Collection n. 4

collection

collection

N.4 A utumn - W inter I ssue 2014 - 2015

The Lungarno Collection Magazine

friends Bill Viola Leonard A. Lauder itineraries The Vasari Corridor Michelangelo

S pecial G uest Ferruccio Ferragamo

P ortrait F irenze New opening

Portrait

city tips

L’emozione del bianco Via di Rimaggio n°41 - Bagno a Ripoli - Firenze Tel.055/630049 - bini@lavmodernabini.it - www.lavmodernabini.it

Highlight s

collection

T hat

Heritage

microcosm of workshops and

artisan studios which , at the end of W orld W ar T wo , led to the birth of fashion in F lorence is part of the M edici family ’ s heritage F lorence was left with many centuries before . W hen the M edicis moved to P alazzo P itti in 1560, the neighborhood filled up with artisan workshops to satisfy the

court ’ s needs . most of

T hat F lorence ’ s

M edicean

is the reason why artisan and craft

shops are located in the

O ltrarno

area

Highlight s

collection

Marble M ichelangelo

used to go there

to choose the blocks of marble he needed for his statues .

We

are

talking about the famous marble

A puan A lps in T uscany , which had provided the ancient R omans with marble for the T rajan ’ s C olumn (G iuliano de ’ M edici , A urelio A mendola , 1982, picture taken in F lorence ’ s M edicean C hapels , whose quarries of the northern

sculptures where designed and created by

M ichelangelo )

Highlight s

collection

The First

O n F ebruary 12, 1951, the charming commissionaire G iovan B attista G iorgini ( to the left ) hosted a ball at V illa T orrigiani . T he invitation read : “T he purpose of the event is to promote I talian fashion houses �. T hat day is celebrated as the official birth date of

I talian fashion ( ph . A rchivio G iorgini .

T he A rchives are housed in R esidenza I l V illino , located downtown F lorence .

V isits are by appointment only , for info : www . ilvillino . com )

Highlight s

collection

gold

E verybody knows that the P onte V ecchio is the bridge of goldsmith ’ s shops , but not everybody knows that up to 1593 there was a meat market in place of the goldsmith ’ s and silversmith ’ s shops that now line the bridge . W hen F erdinando I grew tired of the bad smell coming from the

bridge , he had the butcher ’ s shops replaced with something more up to the

M edicean C ourt .

D ario G arofalo )

standard of the nearby

T herefore ,

gold ! ( ph .

Highlight s

collection

In

Blu Lanvin

the twenties ,

J eanne L anvin

was the first fashion designer to

have a color bearing her name :

‘L anvin

blue ’.

A

delicate shade of

cobalt blue that she had first seen on a trip to

F lorence

in frescoes

featuring distinctive blue skies painted with lapis lazuli powder

Highlight s

collection

portrait

A gnolo di C osimo , known as B ronzino , can be credited as the artist who , more than any other , knew how to describe the splendor of R enaissance fashion in portrait painting

(A gnolo B ronzino , E leanor of T oledo and her son , circa 1545)

© Lorenzo Pesce/Contrasto

SILENZIO, STA PER COMINCIARE L’OPERA DI FIRENZE

www.operadifirenze.it

15

Editorial Bur sting with life

by Leonardo Ferragamo

17

notes Reinassance

by Valeriano Antonioli

Friends 20-21

Bill viola The moder n side of the past

22-23

Fabio Lovino The ar t of seduction

24-25

Leonard A. Lauder About beauty

40-47

76-77

Michelangelo His Majesty

shopping streets

Art & Style 50-53 Ferruccio Ferragamo The iron gentleman

54-57 Leic a 100 year s of fleeting moments

28-31

My florence A special point of view

by Timothy Verdon

32-35

78-81 identity I’m thr illed to have you here

82-83 the project Timeless elegance

84-85 58-59 Opera di Firenze Contempor ar y elegy

60-61 Symbols The spir it of Ponte Vecchio

62-63

Itinerary

The gold of Florence

PERSONAL/UNPERSONAL Flying over Florence

Portrait Firenze 66-69

c affè dell’Oro Lounge with kitchen

86-87 Food & drink Enjoy the taste!

88-89 UNIQUES Behind the scenes

tips 92-93 The must-sees What’s going on

VAsari corridor The ‘cor r idore’

Archive An amazing histor y

36-39

70-75

TIPS

on stage Style her itage

in Florence and Rome

Hidden Coats of ar ms and insignia

94-98 What to do and where to go

ILLUMINA

HIGH FASHION LIGHTING

tosconova.com

Hotel Lungarno Florence 73 rooms and suites Stylish and utter ly char ming with stunning views onto the Ponte Vecchio, Hotel Lungar no features over 400 wor ks of ar t including Cocteau and Picasso.

Villa Le Rose Florence 6 bedroom villa Just minutes away from the hear t of Florence, this 16th centur y Villa is a one of a kind historic residence with relaxing garden, delightful pool, frescoed salons and six private suites.

Gallery Hotel Art Florence 74 rooms and suites Italy’s fir st design hotel, Galler y Hotel Ar t is a favor ite amongst the fashion set of Florence .

Just a few steps from Ponte Vecchio.

Continentale Florence 43 rooms and suites

Portrait Firenze Florence 34 suites

Over looking the Ponte Vecchio, this vibr ant and dynamic contempor ar y hotel is the place to be and to be seen in Florence .

Spacious and intimate suites, the attention of a char ming hotel, and a wonderful view of the Ponte Vecchio.

Palazzo C apponi Meetings & Events

resort baia scarlino Tuscany

This 15 th centur y Palace with sumptuous frescoes and the latest technology, provides a magical stage for meetings, congresses and prestigious events in the hear t of Florence.

On the Tuscan coast, in the hear t of Maremma, this unique destination features contemporar y and ultra spacious apar tments over looking the sea.

Portrait roma Rome 14 suites

Swan Sailing Yacht Mediter r anean & Car ibbean Seas

The finest location in Rome , on Via Condotti, a stone’s throw away from the Spanish Steps, the Por trait Suites reflect the glamour of life of Salvatore Ferragamo.

Considered some of the finest yachts in the wor ld, Swan Solleone and Swan Vir ago offer an exclusive sea vacation with routes to the Mediter r anean Islands and the Car ibbean.

Booking & Info - Lungarno Collection Bor go S.S.Apostoli, 29- Firenze - Ph. +39 055 27264000 - reser vations@lungar nocollection.com

collection

The Lungarno Collection Magazine N.4 Autumn - Winter Issue 2014 - 2015 editor in chief Matteo Parigi Bini Co-editor in chief Teresa Favi Editorial Director Valeriano Antonioli Managing Editor Cristina Fogliatto, Alessandra Ruggeri editor Sabrina Bozzoni, Francesc a Lombardi, ALessandra Luc arelli contributors Leonard A. Lauder, Fabio Lovino, Vincenzo VAcc aro, Timothy verdon, Bill Viola photographers Archivio Alinari, Archivio Foto Locchi, Archivio Giorgini, Aurelio Amendola, Lorenzo Cotrozzi, Dario Garofalo, Egon Ipse, ALESSANDRO MOGGI, Miki Nakano, NewPressPhoto, Valentina Stefanelli, Torrini fotogiornalismo cover jan fabre, ‘self-portrait’, galleria degli uffizi - florence art editors Chiara Bini, Alessandro Patrizi translations TESSA CONTICELLI, Karin honsberg advertising director Alex Vittorio Lana advertising Alessandra Nardelli, DAniela Zazzeri publisher gruppo editoriale (Alex Vittorio Lana & Matteo Parigi Bini) www.gruppoeditoriale.com

Gruppo Editoriale

Gruppo Editoriale

ph. alessandrobencini.com

Firenze, Forte dei Marmi, Milano, Parigi www.angelacaputi.com

Editorial

collection

Bur sting with life ph. Miki Nakano

Leonardo Ferragamo, Founder

F lorence

is a city bursting with life and energy .T he ability to make each and every guest feel at home is exciting We have recently inaugurated our

about Por trait Firenze in this four th

Por trait Firenze, a 34-suite-room

issue of our Collection Magazine.

proper ty and twin sister of Por trait

Inspiring stories of successful people

Roma, with spectacular views over the

such as Leonard A. Lauder, Renaissance

city’s rive gauche and designed down

Man of the Year 2013, and Bill Viola,

to the last detail to make ever y guest

one of the world’s greatest video

feel at home. Its uniqueness lies in the

ar tists, who challenged the ar t of the

bespoke ser vice, the traditional

past for the first time here at our

Florentine attention to material and

hotel. A por trait is a picture of the

detail, the unique atmosphere and

soul trapped inside the body. Our new

hospitality, that has made Florence the

Por trait’s soul is revealed by looking

world’s capital city of ar t.

out of the window and obser ving the

It is the “por trait” of a modern-day and point where the waters of the Arno lively place, which has been restored

river, always so fast-changing and eye-

to life and splendor, but also of the

catching, lap gently against the stones

people who live it and love it. Learn all

and Florence’s unique histor y.

15

ILLUMINA

HIGH FASHION LIGHTING

tosconova.com

Notes

collection

Renaissance

Valeriano Antonioli, Editorial Director

T he P ortrait F irenze is located where once stood the G rand H otel R oyal D e L’A rno , home to C harles D ickens and H enry J ames . T he story to be continued ...

Florence is home to the world’s oldest

savoir vivre, the fifties, which marked the

collection of ar tists’ self-por traits from the

bir th of the so-called “Made in Italy”. In

1500s to the present day. 1800 works of

addition to the location’s beauty - Ponte

ar t ranging from Bernini to Jan Fabre (on

Vecchio is so close you can almost touch it

the cover page) kept in the Vasari Corridor,

- this new adress is the perfect marriage of

the fascinating elevated passageway built at

timeless elegance, contemporar y design, high

the request of the Medicis to allow them to

technology, the ser vice and hospitality of a

move from Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio

bygone age with a modern touch, including

without mingling with the crowd (noblesse

bespoken customer ser vice and empathy.

oblige!). The imposing and mysterious

And, what’s more, Por trait Firenze resides

corridor runs past all our hotels in Florence,

in the place where, in the 1800s, stood the

including Por trait Firenze, our newest gem

Grand Hotel Royal de L’Arno, the favorite

whose name, location and meaning are

gathering place of the greatest writers of

curiously related to the Vasari Corridor.

the time, from Charles Dickens to Henr y

Por trait Firenze is the picture of one of

James, and master goldsmiths, who can still

Florence’s most fruitful creative seasons

be found on the Ponte Vecchio and to whom

when it comes to fashion, manual skill and

we dedicate our Caffè dell’Oro restaurant...

17

friends Bill Viola Fabio Lovino Leonard A. Lauder

portrait 19

Friends

collection

The modern side of the past Bill Viola

I spent 18 months in Florence in my ear ly year s, between 1974 and 1976. I was not interested then in the ar t of the past, but there is no doubt that just being in Florence , walking the streets, visiting the cathedral and churches and great museums, that all of this had a great influence on me that really did not surface until the mid-90s. That’s when I began to look seriously at preRenaissance , Renaissance and Mannerist

B ill V iola ,

the now world ’ s best - known

living video artist , tells us about his

ar t. In 1995, while researching the

first - time visit to

wor ks I was to make for the US Pavilion

F lorence ,

after which many more followed

in Venice that year, I came across a book of Pontormo with his Visitation on the cover. This painting str uck me as extraordinar y, both in color and in composition. I was inspired to make a video installation based on this painting, The Greeting, to examine the sustained emotions that arise while a chance meeting is taking place on a street.

I was enor mously pr ivileged to see

Visitation while it was being restored in Florence last December, in prepar ation for the latest exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi, Pontor mo and Rosso Fiorentino. Diverging Paths of Manner ism. It was a ver y emotional exper ience to see the painting up close and to finally examine the color s and beautiful lines on the faces of the women, expressing deep sympathy for each other.

Exhibition The latest exhibition at the Gr and Palais in Par is explored my career from the seventies to the present day

Discoveries Thanks to the latest exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi on Manner ism, I discovered Rosso Fiorentino, less familiar to me than Pontor mo

20

Curious Fact The Greeting, a wor k I created in 1995, is inspired by Pontor mo’s Visitation

My first Time In the seventies, wor king in the video studio of ar t/ tapes/22 with Mar ia Glor ia Bicocchi

S ubmerged , the self - portrait of B ill V iola , the world ’ s best - known living video artist , on display in the final section of the

C orridor

V asari

21

Friends

collection

T he ar t of seducti on Fabio Lovino

Por tr aiture is mutual exchange , lear ning, human and ever yday acquirement. It is a matter of reciprocal seduction: you have to fall in love with the per son before you, and stop. Waiting for the deepness in the eyes, for the moment that per son feels that he or she can rely on you and get car r ied away by your ideas, which are never pre-ar r anged: I enjoy ar r iving “pure” at the appointment to let the

M usic ,

reports for humanitarian associations that

moment happen. With the help of the r ight light. I avoid the manner istic approach, the pur suit of absolute

cinema , lifestyle , fashion but also photo

T he

A frica , C hile , C ambodia . according to F abio L ovino

brought him to art of portraiture

perfection. When I began wor king as a photogr apher, many year s ago in the adver tising and music field, I followed U2, the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Pr ince on tour for twenty year s. Then came the motion-picture wor ld. Many are the photogr aphs I am par ticular ly fond of… the one of Allen Ginsber g tender ly hugging Fer nanda Pivano, the photorepor t I did of Benicio Del Toro in San Sebastian, the por tr aits of Ber nardo Ber tolucci and Nanni Moretti. The latest adver tising campaign shot in Los Angeles, star r ing the stunning Claudia Ger ini.

The photos of the Circus project, inspired by the circus wor ld. A figure of the past I would have enjoyed photogr aphing? Stanley Kubr ick. Of the present? Bob Dylan.

portrait I avoid the pur suit of absolute perfection (On top, Fabio Lovino on the photogr aphic set with the Italian actor Mimmo Calopresti)

book Por tr aits: 130 photogr aphs documenting over twenty year s of Italian cinema. Cur ated

by Renata Fabbr i, introduction by Luca Guadagnino

22

The important photoreport Of the actor Benicio del Toro at San Sebastian

impossible dream Photogr aphing Mozar t.

At a time when camer as did not exist

F rom

top ,

T ilda S winton ,

the image of timeless beauty according to

F abio L ovino and a photo of the I talia actress A sia A rgento from his book ‘P ortraits ’

23

L eonard A. L auder was given the

‘R enaissance M an of the Y ear 2013’ A ward by the P alazzo S trozzi F oundation in F lorence ’ s S alone dei C inquecento

24

Friends

collection

About beauty Leonard A. Lauder

Estée Lauder was a great mother and businesswoman. She had inner drive and under stood the ar t of creativity, she was a visionar y and she had her own sense of style , which influenced my per sonality and taste for beautiful things. She taught me to preser ve and cultivate the ar ts and follow a philosophy simple in theor y but difficult to put into practice: don’t create a product unless it is perfect.

My parents used to take me on sales calls to depar tment stores and visits

C hairman

emeritus of the giant of the

cosmetics industry

E stée L auder ,

one of the

world ’ s most influential art collectors ,

to museums growing up, so I have a

cosmetics tycoon and philanthropist

good eye for fashion, beauty and ar t. I love women. I love the way they look and the way they laugh. Ever ything!

Beauty is the ability to attract, not just the opposite sex but ever yone . One of my dearest memories of Florence is about a completely unknown woman I once saw on the street: during my jogging days, r unning across the Arno to the other side of the river at 7 a.m.

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT riding her bike to wor k with a shawl When I promised thrown over her shoulder in the most to donate my magnificent fashion-right style as though pr ivate collection she were on the r unway. What class! I of Cubism to the Metropolitan am proud to have received the award Museum of Ar t by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, in the morning, I saw a young woman

because I wor ked ver y, ver y hard in my life and I under stand that great culture knows no national boundaries.

photographer Ir ving Penn: he had an eye like no one else - and I always admired that he did his own printing. He did a lot of wor k for the Estée Lauder Companies for our brand Clinique

25

film A Place in the Sun because it showed the ambitions of youth - and the limits of that ambition - in the most sensitive way. In addition, it was brilliantly directed, scripted and edited

The thing you could never do without My two sons, William and Gar y and the love of a woman!

Spotlight on food

LA TAVOLA srl

tel +39 0161.251959

Via Pietro Micca, 51

contact@la-tavola.it

13100 Vercelli (ITALY)

www.la-tavola.it

i t i n e r a ry Florence Rome

portrait

28

I tinerar y

collection

My Florence Timothy Verdon

P hoto L orenzo C otrozzi My love of ar t began at a ver y ear ly age , as a child, by browsing through the books my family had accumulated over the year s in our New Jersey house . Then chemistr y did its par t when I was attending high school in New Yor k. Ever y time I skipped chemistr y class, a subject I disliked and was unable to master, I found refuge in the Metropolitan Museum and, standing before the “real” works, I irreversibly fell in love with ar t.

But it was in Venice, where I studied for some time shor tly after, that this love grew deeper. I was anxious to under stand the meaning of ar twor k in its or iginal context, as only the

An art historian with a PhD from Yale University and a priest in Florence since 1994, Timothy Verdon is the director of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore Museum

context allows you to make

the reopening of the museum to the

their or iginal spot on the full-scale

reasonable assumptions about the

public in October 2015. Following

replica of the medieval façade .

ar tist’s and the client’s intent and,

major extension wor ks, that have

Standing opposite are the Baptister y’s

thus, about the meaning of a wor k of

doubled the museum’s exhibition

three original bronze doors (11),

ar t. From then on, at fir st as a student space , the wor ks will be displayed

which were designed to face the

and then as a professor, I tried to live

according to philological cr iter ia to

or iginal front.

in Italy as long as possible. And so it

enhance the or iginal ar r angement.

Consider able research effor ts will

has been for 50 year s!

However, what promises to be the

finally allow us to see what nobody

Having been able to devote most of

real “treat” is the reconstr uction, in a

has seen since 1587.

my life and career to the Opera del

huge 500-square-meter room, of the

From the museum, I would like

Duomo Museum, that is what “my”

Duomo’s original façade, which was

to guide you into the Baptister y

Florence is about. Unfor tunately, the

taken down by Gr and Duke Fr ancesco

(2,5), Florence’s fir st great

museum, though containing wor ks of

I in 1587 (the cur rent façade was

architectur al space . Admire , face up,

inestimable value , has been mostly

built in the 1800s). Of the or iginal

the magnificent ser ies of mosaics

used as a storeroom so far.

front only the sculptur al decor ations

ador ning the cupola. Created in the

But things are about to change with

sur vived and they will go back to

1200s, they are amongst the finest of

29

11

the medieval European per iod.

The mosaics’ uniqueness lies in the univer sally intelligible iconogr aphic reading of the wor ks, a distinctive feature of Florentine ar t, according to which an image must be beautiful, but also under standable and touching.

With the Baptister y at your back, go inside the Duomo (1, 3, 4, 6-10) and, if it’s a lovely day, you will enjoy

2

a one-of-a-kind exper ience . Walk down the nave towards the wor ld’s greatest master piece in all the histor y

placed along the nave (4). They are

Once approved, the Gr and Duke

of architecture: Brunelleschi’s Dome.

sixteenth-centur y wor ks in marble

said: “But these two are just fine as

And as you get close , let your body

from the Seravezza quarries, near

they are , why should we waste more

and spir it register the impact of this

Massa Carrara. They were built at

money?”. And so, the taber nacles

space . It will feel like floating in a well

the Medicis’ request and designed by

were finely painted and placed

of bejeweled light filter ing through

Bar tolomeo Ammannati. Well, near ly

where nobody usually stops, as all

the near ly fifty ancient glass windows

nobody knows that the first two

visitor s head str aight to the altar

(8), dating from the late 1300s and

tabernacles off the main entr ance

and beneath the dome .

ear ly 1400s. Such lighting cannot be

are not made of marble , but of

One of the best performed tricks

found in any other Italian church,

wood.

in histor y, no doubt!

exception made for the Duomo of

Being so well-built and painted, one

And, above all, this deception

Milan, whose windows, however, date

would never know, but if you get

well expresses another distinctive

back to the late 1800s.

close and knock on the surface , the

feature of ancient Florentine ar t: the

Do you want to know a secret? Take

secret is revealed. Those were the

boundless admir ation for ar tifice , for

a look at the twelve monumental

or iginal models made by Ammannati

whatever appear s to be but is not,

eight-meter-high tabernacles

to gain the Gr and Duke’s approval.

being simply ver y well made .

30

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

P iazza della R epubblica

9

31

G allery ’ s

32

T he U ffizi courtyard

Art

collection

F rom

left : the loggias unter the

U ffizi G allery ;

the

U ffizi G allery ’ s

corridor ; the

V asari C orridor ;

the loggias under the corridor

T he ‘c o r r i dor e’

The world’s greatest self-portrait collection, with artists from the 1500s to the present day T ext F rancesca L ombardi

The Vasari Corridor is an elevated passageway that begins at the Uffizi Gallery, joins Via della Ninna, r uns over the full length of the Ponte Vecchio, skir ts

A

place of everlasting charm , history and

masters of painting , with a new display that

increases the exhibition space of the twentieth century self - portrait collection

around the Mannelli Tower - named after the only Florentine family that refused to let the Medicis plow through their proper ty - passes through the Church of Santa Felicita and over the houses of Via Guicciardini and ends in Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. The corridor was built in five months to the design of Giorgio Vasari, at the request of Cosimo I, to allow the Medicis to move freely from their private residence to the Florentine government’s seat, that is, from Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio. The meat mar ket, which was located on the Ponte Vecchio, was moved to avoid its smell reaching into the Grand Duke’s private corridor and its place was taken by the goldsmith’s shops that line the bridge to this day.

The entrance to this one-kilometer-long passageway is from a door off the Uffizi Galler y’s third corridor. It houses a par t of the museum’s holdings of seventeenth

and eighteenth-centur y paintings, as well

on display. From the 1500s to the present

as the ar tists’ self-por trait collection.

day, the faces of the greatest ar tists of all

The collection was officially star ted by

time show how the idea of painting and

Cardinal Leopoldo in 1664, by donating

sculpture has evolved over the centuries,

some of his family’s self-por traits. The

on a journey through histor y that has no

size of the collection was increased

equal: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Annibale

significantly over time, fir st by the Medicis

Carracci, Francesco Primaticcio, Lavinia

and then by the Lorena family. In 1981, on

Fontana, Federico Barocci, Rembrandt,

the occasion of the 400 anniver sar y of

Reynolds, Ingres, Ensor but also Chagall,

the Uffizi Galler y’s establishment, director

Rauschenberg, Joseph Beuys, and great

Luciano Ber ti added a great number of

twentieth-century masters such as De

pieces to the collection by asking famous

Chirico, Manzù, Balla, Paladino, Fontana,

contemporar y ar tists to donate their self-

Pistoletto, Carrà… just to mention a few

por trait, carr ying on the Medici family’s

names on a list that grows by the year.

tradition. Today, the collection includes

A few months ago, the final section of

about 1800 wor ks, of which only one third

the Corridore- as Vasari called it-, that is,

th

33

T he

elevated passageway along the

A rno

river

the par t ending in the Boboli Gardens-

display in the new section are par ticular ly

has been rearranged. The new layout,

fragile, owing to the

curated by Giovanna Giusti, director of

suppor t or technique used - let’s

the Galler y’s nineteenth-centur y and

not forget that we are talking about

contemporar y ar t depar tment, with the

contemporar y ar tists -, they will rotate

consent of Antonio Natali, director of the

regular ly and be kept hanging from a

Uffizi Galler y, allowed for the addition

movable suppor t to make replacements

to the collection of 127 self-por traits

and loans easier.

by twentieth-centur y Italian and foreign

The new arrangement of the Corridor’s

ar tists (paintings, stone, bronze and plastic exhibition space, which can definitely be wor ks, photographs), from the Uffizi

described as momentous, has involved

Galler y’s storerooms. This is par t of a

more than the 127 recently added wor ks:

larger project to take wor ks of inestimable 16 wor ks already on view in the Corridor

O n the right page : 1. F ranz von S tuck 2. U mberto B runelleschi 3. J an F abre 4. B oris K ustodiev 5. C rossing the V asari C orridor 6. B accio M aria B acci 7. G iorgio M orandi 8. M immo P aladino 9. E lisabeth C haplin

value out of the Galler y’s storerooms,

have been moved to make room for the

collected over thir ty year s’ time and

new por traits. The 143 por traits of the

fur ther enriched with the acquisition

Corridor’s final section have brought

of the Raimondo Rezzonico Collection

the total number of wor ks on show to

(2005), which has brought over 600

527, most of them by twentieth-centur y

new wor ks to the Galler y’s self-por trait

ar tists, over 800 in all. Photographs by

museum. Among the new self-por traits

Mapplethorpe, Francesca Woodman and

on view are great Italian ar tists such

Patti Smith have been recently replaced

as Baccio Maria Bacci (6), De Chirico,

with wor ks by Daniela de Lorenzo, Gianni

Balla, Marino Marini, Vedova, Pistoletto,

Cacciarini and Giovanni Paszkowski,

Paladino (8), Clemente, Paolini, but also

because of the above-mentioned rotation

foreigner s like Böcklin, Denis, Zorn,

of ar twor k. The latest donations to the

Siqueiros, Kusama, Fabre (3), Viola and

collection are by Andrea Martinelli, Bill

many more. As some of the wor ks on

Viola and Roberto Barni.

34

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

9

7

35

A bove , coat of arms of the M edici family on the pediment of the

C hurch of S anti M ichele e G aetano . B elow , coat of arms of the R ucellai family ( right ), P alazzo S trozzi , cantonale of V ia del P roconsolo

36

Hidden

collection

Coats of ar ms and insignia T ext

and

P hoto V incenzo V accaro *

While walking through the streets of Florence , one can easily notice that most building facades feature

T he

coat of arms can be defined as the sum of the family ’ s insignia of knighthood when titles of nobility were earned

the coat of ar ms of the family that

for military prowess

had it built or, in some cases, still lives there . The coat of ar ms is often fr amed in a shield, evoking the days of chivalr ic deeds, and is placed above the main entr ance or on the cantonale, so called because the building is situated on the cor ner of two streets.

One way to better under stand the difference between coat of ar ms and insignia is to visit the Rucellai Chapel in Via della Spada. Access is through the Mar ino Mar ini Museum, located in the adjacent Piazza San Pancr azio. The Chapel, somehow unknown still to many Florentines, was reopened to the public in Febr uar y 2013, after major restor ation wor ks car r ied out by Florence’s Monuments and Fine Ar ts Office .

The Rucellai Chapel was built inside the Church of San Pancrazio and houses one of the

greatest master pieces of Italian Renaissance ar t: the Sacellum of the Holy Sepulcher, a small-scale replica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jer usalem. Leon Battista Alber ti was commissioned to build the Sacellum by Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai and completed it in 1467.

It is a rectangular masonr y shr ine with semicircular apse and covered with white Carrara marble, green “serpentino” marble from Prato and some precious red marble inlays. The walls consist of thir ty panels made by using a special openwor k technique , opus

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Hidden

collection

S acellum of the H oly S epulcher , R ucellai C hapel in the C hurch of S an P ancrazio , and details of personal S econd picture from left : detail of the graffiti of a M ass server ’ s profile scratched on the shrine ’ s apse

insignia .

inter rasile. The shr ine is topped

and fire (represented by the

through shipping tr ade to the Far

with a crown of lilies and features

red tr iangle pointing upwards)

East and to the For tunale, the sea

an inscr iption in Roman capital

together. In the middle of the

stor m that could have destroyed

letter s dr awn from the Gospel

shr ine’s walls are the per sonal

his fleet and, thus, his wealth, any

and r unning round the tr abeation:

insignia of Cosimo the Elder (a

time .

Yhesum quer itis nazarenum

chaperon with three feather s), of

And so, the building of the Holy

cr ucifixum sur rexit non est hic ecce

Piero de’ Medici (a diamond r ing

Sepulchre to the design of Leon

locus ubi posuer unt eum.

and two feather s) and of Lorenzo

Battista Alber ti can be read as

The panels are decor ated with

the Magnificent (three diamond

both Giovanni Rucellai’s attempt

geometr ic images that refer

r ings interwoven).

at ingr atiating himself with the

to ancient quotations (the

Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai was, in

powerful Medici family for life and

Baptister y’s paneling, the intar sia

fact, related to Florence’s r uler s,

his appeal to the Almighty’s mercy

decor ations of the Church of San

the Medicis - whose coat of ar ms,

to aver t the r isk of economic

Miniato al Monte) or to figures

as ever ybody knows, is a shield

calamities and get ready for the

like the ones descr ibed in the

with six balls - having mar r ied

after life . Dur ing restor ation wor ks,

Book Seven of De re aedificator ia,

Lorenzo’s older sister. He wished

many gr affiti inscr ibed on the

such as the square , the hexagon,

to “show off ” this prestigious

green marble over the centur ies

the octagon, the decagon and the

relationship by mar r iage by

have been brought to light: news

dodecagon, all figures der ived

putting the Medicis’ insignia on

of major events (such as

from the circle , and thus, symbols

his shr ine , but not of all Medici

the death of Ferdinando I, the

of celestial power, talismans

family member s, only those of

Duchess of Nor tumbr ia hear ing

that capture God’s influence

his wife’s closest relatives: her

Mass), but the most cur ious one ,

and extend it over the wor ks

gr andfather, father and brother.

visible only in low sunlight, is on

created by man. One of these

The central panel, which used to

the shr ine’s apse and depicts the

figures, in par ticular, consists of a

face the nave of the Church of

profile of a Mass ser ver.

red tr iangle and a white tr iangle

San Pancr azio, features Rucellai’s

(Solomon’s seal) interwoven,

personal insignia, a sail unfur led

*Director of Section I of

symbolizing the power of br inging

by the wind, the ancient symbol of

the Super intendence of the

water (represented by the white

For tune, which here refer s to both

Environmental and Architectural

tr iangle pointing downwards)

the economic for tune he gained

Her itage of Florence

38

39

His M aj e sty

Michelangelo, the absolute genius.

The world celebrates him in the year of the 450th anniversary of his death T ext F rancesca L ombardi

T he H all

P risoners that T ribune of the D avid , A ccademia G allery , F lorence ( ph . L orenzo C otrozzi ) of

culminates in the

40

41

D avid at the A ccademia G allery , F lorence ( ph . L orenzo C otrozzi )

42

T he M oses at the S t . P eter ’ s B asilica , R ome ( ph . V alentina S tefanelli )

43

T he D ome of S t . P eter ’ s B asilica in R ome , built to the design of M ichelangelo B uonarroti , who worked on it till the year of his death , and was one of the

artist ’ s greatest disappointments

44

45

T he S istine C hapel ’ s ceiling ( about 500 square meters ), which was frescoed

by

M ichelangelo nearly all by himself , is considered to be one of the greatest

masterworks of

46

W estern

art

O ne of the P risoners , A ccademia G allery , F lorence ( ph . L orenzo C otrozzi )

47

a r t s t y l e s to r y Ferruccio Ferragamo 100 years of Leica Opera di Firenze Ponte Vecchio Personal/Unpersonal at the Gallery Hotel Art

portrait

F rom top clockwise : F iamma , G iovanna , L eonardo , W anda , F erruccio and F ulvia F erragamo on the rooftop of P alazzo S pini F eroni , 1983 ( ph . D avid L ees ). F erruccio F erragamo as a child . S alvatore F erragamo in a 1938 picture surrounded by his artisans .

F erruccio with his father in the garden of V illa I l P alagio ( ph . F erragamo archives )Â

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Style

collection

T he i ron gentl em an A private talk with Ferruccio Ferragamo T ext T eresa F avi

Fer r uccio Fer r agamo is the thirdbor n of the six children of Wanda and Salvatore Fer r agamo, the golden couple that came together in 1940.

A broad smile , an enviable shape , fr iendly manner s and cosmopolitan

T he third - born of W anda and S alvatore F erragamo ’ s six children . I ncredibly successful and yet very down - to - earth , he has been president of the S alvatore F erragamo G roup since 2006

style .

He loves Florence to bits, but he r uns off to Il Bor ro, near Arezzo, as often as he can, to his countr yside proper ty, an ancient village restored to its or iginal splendor and conver ted into a Tuscan-style villa and game preser ve , where he spends his leisure time in the

record budget for 2013, with sales increased by 9%.

President, in the light of such great

company of six children and twelve

achievements, what is the biggest

gr andchildren. Not to mention the

challenge you have had to face

winer y, a long-standing passion that

since you joined the Ferragamo

developed into a thr iving business

Group?

with 70 full-time employees. Beneath In the past fifty year s, I have never his elegant manner s lies an iron stopped facing challenges, I have will, a self-controlled and strong

per sonality, the bold and far-sighted entrepreneur who focuses on results

never been resting on my laurels.

Salvatore Ferragamo is a symbol of the “Made in Italy”, born out of

and quality. Vir tues and skills that

your father’s creative genius. How ear ned him the position as president would you describe your father to of Salvatore Fer r agamo SpA and someone who never met him? the Florentine fashion company a

I was only four teen year s old when

51

Style

collection

F rom

left :

the day

S alvatore F erragamo women ’ s collection fashion show ; F erruccio F erragamo in his office ; the family picture on G ruppo F erragamo was quoted on the S tock E xchange ; P alazzo S pini F eroni in F lorence the G roup ’ s headquarters

he passed away, but I was old

What are your priority choices

Leonardo’s vision.

enough to know him well. What

when it comes to clothing?

What is it that you like best about

was he like? He was a ver y fr iendly

I love quality items, beautiful things,

the hotels?

and kind man. A wonderful and fun

but I also enjoy wear ing them out, I

The boutique hotel philosophy:

father, although he was quite str ict

always have my shoes resoled because small-sized hotels in unique

with me , but I deser ved it, for I was

I grow fond of them over time .

locations offer ing luxur y hospitality

a pretty restless boy. He adored his

What doesn’t fashion need

on a human scale , where each

family. He was my role model when I

nowadays, in your opinion?

and ever y guest feels at home . A

became a father.

Extremism, subver sion, useless and

philosophy that is fully achieved

Have you inherited any of your

low quality things.

at the new Por tr ait Firenze . And

father’s great qualities?

You constantly travel the world for

what an amazing location! With

His honesty, I think. He believed

business, but you always come back

breathtaking view of the Lungar ni

in his products because they had

to Florence . Is Florence still your

and the Ponte Vecchio! My house

intr insic value . And I believe that his

ideal city?

over looks the Ar no r iver, just like

strong sense of loyalty to himself

I am a bor n-and-bred Florentine , just the Por tr ait, and it’s the thing I like

and other s was passed down to me .

like all Fer r agamos are . Florentine

best about it, you can’t imagine how

Is that why Ferragamo goes on

deep down inside . I am madly in

beautiful the light is when the r iver

producing exclusively in Italy?

love with this amazing city. But

is so close .

Keeping consumer s on our side

we cannot live on its beauty and

President, would you mind sharing

or employment stable cannot be

histor y forever, we have to make

one of your dearest memories with

achieved by simply saying that Italy is sure it offer s also pr actical living and us? What family picture would you beautiful and made-in-Italy products

wor king conditions.

never par t from?

are known wor ldwide . What we

What does Ferruccio Ferragamo

The one taken on the day our

need are strongly competitive

think about the family-owned

company was quoted on the Stock

products of real value .

hotels?

Exchange (June 29, 2011), the whole

What is elegance about for

I really like them. Since my fr iend

family was there , and of cour se I

Ferruccio Ferragamo?

Alber to Milla came up with the

cannot but think of my father, who

Being oneself all the time and not

idea of the fir st three hotels, many

would have been so proud to see

being overwhelmed by passing fads

good and innovative choices have

how far the company he founded

and fashions.

been made thanks to my brother

has gone .

52

A bove :

SPA’ s lounge I l B orro estate in S an G iustino V aldarno , owned by F erruccio F erragamo .

B elow , a view of the A rno river with S anta T rinita bridge in the middle and L ungarno A cciaiuoli on the right - hand side the

area of

53

V-J D ay

T imes S quare , A lfred E isenstaedt , published on L ife magazine in 1945 in

the photo by

54

K iss

by the

H otel D e Ville,

the photo taken by

R obert D oisneau

in

1950

100 year s of Leica

One century of the legendary camera that revolutionized photography

C ompact ,

fast - shooting , producing

excellent photos even in low light ,

photojournalists ’ favorite camera all over the world .

I nvented

in

1914,

it made snapshots possible

55

Anniver sar y

c o ll e c t i o n

The Painter of the Eiffel Tower, Paris by Marc Riboud, 1953; Che Guevara by Renè-Burri, 1963; Henry Cartier-Bresson with his Leica; Oskar Barnack

Here’s how Henri Cartier-Bresson explained its secret: “Why do I always choose Leica? Because it is like a warm passionate kiss, like a gun shot, like a shrink’s couch”.

Small negative-great photography. This

H ere ’ s

H enri C artier -B resson explained its secret : “W hy do I always choose L eica ?

B ecause it is like a warm passionate kiss , like a gun shot , like a shrink ’ s couch ” how

is the revolutionar y philosophy that, in 1914, inspired Oskar Barnack, an engineer from Zeiss employed at Leitz of Wetzler, to make his dream come tr ue: building a camera small enough “to fit in a breast-pocket”, that could save the photographer the trouble of carr ying the heavy tripod around and allow him to capture the moment. It was named

greatest photographer s in the histor y

a photo taken by the popular German

Leica (crasis of Leitz and Camera), a

of por traiture and repor tage , such as

camera, which this year, after having

camera as small as an eyeglass case

Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Robert

revolutionized the wor ld of photography

and containing a 35 mm roll of film.

Doisneau, Robert Capa and Ilse Bing,

in the ear ly 1900s, celebrates its 100 th

Introduced in 1925 at the Spring Fair of

the golden year s of the Leica were the

anniver sar y.

Leipzig, Leica was not well received by

sixties and seventies, when it was used

THE LEIC A STORE IN FLORENCE

buyer s, nor by journalists: “Leica is a toy

by paparazzis in Via Veneto in the Dolce

Florence’s Leica store stands opposite

- some spiteful journalists commented -

Vita days and appeared in Fellini’s films,

Galler y Hotel Art, at 12/14r Vicolo

designed for a lady’s pur se”. Seven year s

in Jack Nicholson’s pocket in Chinatown,

dell’Oro, and offers the full range

later, sixty thousand “toys” were sold,

in The Godfather. Ernesto “Che” Guevara

of Leica products. It also houses

Leica became a bestseller in the United

smoking a cigar, Sophia Loren smiling at

photographic exhibitions and get-

States and spurred other companies,

the height of her beauty. And the world’s

together s with the best-known

such as Kodak, to produce car tridges

most famous kiss, in Times Square, to

contemporar y photographer s. Showing

for the new camera format. For ty year s

celebrate the end of Wor ld War Two.

till Januar y 2015 is the exhibition by

later, near ly one million Leica cameras

Whether you own a Leica camera or

Daniele Barraco, one of Italy’s most

were sold. The favorite camera of the

not, there is no way you haven’t seen

famous por trait photographer s.

56

F rom above clockwise , P ablo P icasso , V illa L a C alifornie , C annes by R enĂŠ B urri , 1957; B ruce G ilden , 2001;Â C assius C lay /M uhammad A li by T homas H oepker , 1966 (A ll images are kindly granted by

L eica C amera AG)

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T heatre

collection

Contempor ar y elegy Curtain up on Florence’s new Opera House

Write it down on your travel journal or on your smar tphone’s memo application.

If you’re planning to come to Florence , you should include a walk to the western side of the city, which has been recently restr uctured and is now a brilliant example of contemporar y architecture blending with the green landscape , as par t of your trip.

We are talking about Florence’s greenest area, Le Cascine , which, along with Stazione Leopolda (a ver y interesting example of railway architecture conver ted into exhibition space) and Florence’s new opera house , has become the city’s most contemporar y

A

large 1,800- seater theater equipped with three stage platforms and a 2,200- seater outdoor cavea for opera , symphonic music and ballet performances

destination.

However, the driving force behind

The performance halls rise like rocks

opera by Gioacchino Rossini, in an

the urban reconver sion of this green

above the terraces, which will be soon

extraordinar y production directed by

area, located just outside of the city’s

buzzing with restaurants and bookshops:

José Carlos Plaza, will be staged from

historic center, is the Opera di Firenze,

the large 1,800-seater theater, equipped

July 14 to 22 (for five nights: July 15,

the most impressive public project

with three movable stage platforms

17,18, 21, 22). The Maggio Musicale

carried out in Florence in the past few

for quick stage changeover s or to hold

Fiorentino Orchestra, conducted by

centuries, designed to house one of

several performances simultaneously,

Zubin Mehta, will perform on September

the wor ld’s most prestigious and oldest

and the smaller 1,100-seater concer t

2 (music by Cajkovskij, Beethoven,

music foundations, the Maggio Musicale

hall. The opera house’s interior s are

Ravel, Verdi, Puccini). On September

Fiorentino. Conducted by Zubin Mehta

equally spectacular and decorated with

10, the Orchestre National de France

and featuring an impressive production

poster prints of the most beautiful

will be conducted by Daniele Gatti in

of operas and symphonic concer ts since

vintage photos of the Maggio Musicale

a reper toire ranging from Debussy to

1928, this annual music festival is held

Fiorentino found in photographic

Stravinskij and Beethoven.

from May to June and includes a rich

archives (Contrasto, Archivio Foto

The new season starts on September 25

program of opera, orchestral music and

Locchi). The not-to-be-missed music

with a modern opera Il Campiello by

ballet performances.

events? The Barber of Seville , the

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.

58

A bove , O pera di F irenze ’ s exterior .

B elow , the large 1,800- seater theater P review page : Z ubin M ehta , chief conductor of the

M aggio M usicale F iorentino O rchestra

59

The

water show

‘F ous

de

Bassin’

by

F rench

group I lotopie , was performed right in front of the

Ponte V ecchio

The spir it of Ponte Vecchio An unforgettable water show and the magic of Florence’s most symbolic landmark P hoto E gon I pse

A

special event to celebrate the

60 th

F lorence C enter for I talian F ashion and P onte V ecchio ’ s new lighting donated by S tefano R icci , owner of the fashion house bearing his name .

T he star of the event and special guest of P ortrait F irenze was A ndrea B ocelli anniversary of the

60

S ome

wonderful

moments of the

P onte V ecchio ; tenor A ndrea B ocelli water show on

performing on the

P onte V ecchio

61

art

collection

Flying over Florence

A world populated by anthropomorphous figures crossing Vicolo dell’Oro’s skies If, when strolling through Vicolo dell’Oro, you notice tourists and passer s-by walking face up, don’t be surprised: look up your self and you’ll see the most amazing ar t installation, called Personal/ Unpersonal, commissioned by Galler y Hotel Ar t to architect/ar tist Simone

“P ersonal /U npersonal ”

D’Auria. Human figures with animal heads climb up the front of the Galler y Art Hotel and surrounding buildings and pirouette like funambulists along ropes

in

is the name of the new art installation set V icolo dell ’O ro , commissioned by G allery H otel A rt to architect S imone D’A uria

stretched between the buildings, as if they were telling the people below to relax and enjoy this wonderful city! The heads are those of a rooster, rhino and owl. Playing with the idea of por traiture is the joyful way with which D’Auria welcomes the new hospitality address by Lungarno Collection, Portrait Firenze.

The performance is also a reminder for tourists of the precious por traits kept in the nearby Uffizi Galler y and Vasari Corridor and of the Medicis’ taste for having themselves por trayed with animal features. The illustrious figures, that made the histor y of Florence , enjoyed having their emblems bear the figure of an animal and a motto referring to their braver y and vir tues: the tur tle and a sail, the symbols of pr udence and strength of action for Cosimo I; the rhinoceros, the symbol of strength and willpower for Alessandro de’ Medici; the weasel, the symbol of astuteness, for Francesco

I. “The installation- says the architect to introduce his second exhibition in Florence which, as the previous one , relies on the “surprise” factor – draws inspiration from the concept of por trait, meant as the description of a specific style: a mix of values ser ving as the backdrop for the visitor s’ stories which are , in turn, reflected in the city’s stor y”.

And the goa l- as for all D’Auria’s ar twor k - is that of sending out a positive message for all tourists and visitor s making their way from Ponte Vecchio to Vicolo dell’Oro: an invitation to keep going, no matter what, to climb higher to grow stronger by reaching beyond one’s limits.

62

F ront

of

G allery H otel A rt

which also this year houses a new art installation :

human figures with animal heads climb up the front of the hotel and its

surrounding buildings .

P revious page , a portrait of S imone D’A uria

63

Portrait Firenze

portrait 65

A n a m az i ng hi stor y

Once upon a time there was a hotel in Florence that Charles Dickens and Henry James were very fond of‌

N octurnal view of L ungarno A cciaiuoli , with S anta T rinita B ridge and P alazzo S pini F eroni in the middle in a painting by T homas P atch , circa 1769, owned by the Q ueen of E ngland

66

67

Portrait Firenze

collection

F rom left , the sign of G rand H otel R oyal de l ’A rno in a vintage picture ; the buildings giving onto L ungarno A cciaiuoli the P onte V ecchio , which were lost to the 1944 bombings ; the front of the new P ortrait F irenze

near

“We are ver y sumptuously lodged on the Lung’Ar no within a stone throw of Ponte Vecchio.

It

My bedroom looking on the r iver is thir ty three by thir ty and high in propor tion. I feel as if I were sleeping in some public

was the G rand H otel R oyal de l ’A rno , nineteenth - century F lorence ’ s most luxurious hotel . I t now comes back to life as P ortrait F irenze , a blend of glorious past and shining present

square , that of the Gr and Duca for instance with the David and Per seus looking at me . (…)”.

Henr y Wadswor th Longfellow, 1868 When wr iter and poet Henr y Wadswor th Longfellow, the fir st Amer ican tr anslator of the Divine

sumptuous three-storey palazzo

Algernon Swinburne and the great

Comedy, tr avelled to Italy and

with ter r aced garden over looking

Br itish ar t histor ian John Ruskin.

ar r ived in Florence in November

the Ar no r iver.

The war-time events of 1944

1868, he stayed at the Grand

In the ear ly 1800s, after sever al

brought the business to an end,

Hotel Royal de l’Arno, which was

changes of owner ship and

as well as the building, which was

among Florence’s top-r ated and

str uctur al renovations, the ancient

bombed and destroyed. It was

most elegant hotels.

Palazzo was conver ted into a

rebuilt on its foundations in the

The building gave onto Lungar no

luxur y hotel equipped with ever y

postwar per iod and used for a

Acciaiuoli, Vicolo dell’Oro and

moder n comfor t and designed for

var iety of pur poses, until it went

Bor go SS. Apostoli. It boasted an

the many illustr ious guests that

back to being a hotel as par t of

age-old and fascinating histor y

it would welcome for over one

the Lungar no Collection. Today, the

dating back to the 1200s: the

centur y: Grand Duchess Anne of

Lungarno Collection acknowledges

powerful Acciaiuoli family,

Russia in 1822, Charles Dickens

and reveres the sanctity of histor y

merchants and apothecar ies,

and wife in 1845, Henr y James in

while pur suing a new sense of

had commissioned Ber nardo

1880, Danish wr iter Jens Peter

hospitality for its guests with the

Buontalenti to design and build a

Jacobsen, Br itish poet Charles

opening of Por trait Firenze .

68

F ront of the G rand H otel R oyal de l ’A rno in a picture dating back

1900 s ( ph . A rchivio A linari ) to the early

69

St yl e h e r i tage

Florence invented “Made in Italy� and the world fell at its feet

T ext T eresa F avi P hoto A rchivio G iorgini , A rchivio F oto L occhi , T orrini F otogiornalismo

A

high fashion

W hite R oom , P alazzo P itti , F lorence ( ph . A rchivio G iorgini ) show in the

70

71

Portrait Firenze

collection

F rom left : backstage of a fashion show , 1952; M aria C allas , G iovanni B attista M eneghini and M archese E milio P ucci , 1955; Y ves M ontand and D aniele D elorne on the L ungarni , 1953 (A rchivio F oto L occhi ). E lizabeth T aylor and R ichard B urton (T orrini F otogiornalismo )

A

A deeply-rooted tradition of manual skills, craftsmanship and talent which the Medicis, many centur ies before ,

fascinating story , as enthralling

as a novel , told in detail by

P ortrait F irenze ’ s

every floor and room

had left to Florence , along with ar t and cultur al treasures and their savoir vivre . A well-known fact among the member s of the upper middle class and ar istocr acy, who - from the 1800s on- flocked to Florence from ever y cor ner of the wor ld to stock up on laces, houselinen, jewelr y, silverware , leather goods and hats. The fir st to realize the untapped potential lying just beneath Florence’s cr aft shops and ar tisan factor ies, back in the late ‘20s but, with the insight of a moder n-day entrepreneur, was a shoemaker from the Campania region who had spent some successful year s in Hollywood, but had chosen to settle in Florence to give for m and substance to his boundless creativity.

This shoemaker’s name was Salvatore Ferragamo and the thir teenth-centur y building over looking the Ar no r iver would soon become his headquar ter s. Then came Wor ld War Two and the difficult postwar per iod. And that is when the stor y of Italian fashion and “Made in Italy” fame begins.

The “where” of the stor y is Florence ,

whose ar tisan tr aditions and innate

with a deep knowledge of the

taste for style and beauty would

Amer ican mar ket, the only mar ket

conquer the whole wor ld in a few

capable , at the time , of absorbing

year s’ time , just as they had won over

Italy’s consumer goods as its

Salvatore Fer r agamo. A fascinating

economy slowly reconver ted from

stor y, as engaging and enthr alling as a

militar y to civilian. Italy, in par ticular

novel, which descr ibes a lively though

Florence , was wor ld-famous for its

controver sial per iod of Italian histor y.

excellent and highly skilled ar tisans

In those year s, owing to the postwar

and, as “Bista” Gior gini put it, two

per iod’s favor able economic situation

plus two only equals four. However,

and stronger tr ade relations with

he had to br ing the big buyer s and

the United States, fostered by the

jour nalists to Florence . On Februar y

Marshall plan, the idea of launching

12, 1951, the char ming Gior gini

Italian high fashion to counterbalance

hosted a ball at his eighteenth-

Par is’s hegemony began to take

centur y villa in Florence , Villa

shape .

Torrigiani. The invitation read: “The

Then a visionar y and creative genius

pur pose of the event is to promote

bur st on the scene: Marchese

Italian fashion houses”, which

Giovanni Battista Giorgini, a tr ue

designed less sophisticated clothing,

gentleman bor n in For te dei Mar mi,

but much more suitable for an active

with impeccable ar istocr atic manner s

and dynamic lifestyle than Par isian

and a glib tongue , a buying agent

coutur ier s did.

72

F rom top clockwise : T yrone P ower on the terrace of the E xcelsior H otel overlooking the L ungarni , 1948. A model wearing an evening gown at a fashion show at the

G rand H otel , 1952. T he D uke and D uchess of W indsor with S alvatore F erragamo in front of P alazzo S pini F eroni , 1949 ( ph . A rchivio F oto L occhi )

O utside U ffizi G allery

the

73

I ngrid B ergman

in the car in front of the

R ight : a fashion model at F lorence ’ s rowing club , 1948 ( ph . A rchivio F oto L occhi )

H otel E xcelsior , 1950 ( ph . A rchivio F oto L occhi )

The event’s effect was far-reaching,

between the ‘50s and ‘60s: Christian

as for the fir st time a fashion

Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jacqueline

show had been held in a location

Kennedy, Maria Callas, Ava Gardner,

separ ate from the fashion house’s

Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor and

headquar ter s. However, per suading

Richard Bur ton, Audrey Hepburn

all those influential people to gather

and Ingrid Bergman, even the Duke

at the same time in the same place

and Duchess of Windsor. This

was no easy task. Gior gini had to

incredible stor y is told in detail by

resor t to some tr icks. To the fashion

Por tr ait Firenze’s 36 suite rooms and

houses he said: “The best designer s

commons areas.

have already agreed to come”, to the

A visionar y and breathtaking

buyer s he said: “If you’re not coming,

jour ney conceived by ar t histor ian

you won’t mind if I invite your

Nina Screti who, by relying on her

competitor s”. Anyway, that night

exper ience in the fashion wor ld,

in Florence the wor ld took a new

gained by wor king for Car la Sozzani

approach to fashion. Gior gini had

and the LVMH group, liter ally

realized that the future of fashion

tur ned upside down the Giorgini

and style would lie in the prêt-à-

Archives and the Alinari, Locchi

por ter and Florence would open the

and Torrini photographic archives,

door s of Palazzo Pitti’s White

fully suppor tive of her extr aordinar y

Room to fashion shows for many

project. The strong bond between

year s to come .

fashion, ar t and cr afts, which has

The rest is histor y. Extr aordinar y

made Florence what it is today, still

times made up of glamorous par ties,

retains a special appeal for all those

masked balls, theater s, gardens,

who wish to exper ience an alchemic

amazing locations and inter national

and unique mix of these three

Jet Set member s landing in Florence

extr aordinar y elements.

74

75

A bove , shop windows V ia de ’ T ornabuoni .

B elow : P onte V ecchio

in

and its famous

goldsmith ’ s and

silversmith ’ s shops

Portrait Firenze

collection

From left: jeweller’s shops on the Ponte Vecchio and fashion boutiques in Via de’ Tornabuoni

T he gol d of F l or ence

Via de’ Tornabuoni, Ponte Vecchio and Florence’s main shopping streets T he best of fashion and art within one kilometer : F lorence boasts over 140 high - end boutiques

With its matchless tr adition of ar t and cr aftsmanship and its classical style of symmetr y and propor tion as ideal of beauty, Florence is home to some of the world’s greatest fashion houses, which have brought wor ld-wide fame to the “Made in Italy” know-how. And all of their design and production is still based in Florence . We are talking about wor ld-famous br ands such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Emilio

most sophisticated shopping streets,

to the Middle Ages and filled with

Pucci, Gherardini which, in the late

the busiest of which is the downtown

objects of incompar able value for

Via de’ Tor nabuoni, Florence’s Fifth

which there are people willing to

Avenue , and the nearby Via della

tr avel to Florence from all cor ner s of

Vigna Nuova, Piazza Strozzi, Piazza

the wor ld! What is perhaps

della Repubblica, Via Roma and Piazza

lesser known, is that until the late

della Signor ia. The best of fashion

sixteenth-centur y, Ponte Vecchio was

and ar t within one kilometer of our

home to the meat mar ket, the ideal

Ermanno Scer vino.

hotels is a not-to-be-missed luxur y

place for butcher s to dump waste

Their wonderful boutiques, in

shopping exper ience in Florence .

directly into the Ar no r iver below! In

addition to other celebr ated luxur y

Ponte Vecchio, the bridge of gold,

1593, Ferdinando I de’ Medici, tired

is the symbol of Florence

of the stench of meat reaching into

wor ldwide . For centur ies, the

the Vasar i cor r idor, that connected

Ponte Vecchio has been lined with

Palazzo Pitti and Palazzo Vecchio, had

goldsmith’s shops and wor kshops.

the meat mar ket moved and replaced

Small treasure boxes dating back

with the goldsmith’s shops.

1800s and ear ly 1900s, tr ansfor med Florence into the home of style and elegance . The list of Florentine-bor n fashion houses has grown over the year s to include Roberto Cavalli, Stefano Ricci, Enrico Coveri and

br ands - from Christian Dior to Prada, from Hermès to Louis Vuitton, from Chanel to Valentino, from Bulgari to Rolex, from Cartier to Chopard - line the city’s leading and

77

78

I ’m thr illed t o have you h ere A new style of hospitality is taking shape, find out all about it in Florence

T ext V aleriano A ntonioli *

P ortrait F irenze ’ s terrace with extraordinary

A rno P onte

view of the river and

V ecchio

79

A ristocratic

elegance ,

unmatched attention to details and rare vintage

O utside U ffizi G allery

photographs decorating the walls of

F irenze

the

P ortrait

80

Portrait Firenze

collection

S unset

in

F lorence

from the terraces and rooms with lovely views of the

Por tr ait is a life style , a philosophy of hospitality. It is set in a location of undisputed and r are beauty, and steeped in comfor t and elegance , but

N othing

L ungarni

is more crucial to the success

“ service ”.

F irenze ’ s uncommon recipe ,

of a luxury hotel than

P ortrait

poised between the past and present

this is not the point. The difference makes an extraordinar y team, that has been able to tr ansfor m exclusivity into an alchemic mix, that has the power to make ever y piece fit together in a vibr ant whole , going well beyond the bespoken ser vice

since the 1800s. The most amazing

any moment and, more impor tantly,

of any great luxur y hotel. The first

thing about it, just like in Rome , is

with amazing empathy. In order to

Por trait was established in Rome by

that a lady in sky-high heels can leave

achieve such results, we contact

the Lungar no Collection about ten

the hotel to go on a shopping spree

our guests before their ar r ival in

year s ago, in the for m of an Italian-

without wor r ying about aching feet:

Florence to lear n in advance about

style luxur y townhouse , where the

only fifty steps and she is in the

their preferences and how they plan

war m and reassur ing atmosphere , the

city’s luxur y shopping area (Via de’

to spend their time . And, if they

focus on one-to-one relationships

Tor nabuoni, Via della Vigna Vecchia

wish, we help them plan their stay,

and per sonalized customer ser vice

and Piazza Strozzi); a five-minute walk

optimize time and fulfil their wish list.

make each and ever y guest feel

and she finds her self in the hear t of

When the guests ar r ive , we already

at home . The name itself, Por tr ait,

Florence ar t treasures: Piazza della

know them and they know us. What

expresses the concept of “made-to-

Signor ia, Loggia dei Lanzi, the Uffizi

we str ive to achieve here is what

measure” hospitality, catered to each

Galler y, the Bar gello Museum; another

we str ive to achieve is a sense of

individual’s needs.

five-minute walk and she can enjoy

hospitality: that feeling of happiness

We now employ this same philosophy

the under stated elegance of the

you exper ience when retur ning to a

in Florence , in a magic place with

Oltr ar no area with its cafés, antique

place you haven’t been to in year s

spectacular view of the Ponte

dealer s and cr aft shops. From the

to see dear fr iends you haven’t seen

Vecchio and Arno river, in the hear t

suites, guests can take in the beautiful

in a long time and they have done

of the city, next to Florence’s most

view of the Ar no r iver and the hills

ever ything humanely possible to make

glamorous shopping street, Via de’

sur rounding Florence like an or nate

you feel home and at ease . Welcome

Tornabuoni. A place which has been

fr ame , while the fr iendly and skilled

to the Por tr ait.

devoted to hospitality “de char me”

staff is at her complete disposal at

81

* AD Lungar no Collection

Portrait Firenze

collection

Timeless elegance

Sophisticated and personalized, the best backstage for our performance 34 wonderful suites and an

ser vice , as I believe that going

Fr anco Zeffirelli, Anna Magnani,

extr aordinar y 275 square

back to tr aditional-style ser vice is a

Vittor io Gassman, Sophia Loren).

meter Por tr ait Penthouse Floor.

step in the direction of the future .

The four th floor is named after

Aristocratic atmosphere and

I was deter mined to provide the

royal and renown frequent visitors

timeless appeal, a haven where

best possible backstage for our

to Florence, such as Pr ince

har mony is the r ule . “In order to

perfor mance”.

Baudouin of Belgium, the Duke

create a har monious environment

And when going from one floor

and Duchess of Windsor, Gr ace

- explains Florentine architect

to another of this seven-storey

Kelly and Ranier i of Monaco. The

Michele Bönan, the wor ld-famous

building, you really feel like being

fifth floor celebrates Giovanni

master of style who designed the

on stage , like an actor hidden

Battista Giorgini and some of the

exclusive Por tr ait Firenze - I

in the wings of a theatre before

fir st designer s who took par t in

relied on inter plays of color s and

making an entr ance . Ever y floor

the White Room’s fashion shows:

mater ial contr ast and used mat

has a theme that is evident in the

Rober to Capucci, Simonetta

grey in contr ast with glossy grey

beautiful vintage photos chosen by

Visconti and Emilio Schuber t.

and dar k brown.

ar t histor ian Nina Screti. The first

The sixth floor is dedicated

I combined steel with gilt metal

floor is dedicated to international

to the memor y of Salvatore

and wood, utilizing fabr ics

celebrities who regular ly tr avelled

Ferragamo and his daughter

which are relaxing, war m and

to Florence in the fifties and

Fiamma Ferragamo, as well as to

pleasant to the touch”.

sixties. The second floor’s most

great fashion designer s who had

The simple , classic and

luxurious suite room is dedicated

the chance to wor k with him, from

contemporar y design is enhanced

to Bernard Berenson and Villa i

Chr istian Dior to Elsa Schiapparelli,

by the use of precious and

Tatti, another suite room to Villa

who staged a fashion show in

sumptuous mater ials, such as linen

Le Rose (owned by the Lungar no

Florence . There are also two

and cashmere , war m wood and

Collection Group) where an

extr aordinar y photogr aphs of M.me

leather. Color s, mater ials, shapes,

extr aordinar y event was held in the Lanvin who, in Florence , discovered

ever ything combines to create the

fifties in honour of Rose Kennedy,

the color that would later bear her

r ight atmosphere . “My inspir ation

another

name , Lanvin blue , by admir ing

- says Bönan, whose sophisticated

suite to Palazzo Pitti and its

the lapis lazuli-blue skies of

signature style per meates all

wonderful Boboli Gardens.

Florentine frescoes.

Lungar no Collection Hotels - was

The third floor is a tribute to

The seventh floor is dedicated

the concept of timeless elegance .

Florence’s theaters (La Per gola

to movie star s strolling along the

I wanted the Por tr ait to convey a

and Comunale) and to some of

Lungar ni, such as Elizabeth Taylor,

timeless and welcoming feeling. An

Italy’s greatest stage and screen

Richard Bur ton, and Tyrone Power

integr al par t of my project is the

star s (Mar ia Callas, Renata Tebaldi,

with his wife Linda Christian.

82

83

C affè

dell ’O ro is so called because it is located between

P onte V ecchio ,

the home of goldsmith ’ s shops

and workshops for four centuries ,

and

V icolo

dell ’O ro , the first alley at

B ridge heading downtown .

C affè dell ’O ro stands where , in the 1800 s , G rand H otel R oyal de l ’A rno , which was frequented

the end of the

by goldsmiths from

all over the world , stood

84

Portrait Firenze

collection

Lo u n ge w i th ki tchen

Welcome to Caffè dell’Oro, the home of gourmets and conviviality seekers

“Lounge with the use of kitchen” was the typical descr iption of the tr aditional Italian osteria open all day long. Ever y small town used to have at least one oster ia. It ser ved wine and food but, just

S urrounded by glass walls with view of the A rno river and P onte V ecchio , C affè dell ’O ro is inspired by the all -I talian tradition of literary cafés and osterie

as with barber shops, the oster ia was the hub of the town’s social life: it was the place where people would gather to play cards and discuss politics and local matter s, to swap newspaper s and tobacco, to enjoy a glass of wine after a long day’s wor k. The oster ia offered local, basic dishes, nothing more . The oldest

two “ancestor s” of moder n-day Italian

and cold cuts are among the best Tuscan

restaur ants combined to give life to

and Italian ones available , tr y the Grigio

the Caffè dell’Oro restaurant, open

del Casentino and you will be lost for

ever y day from 7 am to midnight, from

words, or ask the waiter for Tre idee per

breakfast to mid-mor ning snacks, from

una caprese and you will be treated to a

lunch to teatime , from aper itivo to

dish of three different tomato var ieties

dinner. The essence of Italian style, a

and three types of mozzarella cheese .

breathtaking view over the Arno river,

And the one thing you can be sure of, in

elegant inter ior design, the use of the

this new convivial food space , is that all

best top-quality ingredients. You can

liter ar y

dishes are prepared simply but with style ,

drink or have something to eat any time

café had in common with an oster ia was

with each ingredient being intensified for

of the day. The geogr aphical or igin and

its freshness and quality. The reins of

name of producer is provided for ever y

Caffè dell’Oro’s kitchen have been taken

food ser ved, which is the result of Caffè

over by the young but well-known chef

dell’Oro staff ’s ongoing research on small

Peter Brunel from Trento, the Lungar no

local grower s and producer s. Cheese

Collection group’s new Executive Chef.

Italian oster ia dates back to the 1400s and can be found in Fer r ar a. Instead, the literar y café or iginated in the 1700s. The more ar istocr atic and then bour geois ver sion of the wor king-class oster ia, the liter ar y café, required a big city atmosphere , more sumptuous settings, impeccable ser vice, product quality and elegant interiors. The only thing a

the opening hour s: all day long. One of Italy’s most celebr ated liter ar y cafés, Pedrocchi in Padua, was best known as “door less”, as it never closed. These

85

M useo F erragamo

B outique F erragamo

H otel L ungarno G allery H otel A rt P ortrait F irenze

Continentale

Leica store

Hotel Lungarno

Portrait Firenze

Borgo San Jacopo

Caffè dell’Oro

Fine dining restaur ant with Ponte Vecchio and Ar no View

All-day dining Italian Cafè with Ponte Vecchio and Ar no View

Picteau Lounge

Gallery Hotel Art

Champagner ie and chocolate tasting with Ponte Vecchio and Ar no View

The Fusion Bar & Restaurant

Eclectic cocktails, fusion cuisine and best sushi in town

Continentale La Terrazza

Rooftop bar with Ponte Vecchio and 360° view

86

D rink

c o l l ec t i o n

F rom

left :

B orgo S an J acopo ; ‘L a T errazza ’

of the

C ontinentale ;

the

P icteau L ounge ’ s

terrace ;

T he F usion B ar

Enjoy the taste!

A unique crossing food experience around the Arno river In the hear t of Florence and the

homemade pasta, fish-fr y, licor ice-

quality cer tified ingredients, such as

five best dining and socializing spots

flavoured shin of lamb. Save room for

fresh milk from the nearby Mugello

for demanding tr aveler s and ver y

desserts, they are simply delicious!

area.

popular with the Florentines. The

The Fusion Bar

The Picteau Lounge

Lungarno Collection crossover food

Florence’s only fusion urban

experience will br ing you as far into

bar and the city’s most fashionable

one of Florence’s loveliest places

the essence of Florence as you can

and upscale aper itivo spot.

to enjoy a glass of Champagne

get. Here is our list of the must-tr ies.

Distinguishing mar ks: cocktails and

from the bar’s extensive wine list.

Borgo San Jacopo

dr inks paired to delicious sea food.

Ask for a seat on the small terrace

It is the gour met restaur ant of the

The sushi dishes (nigir i and maki),

over looking the Ponte Vecchio, you

Lungar no Collection. In the past

that Gilberto ser ves in the most

won’t regret it!

ten year s, under the direction and

dar ing combinations, for perfect match with the cocktails prepared by

Caffè dell’Oro

guidance of Chef Beatrice Segoni,

The Hotel Lungar no’s lounge bar is

The day at the elegant Por tr ait

the restaur ant has been combining

the two master mixologists Kareem

Firenze’s bistro begins at 7 am with

the best of tr aditional Italian cuisine ,

and Marco: the Negroni sbagliato, the

a delicious breakfast of organic

impeccable ser vice and inter national-

Black mojito and the Hendr ix Feaver

and natural goodies (the group has

style reception. Gourmet dishes

are legendar y.

just signed an exclusive contr act

and an extensive wine list featur ing

La Terrazza

with Valis, a wor ld-leading company

over 600 Tuscan and Italian labels,

del Continentale

in the distr ibution of or ganic and

including a wide choice of biodynamic It is a ter r ace with breathtaking

biodynamic products, for the whole

wines. A quick lunch for mula with

panor amic views of Florence , set on

food & bever age depar tment) and

a complete mini four-cour se menu

the Continentale Hotel’s top floor.

ends at midnight after having ser ved

from appetizer to desser t. The dinner

It ser ves excellent and tr aditional

lunch, mid-afternoon snacks and

menu is one of the best on the

Dolce Vita-style cocktails and, as of

dinner, based on dishes which are the

Florentine restaurant scene. Among

summer 2014, also ice-cream made

celebr ation of excellence and top-

the must-tr y dishes are quail bur ger,

by Florentine ar tisans with top-

quality ingredients.

87

Portrait Firenze

collection

Behind the scenes

A sneak peak behind the scenes of the new Portrait Firenze We had a chat with two highly

into 2,5 cm slabs (2).

How many prototypes?

qualified member s of the staff

Any distinguishing marks?

Five prototypes per piece on

wor king behind the scenes of

The marble is so clear that light

aver age .

Por trait Firenze, to lear n more

passes through it. Marble featur ing

How many hands?

about their job and about the

unifor mity in color and veins on a

Sixty the whole R&D Tosconova

hidden details of quality and careful

lar ge scale is ver y expensive , owing

team (four upholsterer s and three

craftsmanship that went into the

to the huge quantity of production

car penter s), plus one wor kshop, all

making of this recently-inaugur ated

rejects, which means € 500 per

qualified wor ker s, entirely devoted to

hotel on the Ar no r iver. A world of

square meter.

the Por tr ait production (at least half

special skills and veritable passion

The most critical moment?

of the company’s staff- a total of 46

for what they do, where quality is the

When we had to send back the

people- was busy with the Por tr ait).

measure of value .

marble cover ing for six bathrooms,

The piece you are the proudest of?

three of which had already been

The Ar no ar mchair (3, 9), the Por tr ait’s

Andrea Garasi, a Roman engineer, is

installed, because the marble was

signature piece .

the Project Manager in char ge of the

not up to standard. Well, what’s past

How many different furniture items?

setting up of Por tr ait Firenze , from

is past…

Sofas, ar mchair s (8), tables, tr ays, accessor ies, cur tains and leather-

the initial str uctur al stages, such as the installation of the luxur y white

Lorenzo Michelacci, vegan and

covered door knobs.

Car r ar a marble bathrooms in the

surfing champion at the age of 39,

How many different kinds of wood?

34 suite rooms, to the purchasing of

is the young owner (alongside his

Dar k-colored and precious: rosewood

silverware .

sister Valentina) of Tosconova, a

and iroko mahogany.

What was the most difficult task?

company

Any distinguishing marks?

Coordinating 150 order s placed for

that has been in the fur niture

Our sofas and ar mchair s feature a

different mater ials from 130 supplier s.

manufactur ing business for fifty year s patented spr inging system (like the

It drove me cr azy….

and combines the use of ar tisan-

one quality bed mattresses have)

What was the most intriguing and

like techniques (4, 5) with the

which provides a soft and comfor table

yet complex supply of materials?

commitment to environmental and

suppor t even when the fur niture is not

The marble for the bathrooms.

health protection.

too thick. We use water-based paints

What kind is it?

How many hours of work?

and glues. We wor k with the best local

White Calacatta from the Pietr asanta

Six months wor king full-time for the

ar tisans, such as our master car penter,

quar r ies (1, 6) - the same

design and prototype stage and five

the fifth-gener ation member of a

Michelangelo used -, the finest one

months for the production, including

family of car penter s. The founder of

available . Blocks of about 13 tons

Saturdays and Sundays, except

the family was a shipwr ight, who built

each (7) are extr acted and then cut

Chr istmas and New Year’s Eve .

boats for the Ar no r iver’s fisher men.

88

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2

3

4

5

6

8

9

7

89

La storia di Firenze in 5.000.000 di immagini w w w. f o t o loc c hi.it

tips What’s your preference?

Are you the Hotel Lungarno or Continentale type?

Are you more attracted to the Gallery Hotel Art or the Portrait?

What’s your style? Are you the classic, cool or creative kind?

Does style rank high among your priorities? Do you travel with family or are you a confirmed single?

Take our personality test and find out.

Choose the things to do and places to see in Rome and Florence according to your profile.

portrait

W h at’s goi ng on The must-sees of art, music, culture, theatre, food&wine, fashion

ART

A rich and versatile artistic

Princess Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici.

Till September 7, 2014. Gucci Museum

personality: painter, illustrator,

ART

Radical Femininity

jeweller y designer. Born in Verona, he

From June 17 to November 2 , 2014.

The exhibition features the works by

spent half of his life in Florence . The

Uffizi Galler y

three ar tists who testify to how, in

city celebrates Jacopo Ligozzi with a

The Pure Simple Natural. In sixteenth

the late ‘60s-early ‘70s, female ar tists

big exhibition as part of the Un anno

and seventeenth-centur y ar t in Florence

used their body as a powerful tool of

ad ar te program.

The exhibition explores the strong aspiration to change and innovation

criticism and subversion: the American Lee Lozano (1930-1999), the Polish

ART

of the greatest sixteenth and

Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973) and

Till October 5, 2014 Casa Martelli

seventeenth-centur y artists in

Belgian Evelyne Axell (1935-1972).

Museum

Florence , including Lorenzo Lippi, Fra’

Travelling to the East. Photographs from

Bartolomeo and Andrea del Sarto.

MUSIC & THEATRE

Africa at Casa Mar telli

Till September 21, 2014. Cour tyard of

The exotic and mysterious fascination

ART

the Bargello Museum

that Westerners felt for the Middle

Till April 12 , 2015. Salvatore

Estate al Bargello

East and Mediterranean Africa reached

Ferragamo Museum

Two national premieres, over sixty

its height with Napoleon’s militar y

Equilibrium

theatre and music events, including

campaigns, as shown by Casa Martelli’s

An exhibition devoted to walking

the 25

photographic collection.

and moving forward. A selection of

th

Florence Dance Festival

artwork by Canova, Degas, Rodin and

performances. Estate al Bargello features a rich program of theatre ,

ART

Bourdelle , Matisse , Picasso and Klee,

ballet, classical and contemporar y

Till November 2 , 2014. Medicean

alongside videos by Bill Viola and

music events held at the National

Chapel Museum

Marina Abramovic and many other

Bargello Museum.

Ar t and Politics . The Electress Palatine

artists.

and the last season of the Medici’s ART

patronage of the ar ts in San Lorenzo

ART

Till September 28, 2014. Palatina

The exhibition, held in the Medicean

From June 16, 2014. Galler y Hotel Art

Galler y, Palazzo Pitti

Chapel Museum, is divided in five

Unpersonal

Jacopo Ligozzi. “Pittore Univer salissimo”

sections focusing on the personality of

An exhibition exploring an imaginar y

92

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and parallel world, populated by

OPERA

No Defiance Without Courage

anthropomorphous, stylized and shiny

September 23 and 30, November 2,

The Centre for Contemporar y Culture

creatures.

2014, Opera di Firenze

Strozzina’s new exhibition includes

Cavalleria Rusticana

works by 15 contemporar y Spanish

MUSIC

Opera di Firenze stages the

artists and collectives.

August 1, 2014. Cavea Opera di Firenze

masterwork by Pietro Mascagni, the

Jonathan Wilson

first work of verismo opera in the

Following the successful concerts

histor y of Italian opera, a favorite

in Rome and Milan, this eclectic

amongst all music lovers.

songwriter, poly-instrumentalist and

THEATRE From October 28 to November 2, 2014, Pergola Theatre Six Characters in Search of an Author

“guitar hero” is back in Italy. With his

CHARITY

world-acclaimed 2011 album Gentle

September 28, 2014, 9.30 am, Piazza

Spirit followed by Fanfare in 2013, he

del Duomo, Florence

has made his incredible talent known

Corri la Vita

opens the drama season of Florence’s

to the world.

The popular race contributes to

oldest theatre with the play by Luigi

non-profit public health institutes

Pirandello.

MUSIC

in Florence , specializing in the fight

September 10, 2014. Opera di Firenze

against breast cancer.

Daniele Gatti and Orchestre National

The Pergola Theatre’s director, actor and art director Gabriele Lavia

THEATRE From November 6 to 9, 2014. Nelson

de France.

ART

Mandela Forum

Maestro Daniele Gatti conducts the

From September 30, 2014 to Januar y

Cirque du Soleil. Quidam

French orchestra in a repertoire

15, 2015. Modern Art Galler y, Palazzo

45 first-rate acrobats, musicians,

ranging from Debussy to Stravinskij

Pitti

singers and artists in a show that has

and Beethoven.

Lights on the 1900s Palazzo Pitti’s Modern Art Galler y

ART

celebrates its 100 th anniversar y with a

From September 20, 2014 to Januar y

big exhibition on the Italian 1900s and

25, 2015. Palazzo Strozzi

its greatest artists: Carlo Carrà, Baccio

Picasso and Spanish modernity

Maria Bacci, Alberto Savinio, Marino

The exhibition features a wide

Marini, Libero Andreotti, Antonio

selection of works by the great master

Maraini, and many more .

been an international hit since 1996.

OPERA November 29 and 2, 4, 7, 9, 12 December, 2014, Opera di Firenze Falstaff The last opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi. La Scala Theatre opened its

of modern art, while exploring his influence on and relationship with

ART

opera season with Falstaff in 1921,

other major Spanish artists such as

From October 3, 2014 to Januar y

1936, 1980 and it is considered to be

Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Juan Gris,

25, 2015. Center of Contemporar y

the most frequently performed opera

Maria Blanchard, Julio González.

Culture Strozzina

with 34 seasons and 209 performances.

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Creative tips

Gallery Hotel Art Types

collection

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morning Breakfast

In-room breakfast: fresh fr uit, yoghur t

Entertainment Take a relaxing break at Amblé (in Chiasso del Bene) to enjoy an organic sandwich and a cup of coffee . Are you

and croissants to star t the day

in the mood for some shopping now?

peacefully and fuel your body after

Head to Bjork, concept store and

your morning r un.

design boutique featuring a beautiful

Sport

collection of fashion, ar t magazines and

Run from the Lungarni to the Cascine Par k, where you can stop to take a look at Florence’s new opera house (Opera di Firenze) and home to the 5

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Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival (4):

books in Via dello Sprone 25, I Visionari, eyeglass and gift shop in Piazza Nazario Sauro, Atelier Michele Chiocciolini (2) in Via del Fico or the city’s best-known

concer ts, opera and ballet performances,

multi-brand shop Luisaviaroma.

film-showing and lectures.

Cocktail

Lunch

At aperitivo time , treat your self to

At lunchtime , stop at Coquinarius in Via delle Oche: fresh egg pasta, salads and steak tar tare in a lighter French-style ver sion (5). Or enjoy the picturesque atmosphere of trattoria La Casalinga, in Via de’ Michelozzi, just steps away from the Church of Santo

the extraordinar y cocktails prepared

by Galler y Hotel Art’s bar tender Kareem Bennet (6): fresh and unusual ingredients are combined to create innovative ver sions of the classics or new and original drinks.

afternoon night Spirito.

Dinner

Art

Go on a contemporar y ar t tour. Visit the Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi’s Center of Contemporar y Culture , in Piazza 6

Have a drink at Odeon Bistrot or at Colle Bereto (3), in Piazza Strozzi, and then spend the rest of the night

Strozzi (1), and Aria Art Galler y in

at Blume (Lungarno Serristori 3R),

Borgo Santi Apostoli 40.

Florence’s most glamorous nightclub.

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Hip T ips

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morning Art

After a nice breakfast, spend the rest of the morning on a cultural note. Two special destinations: the Medici Chapels, which house the tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo de’ Medici, designed by Michelangelo and placed in the socalled New Sacristy, a masterwor k of

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all about the histor y and international business of the “shoemaker of the star s”, Salvatore Ferragamo. Or at the Gucci Museum, which keeps the Gucci archives and hosts temporar y contemporar y ar t exhibitions in Piazza della Signoria.

After which, a little shopping won’t do any harm. Head straight to the city’s three most stylish multi-brand shops: Gerard Loft in Via de’ Pecori 36, Flow

Renaissance architecture and sculpture

in Via dei Vecchietti 20 (2) and Space

(4). And the Medicean Laurentian

in Via de’ Tornabuoni. For the lover s of

Library, also designed by Michelangelo

the handmade and vintage collector s,

between 1519 and 1534 and containing

the two must-see destinations are:

one of the wor ld’s greatest collections of manuscripts (6).

Lunch Stop for lunch at the Central Market: the elegant building was designed

by Giuseppe Mengoni, who drew inspiration from Paris’ Les Halles even in the choice of materials (iron, glass, cast iron), and has just recently conver ted its fir st floor into a lovely gourmet and dining space (1).

afternoon Fashion

Spend the afternoon on a fashion tour.

Where? At the Ferragamo Museum,

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Alessandro Dari’s jewelr y in Via San Niccolò 115, Antonio Gatto’s hats in Piazza Pitti 5 (3).

Relax Stop at La Terrazza at the Continentale Hotel for an ice-cream break to be enjoyed on the hotel’s beautiful terrace or, if you feel that the cobblestone streets have been hard on your feet, for the Sublime Feet Treatment, a regenerating massage performed by the hotel spa’s skilled staff.

night Dinner

housed in the company’s headquar ter s,

Have dinner at Pampaloni’s (5), Florence’s

the medieval Palazzo Spini Feroni, to learn

best-known silver smith’s shop since 1902.

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hotel continentale Types

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Hotel Lungarno Types

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morning The best way to star t the day is a long walk through the city’s green lung, which cuts through downtown Florence: two hour s and a half to cover Villa Bardini’s Garden, the Boboli Gardens and Forte Belvedere (open to visitor s from July 4 till mid-October 2014).

Enraptured by the Renaissance-style Boboli Gardens, by the fascinating mix

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of styles and ages at Villa Bardini and

by For te Belvedere’s splendor, you will easily make it to lunchtime .

Lunch If you are looking for a Florentine-style T-bone steak, the best places are Buca

and shopping, here are three mustsee ar t galler ies in town: Moretti Fine Art, which specializes in Tuscan Haute Epoque paintings; Riccardo Bacarelli Arte Antica (5), an exper t on ar twor k from the 1600s to the 1800s; and Galleria Romanelli, filled with busts and marble and bronze statues which are definitely wor th the visit.

Shopping Loretta Caponi, in Via de’ Tor nabuoni, for handmade and embroidered house linen and infant wear. For silverware , Pagliai, in Bor go San Iacopo, and Brandimar te (6) in the San Frediano area. For ar tistic potter y, Bruno Gambone (2).

night

the best salt cod in town.

afternoon

After taking a relaxing and refreshing

or museum-going? If you follow our tips,

(the Fusion ver sion with ginger and

ar tichoke tortino)(4) and Buca Lapi (1).

On Fridays - the day most Italians eat

Now it’s time to make a choice: shopping whatever you choose to do will be great.

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painter s. If you wish to combine ar t

fish - we recommend Coco Lezzone, for

dell’Orafo (vegetarians will love the

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shower, enjoy a glass of champagne at Lungar no Hotel’s Picteau Lounge (3) while watching the sun set and Ponte Vecchio, or an Amer icano cocktail cucumber is delicious), and then treat

Culture

your self to a romantic fish-based

If you have time, we suggest a visit to

dinner at Borgo San Iacopo restaurant

Palazzo Pitti’s Gallery of Modern Art:

(7), where the creative genius of Chef

the home of all great Tuscan Macchiaioli

Beatr ice Segoni never ceases to amaze .

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morning afternoon 1

Breakfast

Enjoy a gourmet breakfast at Caffè dell’Oro (1), based on the use of organic ingredients (tr y the sheep’s milk ricotta cheese and goat’s milk cheese from the Langhe!).

Art If you want to treat your self to an ar t gem off the beaten path of Florence’s more famous attractions, visit the Vasari Corridor (7). It is the Medici’s private and elevated corridor which r uns from Palazzo Pitti to the Uffizi Galler y and houses the wor ld’s oldest and most extensive ar tists’ self-por trait collection from the 1500s to the present day (Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Annibale Carracci, Rembrandt, Ingres, Chagall, De Chirico, Bill Viola and Jan

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Gardens

You cannot leave Florence without

visiting the Boboli Gardens (3), but you can also have a taste of the Tuscan countr yside at a five-minute walking distance from the Duomo: Via San Leonardo (5) is located downtown Florence , but is lined with villas with meadows and chickens r unning free .

Shopping It is Florence’s chicest street, Via de’ Tornabuoni (fifty steps away from

to ask the concierge to book the visit before your arrival.

Lunch Have a light lunch at Caffè dell’Oro

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Portrait Firenze), lined with Italian and foreign designer boutiques (4), jewelr y shops (2), gour met restaur ants and bar s. If your shopping destination is the Ponte Vecchio, remember these names: Cassetti,

Fratelli Peruzzi and Fratelli Piccini.

Fabre are only a few of the great ar tists And if gems are your thing, then just on display). Visitor s are permitted only tur n the cor ner in Vicolo dell’Oro: upon reser vation, so you may want

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you’ll go cr azy for Leica camer as (6).

night

(tr y the Tris di Capresi) or at Borgo San Dinner Jacopo restaurant or, if you’d rather Enoteca Pinchiorri is traditionally enjoy a Dolce Vita-style atmosphere , at said to be Florence’s top restaurant Harr y’s Bar (taglierini au gratin, curr y-

(extraordinar y wine cellar, three Michelin-

flavoured prawn tails, beef tar tare).

starred restaurant).

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Portrait Firenze Types

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portrait Roma types

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morning Breakfast

Whether you’re on a vacation with family and fr iends or on a business tr ip, star t the day by tucking into a delicious breakfast at Por trait Roma, just steps away from Piazza 5

di Spagna and in the hear t of Via Condotti. Alter natively, tr y the petit four s and colorful pr alines of Cristalli di Zucchero, in Via di Val Tellina 114.

Ar t lover s should not miss the two must-see exhibitions of the season: Frida Kahlo, with 40 of the Mexican painter’s major wor ks on display at Scuder ie del Quir inale (1); and Andy Warhol, the father of Amer ican Pop Ar t, with over 150 paintings, photogr aphs and sculptures on loan from the Br ant

or at Dillà, typical Roman cuisine in Via Mar io de’ Fior i 41(3), go on a tour of the spots descr ibed in Oscarwinning movie The Great Beauty by Paolo Sor rentino. Ask the Por tr ait’s concier ge for infor mation and a car will take you to some of Rome’s most beautiful but lesser-known buildings, ter r aces and views (2-4).

At aper itivo-time , stop at The Librar y in Vicolo della Canceller ia 7, or at La.Vi, dair y and wine shop in Via

night Dinner

Two different options for dinner.

Gour met restaur ant Gli Ulivi in Via Luigi Luciani 23, in the Par ioli area, offer s a top-quality menu, extensive wine list and elegant ambience (5),

Foundation, showing at Palazzo

whilst Da Danilo is a family-r un

Cipolla (6).

tr attor ia ser ving tr aditional Roman

afternoon 7

bistro in the Monti neighborhood,

Tomacelli 23.

Art

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dishes in a fr iendly atmosphere .

Cocktail Stop for an after-dinner dr ink at

Entertainment

Salotto 42, in Piazza di Pietr a 42 (7),

After a quick but sophisticated lunch

and then dance the night away at La

break at Urbana 47, French-like

Cabala, Via dei Soldati 25.

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