during High Mass at the Dome. That day Giuliano had arrived at church late because he was feeling unwell and therefore did not sit next to Lorenzo as he usually did. This probably disoriented the conspirators, who were expecting him to

sit next to Lorenzo.Nevertheless they still tried to kill Lorenzo and failed. Lorenzo's assigned killer, Giovan Battista da Montesecco, refused to attack his victim at the last moment because he did not want to kill someone inside a church. Lorenzo owed his life to his best friend, Francesco Nori, who protected him with his body from the two assailants that had just killed Giuliano. Francesco died, while Lorenzo was merely wounded. After the conspiracy the Florentine population sided with the Medici, Lorenzo's vengeance was terrible, proportionate to the love he had for his brother. People who also passed away in April: Frederick Stibbert, founder of the Stibbert Museum, who died on April 10, 1906, and Filippino Lippi, who left us on April 18, 1504. A brilliant businessman and traveller, Stibbert was the father of the culture of antiques that gained momentum in the twentieth century, while Filippino Lippi was the talented artist who left us his legacy in the completion of the Brancacci Chapel, begun by Masolino and Masaccio more than 50 years earlier. Finally, on April 17, 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, a sailor born in Greve in Chianti, the capital of Chianti wine, wrote down on his diary the first-ever description of what the indigenous inhabitant were calling ‘Manhattan'.

Florence News 15

HISTORY

Murder in the Duomo

A short history of the Pazzi Conspiracy C. DE MELO

pril 26, 1478: Try to picture yourself as a Florentine attending Easter Mass on a bright Sunday morning. The cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is packed with worshipers. People bow their heads in respect as the priest raises the wine-filled chalice towards heaven for the holy act of transubstantiation. In that moment, Giuliano de’ Medici is viciously attacked by two assassins. Using razor-sharp daggers, they repeatedly stab the 25 year old man with such ferocity that poor Giuliano is dead even before he collapses onto the floor in a pool of blood. His older brother, Lorenzo, manages to escape the deadly blade of an assassin’s knife. He flees into the sacristy, and when the coast is clear, his guards smuggle him home. Believing they have succeeded in overthrowing the Medici, the conspirators behind this evil plot ride through the streets shouting, “The tyrants are dead!” To their surprise, the good citizens of Florence were neither pleased nor impressed with their gruesome handiwork. The loyal Florentines gather around the Palazzo Medici on

Via Larga. Who will rule the city if both Medici brothers are dead? When Lorenzo finally appears in a window, someone in the street shouts, “There he is!” and a sigh of relief echoes through the crowd. Florence’s most beloved son is alive! As if on cue, the people chant, “Palle! Palle! Palle!” in reference to the familiar balls on the Medici crest. What happens next is right out of a mafia movie. When Lorenzo learns that a rival family, the Pazzi, conspired with his enemies (Archbishop Salviati of Pisa and Pope Sixtus IV) to overthrow him, he executes a brilliant vendetta. Lorenzo and his men storm the

Signoria, taking the usurpers by surprise. The traitors were put to death in a most grizzly manner: defenestration from the highest windows. When news of this horrific spectacle reached the ears of Pazzi supporters, they tried to flee, but they were apprehended by the Medici clan and dragged back to Florence to face severe punishment. The corpses of the main perpetrators were strung up and publicly displayed outside the Signoria for several days. Their bloated, rotting bodies served as a clear warning to anyone who dared raise a hand against the Medici.

16 Florence News

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Ten Commandments For Tourists

group of 50 local tour guides transcribed a series of rules for tourists in Florence, which hit the headlines of local media last month. The initiative, called “l’Armata pacifica” (literally, The Peaceful Army), came last year shortly after Mayor Dario Nardella took measures to prevent tourists from picnicking and camping in front of the city’s iconic churches

by hosing down their steps. Summer, perhaps due to the severe heat, is surely the period of the year in which tourists most frequently misbehave. We have thus decided to take inspiration from this idea and rearrange the ten rules into commandments. Respectful tourists should obey them strictly, as if they had in fact come from the mouth of the almighty Lord above.

Thou shalt not crowd around the street vendors. Thou shalt not feast barbarically by the churches, basilicas, or other sacred grounds. Thou shalt not abandon your masses of rubbish on the streets. Honor the sidewalks and streets with strolling, not with your luggage. Thou shalt not ask for canals in Florence, for thou shalt not find them. Honor the que for the taxi. Thou shalt not gratuitously indulge in selfies in front of Palazzo Vecchio or other monuments . Thou shalt not use the sidewalks as toilets or urinals. Thou shalt not use the fountains as a shower. Thou shalt not shout aggressively - even if intoxicated.

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Campaign Encourages Tourists to Respect Florence

he City of Florence has launched a campaign called #EnjoyRespectFirenze that promotes sustainable tourism to preserve the heritage of Florence by respecting the city and its inhabitants. Following are the main points of the campaign: • Remember you are not allowed to eat food, drink, or lie down on the street or staircases. If you wish to eat something or rest be sure to use proper benches and tables. • Don’t climb the monuments. • Vandalizing monuments, doors, or walls is a serious crime punishable by law. • It is forbidden to be drunk in public. • It is forbidden to litter. Please dispose of any garbage or recyclables in their proper containers. • It is forbidden to eat or drink on the steps of monuments and churches. • Don’t write on churches or works of art • Don’t swim in the fountains • In public places and establishments be sure to wear a shirt. Going shirtless or wearing a swimsuit is not considered enough coverage. • Don’t engage in any behavior that would endanger you or others. • In places of worship, short dresses, shorts, and tank tops generally aren’t allowed. If you plan on visiting any of Florence’s many churches, be sure to dress conservatively, making sure your clothing goes past your knees. • Beware of counterfeit goods. Just a few days ago I saw a scammer trying to sell a single watch on the street, claiming it was a Rolex. Always buy your goods from stores that are clearly marked. Abusive sellers are punishable by law, but you are too if you buy from them. • When it comes to your noise level, please be considerate, especially from midnight to 7 a.m. Don’t disturb the peace with excessive shouting or loud musical instruments. • If you need to relieve yourself, always use a public toilet. Urinating in public and exposing your private parts is strictly forbidden. • There are four information points in the city: Piazza Stazione, via Cavour, Bigallo (piazza Duomo) and at the airport. • In Florence there is fresh water available to the public. Be sure to carry a reusable water bottle.

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Florence News 17

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The Three Tenors and La Traviata at Santo Stefano Church accompanies the music, as one would expect in a traditional opera house. If you’ve never seen La Traviata, do a bit of research beforehand. It will make the experience far more enjoyable. Dancers at La Traviata show are from the Florence Dance Performance school. Choreography is by Donatella Cantagallo.

C. DE MELO

oasting an original Romanesque facade of green and white marble, the Santo Stefano Church now serves as an auditorium for musical and theatrical performances. The concert is inspired by the world-renowned ‘Three Tenors’ Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras. Standing atop Buontalenti’s stunning marmoreal balustrade of 1574 and accompanied by a chamber ensemble of mandolin, doublebass and grandpiano, Mattia Nebbiai, Claudio Sassetti, and Leonardo Sgroi dazzle audiences with their incredible voices. The excellent acoustics in Santo Stefano require no microphones. The three tenors perform the masterpieces which brought fame to Italy all over the world, such as some of the arias from La Traviata, Rigoletto and Tosca, as well as some of the most famous Neapolitan traditional songs. The musical program includes several operatic pieces from Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Brahms, and De Curtis. The singers are accompanied by the flawless tunes of a grand piano, mandolin, and a double bass. The three tenors exuded tremendous energy and playfulness on stage, making the audience giggle at times with their delightful humor. Their velvety

voices kept a full house entranced for over an hour with each selected song showing off the full potential of their collective talent. One highlight was the aria, E lucevan le stelle from the opera TOSCA, written by Giacomo Puccini. The emotion and range of this performance was truly impressive. “La traviata last night was a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers’? Time will tell.” Those words were penned by Giuseppe Verdi to a friend the day after La Traviata premiered at Venice’s La Fenice in 1853. La Fenice’s manager had insisted on giving the leading role of “Violetta” to Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, a corpulent 38-year-old woman. Although she was an acclaimed singer, the audience openly jeered at her for attempting to portray a young courtesan dying of con-

sumption. One can only imagine Verdi’s utter frustration and disappointment. “The Fallen Woman” (La Traviata) was written as a tragic three act opera based on a play, which was taken from the French novel “The Lady with the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas (author of “The Three Musketeers”). The plot is simple: forbidden love. Violetta, a Parisian courtesan, falls in love with Alfredo, a young bourgeois from the countryside. Alfredo’s father, Giorgio, is against the relationship due to Violetta’s dubious past and convinces her to break off the love affair. Alfredo is furious and humiliates her in public. When Violetta is on her deathbed, she reconciles with Alfredo. Giorgio apologizes to her before she takes her final breath. Naturally, the music and lyrics are infused with emo-

tion to lift the soul of the listener. To experience Verdi’s timeless work in any venue is a visual and auditory delight, but Santo Stefano is a special place. The earliest mention of this Romanesque style church dates back to 1116. The original 12th century facade is comprised of white marble from Carrara and green marble from Prato. The interior was revamped in the 17th century to convert three aisles into an open space. Finally, Santo Stefano boasts wonderful acoustics. The church does not have a stage but a high altar with a stone balustrade along the front. The opera performed at this venue is mainly for listening pleasure, consisting of three talented singers – a tenor, a baritone, and a soprano – two talented musicians (grand piano, double bass), and four dancers. No elaborate theatrical performance

April Events April 2-5-9-12-16-19-23-26 The Three Tenors Auditorium Santo Stefano 8:30 p.m. April 4-11-18-25 Traviata Auditorium Santo Stefano 8:30 p.m. INFO & BOOKING: www.operainroma.com Email: florence@operainroma.com Cell: +39 373 774 6001 Landline: +39 055 230 2411

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Addressing the Issue of Immigration NYU Hosted Round Table on Recent Crises Last Month

KARLIANNE RUBCIC

ew York University held a conference titled “A Conversation on Immigration in Italy” featuring a panel of academics and activists alike at their Florence campus on March 6. The dialogue contextualized the issue of immigration in Italy, including recent political implications and the affect that it has had on migrants themselves through the personal testimony of an immigrant named Ousmane. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the ongoing crises in Syria and parts of Africa have forced hundreds of thousands from their homes on an insidious journey for refuge. As Europe is the safest neighbor to these regions, national security has become a notable topic of debate throughout the continent. Given that the Italian peninsula is located in middle of the Mediterranean and is often the first point of contact for Middle Eastern migrants with Europe, Italy’s position on this issue is critical in the discussion of human rights. Italy’s response has been nothing short of controversial especially given the recent election of Matteo Salvini. Considering that Italy is constantly combatting economic difficulties against the backdrop of perfectly

preserved cultural significance, anti-immigrant sentiments are easy to provoke. Matteo Salvini, belonging to a conservative political party called The Northern League, ran on a platform last year that opposed immigration for the sake of enhancing national security. As the party earned approximately 37 percent of votes and Salvini rose to prominence as its leader, he has kept true to his promise and has created legislation to hinder humanitarian efforts. Following the election, Italy released a decree to curtail resource availability for immigrants and increase deportations in late September. This legislation has been popularly referred to as the “Salvini Decree” and is notorious for stripping away humanitarian protections that would have normally allowed asylum-seekers to legally live in Italy for two years and benefit from government resources such as SPRAR, which translated in English stands for “Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees.” Under the decree, asylum-seekers must instead be classified as one of six “special cases” to receive any form of protection such as escaping from natural disaster or having been the victim of extreme exploitation. But those categorized as one of the six special cases would only be eligible for protection for six months to one

year, and their status could not be renewed. Because the government has been blocked from processing documents for migrants, over 6.000 asylum-seekers remain unregistered and others who have lived in Italy for over two years are unable to renew their residency permits. However, despite the conservative sentiments that brought Salvini to prominence, recent events have emphasized the voices from the opposition. The idea of such varying opinions comes into the foreground in the wake of the crisis concerning 47 migrants onboard a ship that was unable to dock at any shore in the Mediterranean back in January. After Italy and seven other European countries debated for two weeks, some of the passengers disembarked in Sicily, but only after other European nations had agreed to take the majority of the passengers. While the minister seems to delivering on his promise of ‘zero tolerance’, many other Italian officials are declaring their own stances of ‘zero tolerance’— against the current government. Tuscany, along with Umbria and Sardinia, filed legal complaints against the decree on the basis that Salvini’s measures would in effect encourage criminal activity as a consequence of being unable to legally enter the job market. Some mayors within these regions have expressed a commit-

ment to defy the orders of the decree. The panel at NYU discussed the implications at length, and when asked about the practical extent of these mayors’ defiance, Professor Mario Savino stated that this movement of majors “is actually a correct interpretation of the law,” because at the local level “the law doesn’t prevent registration,” thereby creating the ability to “allow asylum-seekers to get all the social services that are related to residence,” which he claims is the most important thing. However, Savino clarified that because mayors have a certain amount of freedom in their decisions, “it may not change anything it may also allow some mayors to make some things worse for asylum-seekers.” Amidst political controversy, Ousmane reminds us that human lives

are at stake. “There are people tomorrow or next week who have to leave the SPRAR and they don’t have any family here, they don’t know the language… and [without the help of structural programs] you cannot [take] any classes, you cannot volunteer, you cannot find a job… and then you’re on the street without any possibility to leave, have food or a place to live” he explained in French as Silvia Privitera translated. In his testimony, Ousmane believes that without the resources that SPRAR has provided for him and countless others, the future of a legitimate livelihood becomes more blurred than it already is. While fear begets drastic legislation from Italy’s conservative parties, radical legislation begets fear among Italy’s most vulnerable residents.

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Florence News 19

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Live Music and Elegance Near the Train Station G

At Gilò, Italian Piano Bar

ilò springs from the dream of Gianfranco Lotti, a Florentine designer and leather craftsman creator of the homonymous brand established in 1968, of opening a space in Florence to enjoy the authentic atmosphere of an Italian piano bar. Its formula is one of live music, quality food and drinks un-

til 1 a.m. Located on via dei Fossi, a few steps away from the Santa Maria Novella train station, Gilò is the place to spend an evening plunged into an exclusive, cozy and relaxed style, where the essential mood of the piano bar turns into a high-end club created with a special atten-

tion to details with on the background the cheerful atmosphere of Italian music. With themed evenings staged by pianists and musicians of different styles, Gilò is a place where French bubbles sit alongside a thorough selection of Italian wines with the rarest vermouth, the most classical liqueurs and exclusive spirits. On Tuesdays, one of the most affirmed musicians in Florence, pianist and singer Gabriele Mori, performs live Italian songs with an original jazzy mood. From Wednesday to Friday, on stage is Andrea Caciolli, who performs a refined and elegant repertoire of Italian and international music. Wednesday night is also the night of the Jazz Aperitivo at

Gilò, from 8 to 10 p.m. On Saturdays, Caciolli proposes a repertoire of latin song together with singer Yoli Garcia. The drinks surprise with their variety of labels and creativity of combinations, while the cuisine is a mix of research and tradition based on fresh season fragrances. At Gilò, sitting and enjoying a late dinner is a subtle pleasure, not only for unconditional nighthawks.

Bollani for Meyer

Pianist supports charity project for children’s hospital

lorentine and internationally acclaimed pianist Stefano Bollani will perform live at the Theatre of the Maggio Musicale on April 29. The event, called Piano Solo, has been organized by Lions Club International together with the Meyer Foundation to collect funds for the purchasing of new machineries and materials for the Meyer children’s hospital of Florence. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. and is a homage to the art of piano jazz improvisation. Tickets can be purchased online at the website ticketone.com. Bollani began studying the piano at the age of six and made his professional debut at 15. After graduating at the Conservatory of Music in Florence in 1993 and after a brief experience as a session musician with some renowned Italian pop artists, he became an established jazz musician. He performed on stages such as the Town Hall in New York, the Barbican in London, the Scala in Milan, and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. His collaboration with Enrico Rava, with

whom he has performed hundreds of concerts and recorded 13 albums, the most recent of which are Tati (2015), The Third Man (2005) and New York Days (2008) was crucial in his career. Bollani has also worked with musicians such as Richard Galliano, Bill Frisell, Gato Barbieri, Sol Gabetta, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, and Chick Corea, with whom he recorded the live album Orvieto in 2011. His most recent productions include: Big Band (2013); Joy in Spite of Everything (2014); Sheil Yer Zappa (a 2014 live recording dedicated to Frank Zappa); Arrivano gli Alieni (a 2015 album in which he tried his hand as a singer-songwriter for the first time); Napoli Trip (a 2016 album made in collaboration with Neapolitan artists Daniele Sepe, Manu Katché, Jan Bang and others); and Mediterraneo, a live recording in Berlin with Jesper Bodilsen, Morten Lund, Vincent Peirani and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, arranged by Geir Lysne.

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Half Marathon Returns April 7 stakeholders, such as sponsors, contractors, charities, competitors and audience, to take up sustainability initiatives. Registration costs span from €22 to €30 for the half marathon and €5 for the non-competitive run and walking course. It can all be done at the website www.halfmarathonfirenze.it. Registration for the Tommasino Run race is free and opens from 7-9 a.m. on the day of the race.

Half Marathon

GRACE KUCERA

he 36 international Half Marathon Vivicitta will take place on Sunday, April 7. With participants ranging from running enthusiasts to families with children and runners from all over the world, the Half Marathon has become one of the most important sporting events in Florence. Runners can choose between a half marathon, suggested for professional and amateur athletes, or a 10-kilometer, non-competitive run, which is open to all. Both start at Santa Croce and course through

the Oltrarno, leading back to Piazza della Signoria and the Duomo. Other options are the 5-kilometer walking course or the 1.5-kilometer Tommasino Run, a charity race for children. All of the Half Marathon Firenze Vivicitta’s courses are paved and flat. The marathon has a ‘village’, a site of various sporting events and fun activities, in Piazza Santa Croce. Participants will receive a t-shirt and gadgets. Vivicitta also hosts a charity event every year, and the organization makes efforts to be eco-friendly. It strives to minimize its environmental impact and encourage its

Sunday, April 7 Half Marathon Village, Piazza Santa Croce www.halfmarathonfirenze.it

Florence News 21

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Rome Marathon 25th Anniversary Sunday, April 4, 8:50 a.m. Start and finish in Via dei Fori Imperiali

Rome Marathon Registration

Separate registration for Italian and non-Italian residents (non-Italian residents must be 20-years or older on day of race) Registration must be completed online by January 6 (fact check date) Fees vary by residency, date of purchase, and membership card status Race shirt and backpack by New Balance included in entry fee

Rome Marathon Fun-run

A non-competitive 4K run open to all and any participants 9 a.m. immediately after the competitive race Starts at Via dei Fori Imperiali and ends at Circo Massimo Open to all animals Registration is €10 and closes the day before the race

Marathon Village

Roma Convention Center- La Nuvola April 5-7, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Includes food, vendors, health expos, and so much more For more information visit the marathon’s official website: www.maratonadiroma.it

22 Florence News

EASTER

this pie makes it a welcome staple at the Easter table.

Easter as an Italian Culinary Tradition

DEJOU BENCOMO-JASSO

aster is a time of joy, observance, revelry, and celebrating through food traditions. An Italian Easter is no exception. Classic dishes vary from region to region, yet much Easter fare remains common throughout the country. Le Uova. Eggs are an essential component of an Italian Easter, as both symbol and ingredient. Brightly colored hard-boiled eggs and chocolate eggs are the delight of children and adults alike, while a number of traditional Easter time dishes include egg as a key ingredient.

Uovo di Pasqua. An oversized egg made of chocolate and stuffed with a surprise treat, the Italian chocolate egg is a whimsical confection traditionally presented to family and friends as an Easter present. Adding to the festive nature of the chocolate egg gift is its often colorful, painstakingly decorated wrapping.

APRIL www.florencenews.it Colomba Pasquale. This dessert bread is named after the Italian word for dove, colomba. It is baked in the shape of this symbolic bird, meant to represent a sign of peace, and is made according to the same method used for the Christmas cake panettone, omitting the candied fruits.

Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;agnello. Lamb is both a religious symbol and an essential dish in the Easter meal. In northern regions lamb is used in hearty stews with beans and potatoes, and in braised variations with herb-infused broths and root vegetables. Lamb meatballs and pasta dishes filled with a mixture of lamb and ingredients such as cheese, garlic, onion or herbs are also commonly prepared. In other regions roasted lamb is served with artichokes, peas or other spring vegetables.

Pastiera. Rooted in pagan celebrations of the arrival of spring, pastiera is a mainstay of Easter celebrations, particularly in Naples. This unique dessert is a cross between a cake and a pie, with a filling of ricotta, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, milk, boiled wheat, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon zest and candied citrus fruits.

Dejou Bencomo-Jasso For more about Dejou Bencomo-Jasso, visit www.countrybred.com/ bredblog. She can be reached at dejou@countrybred.com.

Pizza piena. These stuffed pies are tall, quiche-like rounds of pastry filled with eggs, cheese, cured meat and/or sausage. While variations on the pizza piena exist across the country, the velvety richness of

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Easter Fires

The history behind the ‘Scoppio del Carro’

Florence News 23

EASTER itself. The cart embarks on a procession through the streets pulled by big white oxen, accompanied by hoards of crowds dressed in 15th century attire, musicians and flag throwers. Thanks to modern technology, the simple cart fire has now been enhanced by an elaborate firework display that the Archbishop of Florence ignites directly from the nave of the Duomo, where the cart ends its journey through the city.

py Easter. It is said that if the fireworks are enjoyed without any glitches, the city and its people can expect a good harvest for the year. Hence, it is an extremely popular event. In order to secure a good position amongst the thronging crowds that can reach up to 10,000, it is vital to get there early in the day. This year Easter Sunday falls on April 16, and the fireworks will begin at 11 a.m, accompanied by a

On Easter Sunday a cart packed full of fireworks will be ignited resulting in a 20-minute pyrotechnical display. The practice originated during the first crusade when Europeans laid seige to the city of Jeruesalem in an attempt to claim Palestine for Christianity.

Photo credits: flickr user Monica Kelly

n Easter Sunday a cart packed full of fireworks will be ignited resulting in a 20-minute pyrotechnical display. The practice originated during the first crusade when Europeans laid seige to the city of Jeruesalem in an attempt to claim Palestine for Christianity. It was exactly in 1097 that Pazzino

de’ Pazzi returned from the crusades in Jerusalem and presented his city with three flint stones from the Holy Sepulchre and told the people of Florence to use these stones to light a ‘holy fire’ on a cart, or as it is often nicknamed, ‘Brindellone,’ (tall and wobbly), to celebrate Christianity at Easter time.

This ritual has continued ever since, but has naturally developed over the years, and now is one of the most exciting and impressive spectacles in Florence. Pazzino’s original flint stones are rubbed together and used to light the Easter candle; the candle is then used to light the cart

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A dove shaped rocket is lit by the Archbishop which darts along a steel wire from the high altar to the cart outside, setting off the awaiting celebratory fireworks between the main door of the Duomo and the Baptistery. This jubilant explosion ends the solemn tone of the cart’s Easter morning procession through Florence. Symbolically the modern fireworks that can be seen throughout the whole city spread the ‘holy fire’ to all, wishing everyone who can see them a Hap-

beautiful rendition of ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’ from the Duomo; however, the atmosphere surrounding such a long standing tradition will surely be worth soaking up even before the fireworks begin. While the day reminds Florentines of their country’s profound Catholic roots, it also celebrates its past military success in the first crusade to the holy land, making the ‘Explosion of the Cart’ an especially festive and celebratory occasion, completely unique to Florence.

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in the most popular Italian and European clubs and parties, such as those organized by Luisa Via Roma with AZEALIA BANKS and CRIS CAB. His live dj-set is a mix between djing and drumming, which interact to create a show of great impact, with sonorities ranging from deep house to the more typical electronic grooves of clubbing. Martera is supported in his productions by some of the most acclaimed deejays in Europe. For more information on Leo Martera check the website leomartera.net.

House’n’Roll

Rex Firenze Saturday night Via Fiesolana 25/r www.rexfirenze.com

CITY BEAT

Generations of Sculptors

Rex Hosts Martera’s House’n’Roll

reaking barriers between different styles of music is DJ’s Leo Martera formula for his Saturday night at Rex bar. The idea came when Martera noticed that one-musical-theme nights were beginning to bore people after a while. Thus came the intuition to mix not just songs, but also styles of music. And it worked, making Saturday nights at Rex one of the most appreciated nights in Florence. With the advantage of dancing in a bar and not in a club, the atmosphere is far more easy-going and the night more dynamic. This formula proved successful also because on Saturdays Rex does not mix just different styles of music, but also different kinds of people. For more than ten years Martera has been djing and playing drums

Florence News 25

Meet Raffaello Romanelli of Galleria Romanelli sides that I imagine that growing up, living and breathing into the sculpture studio environment, and being surrounded by sculptures and seeing art pieces since you are born, might already plant the seeds of the sculptor inside you.

s soon as you enter Galleria Romanelli, a myriad of sculptures surround you, boasting majestic, graceful forms. The gallery has been managed by the same family since 1860. The first Romanelli sculptor was Pasquale Romanelli. Now, nearly 160 years later, Raffaello Romanelli and his brother Vincenzo Romanelli manage the sculpture studio. We asked Raffaello a few questions on the history of the gallery and his love for art. How is it possible that this love for sculptures appears to be genetic in your family? What do you think is particular about your family that makes you so tied to this art? Well I guess we should ask God why the genes are passed through from one generation to another...but be-

I see that your specialty is creating portrait busts, do you like sculpting men or women more? It depends, it is difficult to say. At the end of the day they both have a different aspect. For example, a wise wrinkly old man could be really interesting, or maybe a very classic Roman-looking man with a strong straight big nose could also be interesting. But a beautiful woman with beautiful hair could be amazing to sculpt and to get the grace and beauty out of. It’s always a challenge and it’s always exciting…doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman. What is the most difficult thing to sculpt in a bust? The eyes. Why are the eyes the most difficult? The eyes are the reflection of the soul so it is very hard to capture. What happens if you do a mistake in marble? You have to start all over again. Has that happened to you?

It has happened and sometimes you can find a way to fix the trouble... Even Michelangelo broke his David and then he fixed it, so at the end of the day there’s always a way of fixing things. What other artist inspire you? All masters. Like Michelangelo, Bernini, some Greek ones …normally Classical or Renaissance pieces. What do you usually do in your classes here? Who usually goes to them, what age? All ages. From 15 years old to 80 years old. Females, males, all kinds of people. And we teach basically, mainly, how to read volumes and masses in a sculpture, and how to reproduce something that you see. So basically, we train you to be able to see lines and to be able to see a figure and to be able to transform something from a moveable person to a sculpture. What do you hope to capture in your work? What defines your style as a sculptor? Well I always try to get the most beautiful part of someone in my work, because I believe each one of us has got something beautiful and unique and I want that to come out in the sculpture. Everyone is different from each other, so I try to get that little thing which makes you different from someone else.

APRIL www.florencenews.it

All You Can (Possibly) Pizza

Florence News 27

FOOD&WINE

The ‘New’ Diner

Between change and tradition

Gluten Free

Eat four pizzas in ten minutes and win €250 at Pizzaland

E K T

en minutes to eat four pizzas and drink one liter of beer: if you make it, you win E 250 (in pizzas) and your picture (and name) will appear on the “Wall of Fame” of Pizzaland, the first “All you can Pizza” in Florence; if you don’t make it, your picture will appear in the toilette of the restaurant and future customers will know that you were a loser (at least in the game). Located on Via il Prato, near the train station, Pizzaland is a 600-square-meter pizzeria that in its two floors can welcome up to 250 people and where it is impossible to order only one pizza. With just E10 (E6 for kids, drinks excluded in both cases), you can eat as

much pizza as you like. The types of pizzas that you will be served are 40. At Pizzaland you will be sitting and a waiter or waitress dressed as a bricklayer – isn’t pizza, at the end, the ‘concrete’ of life? – will serve you slices of the most famous Italian food in the world. Until your stomach has room for it, you can eat as many slices of pizza as you like. When you think is enough, all you have to do is to put a red light at your table traffic light. Until your table-light is green, they will keep on serving you. Pizzaland Via il Prato 12r Tel.: + 39 391 352 8580 Pizza-land.it

nown for being the first American diner to open in the city, since 2004 The Diner has been the place in Florence where you can find a real American hamburger. This spring the restaurant, which has recently changed its ownership, will be introducing some important novelties such as new typical Italian dishes and a new selection of craft beers produced by some of the most renowned local breweries. Among the dishes that will be on the new menu is a hamburger made of 70% beef and 30% pork, topped with fresh cheese and caramelized onions, with fennel seeds inside. Other novelties include the strengthening of the Wifi and TV placement and the introduction of Sky to provide a wide range of sports coverage including baseball, basketball, and soccer, to cater to the needs of guests looking for a place to unwind. The restaurant’s upper floor can become a

study room for students, a quiet space to catch up on work all while in easy reach of comfort food that may serve as a quick reminder of home. The Diner also supports local markets that bring their produce to the restaurant fresh every morning. The restaurant, which is located on Via dell’Acqua 2 and is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, is also planning on a more entertaining nightlife to attract local and foreign students alike.

The Diner Via Dell’Acqua 2 Facebook: TheDinerFirenze Tel.: + 39 055 29 07 48

ating out can become an unpleasant experience for those who suffer from food allergies. One of the most common food allergies in the world is celiac disease. Thanks to the commitment of its owners, who have attended the courses organized by the Associazione Italiana Celiachia (the Italian Association specialized in celiac diseases), alongside a traditional menu the restaurant Trattoria Da Garibardi offers a special gluten free menu with pasta, bread, pizza, as well as many other dishes. The restaurant has a very large kitchen and special tools that allow to prepare gluten free food without any danger of contamination. Thanks to this special background and commitment, the typical, tasty Tuscan cuisine is now accessible even to those who suffer from celiac disease.

Trattoria Da Garibardi Piazza del Mercato Centrale 38/r Tel.: + 39 055 212267 www.garibardi.it

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Tusc

Tuscan Panini, Artisanal Beers and Wine Tasting NEW SANDWICH FOR LEONARDO’S 500TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY!

Via dei Cimatori 23/r (near Piazza Signoria)

28 Florence News

TUSCANY

www.florencenews.it

Villa Godenano: A Jewel in Chianti

Meet Vernaccia

ante Aligheri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Pope Martin IV, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Michelangelo, just to name a few of the greats that praised the most famous wine produced in San Gimignano. A delicious white wine, that is even referenced in Dante’s legendary “Divine Comedy.” First mentioned in tax documents from 1276, Vernaccia is not only one of Italy’s most esteemed wines, but also one of its oldest. The wine boasts a bold straw-yellow color and a flavor that delicately combines floral and fruity. Perfectly suited for fish and white meats in particular, Vernaccia can be enjoyed even more when combined with complimenting cuisine.

Galleria Gagliardi Reopens

T H

www.palagetto.it

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otel Villa Godenano is an elegant villa built up in typical Renaissance style. Located near Castellina in Chianti, in the heart of the Chianti region between Florence, Siena, and San Gimignano, and surrounded by a two-acre park, the villa was recently restored. It is an ideal place for any type of event, weddings or ceremonies alike. The hotel has 15 rooms with a view on the best of Tuscan countryside and a beautiful garden surrounding it. Within the garden are a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a children’s play area. Amongst the services offered are

a light lunch with cold dishes and Tuscan cuts accompanied by a selection of the best Chianti wines. A transfer from and to the villa is also possible as well as other services such as spa treatments, yoga classes, daily tours in the surrounding areas, wine tours and lessons, and cooking classes. For more information check the website: spreadyourwings.it.

he Galleria Gagliardi reopened last month after the winter break with a new layout. The gallery has also announced that it will expose works by new artists alongside those made by painters and sculptors historically associated with them. Founded by Stefano Gagliardi back in 1991, the gallery today bears 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 promo-

tion 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 gallery exhibits ceramic, 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 Via San Giovanni 57 San Gimignano Open every day until 7:30 p.m. galleriagagliardi.com

WINE TASTINGS IN SAN GIMIGNANO

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; Groups: €5 www.museodellatortura.it

Via di Racciano 10 - 53037 San Gimignano 334/6399484 • 0577/943090 www.palagetto.it

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Gelato Classes with a World Champion

Florence News 29

TUSCANY

On Horseback in Tuscany

ON THE ROAD

ormer Gelato World Champion, Sergio Dondoli, offers gelato classes for adults and kids alike in his hometown San Gimignano, in the very heart of Tuscany. Gelato was invented in this region thanks to the famous Florentine architect Bernardo Buontalenti, who in 1500 amazed the Medici family with gelato made from fruit and zabaione before Caterina de’ Medici, who was married to King Henry II, and introduced this precious Florentine dessert to the Royal French Court. From here, gelato spread across all of Europe.

T Dondoli opened his famous Gelateria di Piazza in San Gimignano in 1992. In 2011, his Gelateria was the only Gelato-shop mentioned by Lonely Planet among the ten “Best Gourmet Places in the World.” In his career as a gelato-maker Dondoli has earned many prestigious awards, including the Master of Art & Craft Living National Treasure Award in 2016. Since last year, he offered his knowledge and creative energy to whoever, from all over the world, is willing to learn the secrets of preparing real Gelato.

Each class consists of an introduction to Gelato History and to its ingredients. It follows the preparation of a Fiordilatte Gelato made with raw milk and seasonal fruit. The best part of these classes is the end, when groups can eat the gelato they prepared. Via del Castello 15 San Gimignano www.dondoligelatoclass.com +39 393 5448969

his tour offered by Florence Country Life is an adventure through the lush vineyards, native woods, olive groves and rolling hills of Chianti, with a collection of breathtaking and unforgettable views in the most wonderful and romantic way: on horseback. No prior experience is needed. Before the ride, you will be given a lesson by a trained guide to become better acquainted with your horse. After the ride, you will enjoy a Tuscan meal washed down with Chianti wine and an oil tasting. If you do not want to ride a horse, you can still come and enjoy the tour with a 20% discount. So, while your friends go on the horse ride

you can enjoy snacks, wine and a nice walk around a traditional Tuscan farm. If you have never horse-whispered before, then let horses whisper to you.

Florence Country Life From € 150 p.p. www.florencecountrylife.com info@florencecountrylife.com Tel.: +39.366.4738711 TRANSPORTATION INCLUDED

Wine Tour Chianti Classico (Every day, transportation included)

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30 Florence News

TUSCANY

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Twenty-one Must-See Places in San Gimignano W

ith its towers and palaces that made it the Manhattan of the Middle Ages, San Gimignano is an extraordinary example of the classic medieval town. Among the principal attractions are the Musei Civici, a complex made up of the Palazzo Comunale and the Torre Grossa, the town’s entirely frescoed Cathedral, the Palazzo Comunale (which houses many important pictorial cycles, such as the one inspired by chivalry inside the Sala di Dante, so-called for having hastened the great poet), and the Pinacoteca Civica, which showcases masterpieces from the Sienese and Florentine schools. Besides an exceptional series of 14th century frescoes that speak of love, the Torre Grossa, the tallest tower in the city, offers an amazing panorama of the Tuscan hills. Other attractions are the Romanesque church of San Lorenzo in Ponte, decorated with frescoes representing Hell, Purgatory and Heaven; the Museo Archeologico, which documents the origins of the city; the Spezieria di Santa Fina, with its precious pharmacy vases that still today hold the medicinal preparations made following ageold recipes; and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Raffaele De Grada, a gallery named after the renowned Milanese painter

who chose San Gimignano as his home, showcasing works by 20th century artists, fuelling a ‘dialogue’ between classic and contemporary art. 1) TOWN HALL (13th century) There is a COURTYARD with coats of arms and frescoes by Sodoma. The SALA DI DANTE contains the “Maestà”by Lippo Memmi (1317). This Palace is the home of the CIVIC MUSEUM and PICTURE GALLERY with works by Coppo di Marcovaldo, Filippino Lippi, Pinturicchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Taddeo di Bartolo, Memmo di Filippuccio, Sebastiano Mainardi, and the “GREAT TOWER” built in 1311, 54 metres in height, can be visited as part of the Civic Museum. 2) MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS ART: paintings, fragments of stone from churches and monasteries which are now disused, silver, coral, liturgical vestments and altar frontals. 3) DUOMO or BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA: sacred in 1148. Frescoes of the Sienese School: Old and New Testament (Bartolo di Fredi and “Bottega dei Memmi”), The Last Judgement (Taddeo di Bartolo), statues in wood by Lacopo della Quercia. Works of the Florentine School: S.Sebastian (Benozzo Gozzoli), Sculptures by Benedetta and Giuliano da Maiano and, in the

CHAPEL OF S.FINA, stories from the life of S. Fina, patron saint of the city by Ghirlandaio and others. 4) Romanesque CHURCH of S.LORENZO IN PONTE (1240). 5) HOUSE OF S.FINA: in which the Saint lived from 1238 to 1253. 6) OLD PODESTA’S PALACE (12th century): it was converted into a theater (“Teatro dei Leggieri) at the end of the 18th century, above it stands the “ROGNOSA TOWER” or “CLOCK TOWER” 51 metres high. 7) PROVOST’S HOUSE: “Prunella’s Fortress” dating from the 12th century. 8) ROCCA DI MONTESTAFFOLI: fortress dating from 1353, with a wonderful view over the town and the countryside. 9) CHURCH OF S.BARTOLO: in Romanesque style, dating from 1173. 10)CHURCH OF S.AGOSTINO: (1280-1298) Romanesque-gothic Frescoes illustrating the life of S.Augustine (Benozzo Gozzoli 1464-65), along with remains of 13th century frescoes, paintings by various painters (Benozzo Gozzoli, Piero del Pollaiolo, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Vincenzo Tamagni, Sebastiano Mainardi). 11) CHAPEL OF S.BARTOLO with the altar By Benedetto (1494). CLOISTER dating from 15th century.

12) CHURCH of S. PIETRO IN FORLIANO: in Romanesque style (12th century - 13th century) 13) CHURCH OF S. JACOPO AL TEMPIO: in Romanesque style (12th century -13th century). 14) MEDIEVAL FOUNTAINS: Lombard, Romanesque and Gothic dating from 12th century to 14th century. 15) FORMER CONVENT OF S.CHIARA home of the new MUSEUMS CENTRE, including the ARCHEOLOGICAL SECTION (classical and medieval), the SPEZIERIA DI S.FINA (Herbarium of S.Fina), and the Raffaele De Grada GALLERY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART. 16) REMAINS of the CHURCH OF S. FRANCESCO, formerly of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 17) ORNITHOLOGICAL MUSEUM: collection made by the Panciatichi family, from the early 20th century, inside the Church of S. Francesco

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(16th century), with frescoes from 17th century-18th century. 18) CHURCH and CONVENT OF SAN GIROLAMO run by the close order of Vallombrosa Benedictine nuns. 19) VERNACCIA DI SAN GIMIGNANO EXPERIENCE LA ROCCA: The center offers an itinerary through wine culture with multimedia demonstrations about the cultivation of vines and wine production in the territory of San Gimignano. Tasting of local wines for groups and for single visitors. 20) ANCIENT PROTECTED TREES DESIGNATED NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Celtis Australis, European Hackberry. Taxus baccata, Yew tree. 21) WALKING TOUR ALONG THE CITY WALLS TOWN WALLS (2nd circle) dating from 13th century, 2176 metres long, with Medicean Bastions (15th century- 16th century).

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Florence News 31

TUSCANY

Discover Colle Val d’Elsa

‘The Italian Way of St. James’ Via Francigena, among ancient routes and modern “pilgrims”

ver 25,000 people, half of whom are Italian, walked at least a part of the Via Francigena last year. Compared to the number of people who walked that stretch in previous years, this is encouraging — an improvement due to the increasing number of bed & breakfasts along the route and to the efforts to promote the route made by the region of Tuscany who has been trying to transform it in a sort of Italian version of the Spanish Way of St. James — but that could, and should, be improved in the future. It was this the conclusion of Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano that recently published a reportage on the route. According to Il Fatto, the potential of the route are huge and, if well exploited, could make it the Italian version of the St. James Way. First documented as the Lombard Way and then the Frankish Route in 725, according to the travel records of Willibald, Bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, the route was named Via Francigena in 876, given its crossing with French territories (Francia, in Italian) at the Abbey of San Salvatore al Monte Amiata in Tuscany and was used

throughout the Middle Ages by pilgrims headed to Rome from the North, particularly from France. Nearly 400 kilometers of the Via pass through Tuscany, accounting in part for the development of a number of the region’s historic settlements and trade and religious centers. Today, tourists and history buffs can enjoy the cultural mecca that is Via Francigena by following one or all of the 15 Tuscan legs, beginning with the journey from Passo della Cisa to Pontremoli and ending with the route from Radicofani to Acquapendente. The Via passes through San Gimignano and its Fortress of Montestaffoli. Originally a castle for the Lombard Astolfo and later a Dominican Convent, the fortress took on a defensive role in the 14th century while under the threat of attack from Siena.

To book a trip to the Via Francigena: www.spreadyourwings.it

WINEMAKER FOR A DAY Winemaker for a Day is a wine tasting course in which you also will be able to create your own, unique, signature vintage by blending up to 5 different grapes while working alongside our award-winning winemaker. Your signature wine will be shipped home for your future enjoyment.

ts name means “Hill of Elsa Valley”, where “Elsa” is the name of the river which crosses it. Today, Colle di Val d’Elsa is internationally renowned for the production of crystal glassware and art (15% of world production), largely produced in the industrial lower town. The area was settled by man from at least the 4th millennium BC, but first mentions of the city are from the 9th century AD. In 1269 it was the seat of a famous battle during the wars of Guelphs and Ghibellines and in 1479 it was besieged by Neapolitan troops. From the 14th century it was a possession of Florence and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the unification of Italy in 1860. In the 20th century it became

an important industrial center. During World War II it was bombed by Allied aircraft. The oldest part of the town is the “colle alta”, the higher part, with a well preserved medieval center. The town developed along the river from the 11th century onwards, building an artificial canal to power various industrial activities, such as wheat mills and paper factories. The city is also famous as the birthplace of sculptor and architect Arnolfo di Cambio.

To book a trip to Colle Val d’Elsa: www.spreadyourwings.it

EDUCATIONAL VINEYARD Spend a few hours in the vineyard with an agronomist learning how grape has to be cultivated. HIKing...wine...food...@monterinaldi Hike in the breathtaking landscape of Chianti before enjoying a home made Tuscan lunch while sipping the real Chianti Classico

OFFROAD ADVENTURE IN CHIANTI Discover the Chianti hills, vineyards and lakes on a land-lover. Then enjoy a homemade lunch paired with Chianti Classico More info on: www.monterinaldi.it

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SKIP THE LINE

Cooking Classes In Tavola aims to spread the rich food and wine culinary traditions of Italy and the Tuscany region through an incredible variety of dishes and recipes to all interested in learning the secrets behind the traditional Italian kitchen. With this intent to promote their knowledge, In Tavola organizes several opportunities for professionals and beginners to participate in cooking and baking lessons with the guidance of professional Chefs in an individual or group setting.

WINE ON TAP IN SANTO SPIRITO Bring your bottles and fill them directly from the barrels of Il Santo Vino, starting at less than €1.50. Patrons can choose from a gamut of Italian wines alongside selected local specialty and organic products

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.; 5–9 p.m.

Via dei Velluti, 18/20r 055 217672 www.intavola.org

Borgo Tegolaio, 46/r Tel. 055 53 87 122 , 345 90 93 425 www.ilsantovino.it Facebook: Il Santo Vino

Premium Tourist Services

NEW GYM NEAR SANTA MARIA NOVELLA Brand new gym in the heart of Florence is now open. • Fully outfitted with the latest cardio & strength equipment from Technogym • Offering a wide array of classes ranging from Zumba to Pilates, every week • All-inclusive memberships with no sign-up fees • Special pricing for students • Friendly English-speaking staff • Free wi-fi Mon. to Fri.: 8 a.m.-10 p.m, Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m, Sunday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Via dei Fossi, 56/r 055 23 96 497

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Uffizi €58 Academy Gallery €50 Uffizi + Academy Gallery €100

FAST-ENTRANCE TICKET! BOOK NOW!

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

APRIL www.florencenews.it

Romola: Renaissance Hijinks in Florence LEE FOUST

eorge Eliot’s Romola remains the historical novel set in Florence. Impeccably researched, Eliot’s fourth published novel blends character study, action, and its political and social themes seamlessly into the tapestry of the tempestuous period of Florentine history between the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico and the execution of Girolamo Savonarola—that moralistic ouster of Lorenzo’s decadent and spoiled son and heir, Piero de’ Medici. As in most great historical novels, Romola, published in 1863, uses the city of Florence and the Renaissance period to engage topics relating to Eliot’s own mid-Victorian England: its struggles between autocracy and democracy, morality and governance, and to consider the role of women in society and politics. Living as we are in times in which democracy is losing traction, and female politicians and pundits alike are more and more taking the spotlight from men, it’s time to revisit Romola and the democratic struggle to hold off De’ Medici tyranny and to reconsider why autocracy and/or faith-based governments are so attractive to some people. Besides being a politically engaged and wonderfully plotted human drama, Romola also benefits from

featuring some of the most affecting post-Romantic Gothic motifs. The novel’s emotional melodrama, its many impossible coincidences, and the delightful cameos it sprinkles throughout the narrative of luminaries such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and other renaissance notables, lift it well out of the realm of the pedantic historical novel and into the more entertaining world of fantasy. Romola gives us the shipwreck and rescue of romance, the thrilling leap into the Arno and dramatic escape of the swashbuckler, as well as the ghostly plague-ridden village of a

MP ORGANIC COTTON

Via dei Pilastri 22r 339 362 5372

dreary Gothic. The novel’s two hefty volumes read more like a Rafael Sabatini pirate odyssey than the history lesson I was expecting. Eliot’s prose is quite a bit more modern than many of her Victorian peers (Charles Dickens et al.) and her many asides—reflections on human nature, politics, and ethics— were always perspicacious never pedantic or preachy. While the narrative of Romola focuses on the one hand on its title heroine—daughter of a scholar raised to pride and secular learning who will learn through hardship and empathy what it is to serve others—and her husband—a foreign adventurer who lands in Florence and is incrementally corrupted and eventually ruined by the city’s politics and his own lighthearted opportunism— we have a dual romantic narrative of humanistic redemption on the one hand and Gothic moral and political damnation on the other. Such a plot serves to bring out the actual importance of day-to-day moral choices—voting, for instance, and the kind of power one supports in governance: the tyranny of a de’ Medici, a secular democracy, or the empowering of a religious zealot. Food for thought! Reading Romola while living in Florence gives one the ultimate perk of seeing the city transformed before one’s eyes back to its Renaissance trappings as one reads and goes about one’s daily business. Each day as I threaded the streets of this city where I have lived now for more than twenty years I found those streets and pizzas colored and renewed in my mind’s eye. I saw Romola hurrying along

Florence News 33

LITERATURE

George Eliot the medieval walls down the Borgo Pinti to say farewell to her dying brother in his cell in the monetary of San Marco. I saw Savonarola’s bonfire of the vanities heaped up in Piazza della Signoria—as well as the charismatic monk’s last ignominious moments near that very spot as he went to the gibbet battered and defeated. I saw Tito Melema, Ro-

mola’s perfidious husband, slinking home across the Ponte Rubaconte to the Via de’ Bardi, or stealing a kiss and breakfast from a Contadina at the Mercato di San Lorenzo, as well as a hundred other corners of Florence peopled and animated by scenes from this evocative novel. Don’t miss reading it while staying in Florence; it’s a special treat!

Besides being a politically engaged and wonderfully plotted human drama, Romola also benefits from featuring some of the most affecting post-Romantic Gothic motifs.

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Sun, Limoncello, and... a Paradise on Earth Visiting the Amalfi Coast with Bus2alps

nown for its picturesque sights and a laid-back beach vibe that has attracted celebrities, weekend jetsetters and college students from all around the world, the Amalfi Coast is one of Italy’s true paradises. It is also the site of a variety of unmissable destinations, including Naples, Pompeii and the Isle of Capri. Spring is the best time to visit this region because the crowds and heat have not yet swarmed the beaches, making the trip with Bus2alps to the Isle of Capri and the seaside towns of Positano and Sorrento ideal.

When first visiting this region, visitors are greeted with the sight of Mount Vesuvius looming over the countryside and dramatic views of traditional cities built into sloping cliffs. As the tour journeys to the Isle of Capri, visitors experience a mystical place that is home to many ancient myths, including the sirens from Homer’s Odyssey. On the private boat tour around the island provided by Bus2alps, you too will be captivated, not by mythical creatures, but by the natural beauty of the area. Visitors

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. Bus2alps journey to Positano is done by private mini cruise, which includes lunch, a swim stop in a secluded beach, three sundecks and full working bar. 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.

Florence News 35

TRAVEL Included: • Round-trip luxury coach transport (with A/C, DVD & bathroom) • Accommodation with your friends at top-rated hostels • Breakfast • Private ferry to the Isle 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 • Exclusive Bus2alps discounts everywhere • A Bus2alps trip leader • The Amalfi Coast Bus2alps destination guide

DRINKS, BEERS & COCKTAILS

Via dei Pepi, 14/r www.chupalachupiteria.com

chupalachupiteria.firenze

chupalachupiteriafi

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Florence News 37

CITY BEAT

Benheart Launches New Boutique

A Florentine Gift

new one is about to open in America at the beginning of the next year. The clothing and accessories are crafted entirely by hand, the treatment of which is taken from the traditions of Ben’s native town. Customized pieces are also available if you visit one of their locations in Florence.

isconti is an authentic Florentine company which manufactures pens, watches, and other accessories. The company was founded October 20, 1988 by Luigi Poli and Dante Del Vecchio, who shared a passion for high quality pens. The luxury of the work shows in the uniqueness of each piece and the special manufacturing process. If you are looking for a memorable souvenir stop by Pinart, located at Via de’ Guicciardini, 2r, 50125 Firenze, located near Ponte Vecchio.

Benheart Via della Vigna Nuova, 97/r Via Cimatori, 25/r Via Calzaiuoli, 78/r www.benheart.it

PINART

Bring Home Organic Cotton Y

ou can get clothing made from organic wool at the MP shop located on via dei Pilastri 22r. Organic wool is not genetically modified, so it is more environmentally friendly. The growing process allows the soil to remain fertile, and it reduces the need for toxic fertilizers, making organic wool a good choice for the eco-conscious consumer.

enheart is opening a new shop on Florence’s most central street, Via Calzaiuoli. The new shop is part of an expansion that encompasses some of the most important cities in Italy (Florence, Rome, Milan, Verona and Lucca), as well as other around the world (Strasbourg, Kuwait City, and Riyad). The story of this young stylist by the name of Ichan is quite literally derived from his heart. It was after a heart transplant, in fact, that Ishan woke up with a new perspective on life, realizing that he now had the best chance to express his emotions through his hands. That’s why Benheart is synonymous to

‘son of the heart’ - the distinctive logo imprinted on all his leather goods: shoes, bags, jackets and belts. Along with his heart, Ichan takes inspiration from the American way of living, which he describes as vivacious, happy, full of hopes and fueled by dreams. “We look at quality first: quality is our brand’s identity. Then, of course, all our products have to fit and look beautiful when you wear them,” he told us. The first Benheart store opened Florence seven years ago. Since then, he has expanded to nine stores: five of which are in Italy, and one of which is in Tokyo. Soon there will be seven boutiques, as a

Medieval Cuisine

Osteria-Pizzeria-Wine bar Via dei Cimatori 7R | 055 215369

38 Florence News

CITY GUIDE

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MUSEUMS & MONUMENTS Cappelle Medicee The Old Sacristy, the New Sacristy, with architecture and sculpture by Michelangelo, and the Chapel of the Princes, decorated with inlaid marble and hard stones. P.zza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, 6 Tel: +39.055.294883 Hours: 8.15-17.00 Closed: 2nd, 4th Sunday; 1st, 2nd, 5th Monday of month

Galleria degli Uffizi Open since 1591, the Uffizi hosts one of the most important collections of art of all time, classical sculpture and 13th to 18th century paintings Loggiato degli Uffizi Tel: +39.005.294883 Hours: 8.15-18.50 Closed: Mondays

Palazzo Vecchio Quartieri Monumentali Residence of the Priors, the Signoria and the Medici. Paintings, sculpture, furniture and hangings. Piazza della Signoria Tel: +39.005.2768224 Hours: Sept: 9-24 - Thursdays 9-14 Oct: 9-19 - Thursdays 9-14.

Galleria dell’Accademia Michelangelo’s masterpieces: the David and the Slaves. Sculpture, paintings and casts by various artists. Via Ricasoli, 60 Tel: +39.005.294883 Hours: 8.15-18.50 Closed: Mondays

Museo del Bargello Residence of the Captain of the People, of Justice and ancient prison. Masterpieces of painting and sculpture, plus minor arts. Frescoes by the school of Giotto in the Chapel. Via del Proconsolo, 4 Tel: +39.005.294883 Hours: 8.15-17.00. Closed: 2nd, 4th Sunday; 1st, 3rd, 5th Monday of month.

Battistero di San Giovanni Romanesque temple dedicated to St. John the Baptist, patron saint of the city. Outside, the doors by Ghiberti. Piazza San Giovanni Tel: +39.055.2302885 Hours: 11.15-18.30 - Sundays, 1st Saturday of month 8.30-13.30.

Campanile di Giotto Famous bell tower, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture by Giotto, built between 1334 and 1359. Piazza del Duomo Tel: +39.055.2302885 Hours: 8.30-18.50. Closed: Easter.

Galleria d’Arte Moderna Paintings and sculptures related to the art in Tuscany from the late 18th century to the period between the two world wars. Temporary shows of contemporary art. Piazza Pitti Tel: +39.055 294883 Hours: 8.15-18.50. Closed: Mondays.Fri, Sat, Sun 9.00 18.00. Thur 9.00 - 14.00.

Cupola di Brunelleschi The masterpiece of Brunelleschi. Frescoes of the Last Judgement by Federico Zuccari. Suggestive itinerary to the top of the dome with breathtaking views over the city. Piazza del Duomo Tel: +39.005.2302885 Hours: 8.30-18.20 - Saturdays 8.3017.00pm. Closed: Sundays and Easter day.

Galleria Palatina e Appartamenti Reali The Palatine Gallery occupies the whole left wing of the first floor of the Pitti Palace, which was the residence of the Medici grand-dukes. In 1828, when Tuscany came under the rule of the Lorraine, the most important paintings in the Palace, most of which had been collected by the Medici. Piazza Pitti Tel: +39.055.294883 Hours: 8.15-18.50 Closed: Mondays

Giardino Bardini These beautiful gardens, recently restored, contain many rare plants and specialised areas, such as Italian and English gardens, as well as a fine Baroque staircase, statues, fountains, a small amphitheater and panoramic views. Entrances: Via dei Bardi, 1 r and Boboli Gardens. Info and reservations: Tel: +39.055.294883 Hours: 8.15-18.30 Closed: 1st and last Monday of month.

Museo delle Porcellane Collections of porcelain from reigning royal families. Palazziana del Cavaliere, Boboli Gardens, Piazza Pitti, 1 Tel: +39.055.294883 Hours:8.15-18.30 Closed: 1st and last Monday of month

Museo degli Argenti Summer apartments of the Grand Dukes. It contains vases in hard stone that belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the jewellery that belonged to the Electress Palatine. Piazza Pitti Tel: +39.055.294883 Hours: 8.15-18.30 Closed: 1st and last Monday of month.

Museo Novecento Italian art of the 20th century, in a journey backwards from the Nineties to the first decades of the century. Piazza Santa Maria Novella Tel: +39.055 286132 Hours: Oct to March- Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun 9.00 - 18.00. Thur 9.00 14.00.

EVERY MONDAY

Via dei Pandolfini, 26 r

Cartoleria Lory Srl P.za Frescobaldi 8r 50125 055-213246 Shop.lory.net www.digital-fineart.it www.lorycad.net

EVERY TUESDAY Via dei Pandolfini, 26r • 347 381 8294

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A Guide to Florence Gardens Piazzale Michelangelo The perfect place for a panoramic view of the city, especially great for sunsets. Transportation: Take bus line 12 or 13 from the Santa Maria Novella station.

Opening hours: Every day from 9 a.m. until sunset.station.

Giardino dell’Orticoltura Built in 1879 by Giacomo Roster for the Tuscan Horticultural Society. Transportation: Take bus line 2 from Santa Maria Novella station. Address: Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 4 Information: 055 20 06 62 37 (Tue afternoon or Fri morning)

Bardini Gardens

Giardino delle Rose (Rose Garden) A green terrace with different sort of roses from all around world below Piazzale Michelangelo, overlooking the historic center of the city. Transportation: Take bus line 12 or 13 from S.M.N station Address: Viale Giuseppe Poggi 2 (near Piazza Michelangelo)

On the hills near Piazza Michelangelo is one of Florence’s best kept secrets. Visitors will see camellias, viburnum, hydrangeas, glycines and rose trees of various species. Full ticket: €10 Address: Costa San Giorgio, 2 Information: 055 200 66 206

Botanical Gardens Giardino dei Semplici Established by Cosimo dei Medici in 1545, this is one of the oldest parks in the world. It is currently maintained by the University of Florence and boasts a collection of carnivorous plants. Transportation: Take bus line 14 from Santa Maria Novella to bus

Florence News 39

CITY GUIDE stop ‘Ghirlandaio’. Address: Via Micheli Information: 055 27 57 402

from train station S.Maria Novella to bus stop Gioia Address: Via Federigo Stibbert, 26 Info: www.museostibbert.it/en or call 055 47 55 20

Cascine Park

Giardino Torrigiani (Torrigiani Garden)

A daytime hotspot for outdoor activities, much loved by Florentines. Every Tuesday the park hosts the city’s largest open-air market, with a very good offers on local specialties such as cheese, vegetables and honey. Transportation: Take the tram line from the Santa Maria Novella station to the Cascine stop

Frederick Stibbert Villa Transformed from a simple Italian park to a romantic English garden by Giuseppe Poggi, this outdoor space features temples, rock caves, fountains and a mysterious Egyptian temple. Entrance to the garden is free; closed only on Thursdays. Transportation: Take bus line 4

The widest privately owned garden in the city boundaries within Europe. The land was inherited by Marquis Pietro Torrigiani in the early 19 th century. He transformed the park into the ‘english style’ as fashion of the time. The garden still known as a botanical garden with great wealth of plant and tree from all around the world. It can be visited if one of the owners will accompany the visitors during their tours. Transportation: Take the bus line 11 from Piazza San Marco to bus stop ‘Campuccio’. Adress:Via dei Serragli 144 Information: www.giardinotorrigiani.it or call 055-224527

Tattoo Piercing Via degli alfani 32/r Firenze

LIVE MUSIC AND SPORTS Via dei Boni 5r Via dei Boni 5r Borgo Croce 2r 334 la 7007714 www.leftluggageflorence.com leftluggageflorence.com

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