Uncommon museums of Florence #2: Stefano Bardini Museum

Uncommon museums of Florence #2: Stefano Bardini Museum

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Stefano Bardini (1854-1922) was a prominent Italian antiquary who decided to transform his collection into a museum and donate it to the city of Florence. The building, a magnificent palace eclectic in style, where the museum has its headquarters, was acquired and restored by Bardini in 1881, in order to be used for his antiquarian trade activity. The antiquary modified the structure adding new gates and stairs, used medieval and Renaissance stones, chimneys, in addition, he affixed painted coffered ceilings. Bardini transformed the old building — the former church and convent of San Gregorio della Pace — into a wonderful neo-Renaissance villa, where, besides the exhibition halls, there were workshops so that the pieces were restored before selling them.

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Gardens of Florence #3: giardino Bardini, splendour in the grass

Gardens of Florence #3: giardino Bardini, splendour in the grass

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Florence reaches its climax in early April as wisteria flowers blossom at Giardino Bardini. This historic garden, built with fountains and statues in English and Baroque style, is placed on a steep hill of Oltrarno. Its open green space was made public after restoration in 2007. Best to explore it is — possibly with someone loved — at eight in the morning, when just gardeners are around. Further wonders include the Belvedere, Giardino Boboli or the hike up to Costa San Giorgio and Porta San Giorgio, before pleasantly walking down to Porta San Niccolò along the trace of the old city wall.

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Pinocchio, protagonist of contemporary art at Villa Bardini in Florence

Pinocchio, protagonist of contemporary art at Villa Bardini in Florence

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Pinocchio is one of the most reimagined characters in children’s literature and a cultural icon whose story has been adapted into many other artistic forms. The exhibition ENIGMA PINOCCHIO. From Giacometti to LaChapelle is dedicated to Collodi’s Pinocchio: a wooden puppet universally recognized as a symbol of Italy and Tuscany. Pinocchio, whose fictional adventures are among the most famous and reinterpreted stories in the 20th Century is now at the centre of Villa Bardini’s latest exhibit. The show examines the tremendous influence on the art world this beloved character has had over the last one hundred years.…

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«Carlo Cantini. Between realism and imagination,» photo exhibition at Villa Bardini, Florence

«Carlo Cantini. Between realism and imagination,» photo exhibition at Villa Bardini, Florence

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From the artistic to the bucolic; from fashion photography to everyday documentary snapshots, this is the artistic journey of Carlo Cantini, a contemporary Florentine photographer and one of the best Italian photographers of the 20th century. On display until March 17 at Villa Bardini, Carlo Cantini. Between Realism and Imagination exhibits seventy photographs, inspired by Berengo Gardin and Mario Giacomelli, which document some of Florence’s most significant events of the last fifty years of the past century. His photographs document Florentine streets and countryside everyday scenes. Besides that, Cantini´s work is connected to the Pitti fashion shows, theater, contemporary art, enchanted gardens and allegorical nymphs, classical nude paying tribute to sculpture, and architecture. All in all, Cantini´s œuvre is a constant search for equilibrium between realism and imagination.

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Primo Conti, exhibition at Villa Bardini in Florence

Primo Conti, exhibition at Villa Bardini in Florence

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The current exhibition at Villa Bardini, «Fanfare e silenzi. Viaggio nella pittura di Primo Conti,» is dedicated to the Florentine painter Umberto Primo Conti. Thirty years after his death, the show wants to illustrate and celebrate the artistic career of Conti, painter, composer and writer who belonged to the Italian avant-garde movement Futurism. In a chronological itinerary through the rooms of Villa Bardini, the display is divided into eight thematic sections, that correspond the different phases of Conti’s artistic career. Besides that, his oeuvre has been contextualized through the dialogue with artworks by other artists — teachers, friends, classmates … — connected with his creations. This relational exhibition responds to Conti’s own attitude, as he wanted to preserve not only his legacy but also the collective memory of an artistic period as extraordinary and flourishing as the Florence prior World War I. Until January 13, 2019.

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‘Steve McCurry. Icons,’ photo exhibition at Villa Bardini

‘Steve McCurry. Icons,’ photo exhibition at Villa Bardini

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On view until September 16, Villa Bardini presents a retrospective dedicated to the artist Steve McCurry (Darby, Pensilvania, 1950), one of the great masters of contemporary and documentary photography. Curated by Biba Giacchetti, the exhibition entitled Steve McCurry. Icons displays more than a hundred photographs featuring the best works of the North American photographer produced during his extensive career spanning over forty years. The exhibition takes visitors on a symbolic journey through countries like India, Afghanistan, Burma, Japan, Cuba or Brazil across the complex universe full of experiences and emotions carried in McCurry’s images.
Steve McCurry. Icons – Villa Bardini – Costa San Giorgio 2, Florence (admission: 10 EUR)

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Uncommon Museums of Florence #4: Stibbert Museum

Uncommon Museums of Florence #4: Stibbert Museum

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Frederick Stibbert was born in Florence in 1838. He was an eccentric antique collector, of most weapons and armours. If he had lived today, any doctor would have diagnosed him Diogenes syndrome. In spite of this, being of good lineage, albeit not being aristocratic, Stibbert prepared some rooms of his house to keep his collection, which would be ended up transforming the house in a real museum. After his death, the collection and the site were donated to the city of Florence, as Maria de’ Medici shortly did before the dynasty became extinct.…

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Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence

Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence

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Over 175 pieces dedicated to Isadora Duncan will be exhibited until September 22 in the charming Villa Bardini and the Stefano Bardini Museum in Florence. Paintings, sculptures and documents including unpublished photographs that trace the link of the founder of modern dance with Italy and the influence she had in the international context. Rebellious to every convention and with a strong charisma, Isadora Duncan distinguished herself for her dancing free from social conditioning.…

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«Italy in Hollywood,” exhibition at Museo Salvatore Ferragamo of Florence

«Italy in Hollywood,” exhibition at Museo Salvatore Ferragamo of Florence

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The years from 1915 to 1927, which Salvatore Ferragamo spent in California, are the source of inspiration for the new exhibition hosted by Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, focusing on the presence of Italians in that area and their influence on various sectors, from art to craftsmanship, and in the nascent film industry. The exhibition begins with the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, where the Italian Pavilion designed by Marcello Piacentini consolidated the Americans’ appreciation for Italian art and architecture.…

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Maie Escorial´s Florence

Maie Escorial´s Florence

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It is obvious that Florence has a thousand faces, this is something that stands out as soon as you get there. It has so much historical and architectural background that if you wanted to go into detail, it would take hours round a corner. During my autumn escape from daily routine, I was carried away by the streets and wandered around with pleasure, climbing, descending and crossing them. I found out that autumn had not even begun in Florence, therefore it seems like October is the perfect time to visit the city so one can feel the end of summer, take an Aperol spritz while enjoying a relaxed atmosphere surrounded by terraces full of people.…

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