Within Florence

Carnival of Viareggio, magic and fantasy on the Tuscan coast

25 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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—Have you ever been to Viareggio carnival? Is it worth it?
—It’s a little decadent … It makes me sad.»
—Interesting, you just convinced me, I’ll go!

Although not as popular as the Venetian, the Carnival of Viareggio is one of the most important and acclaimed in Italy. I am from Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, where the carnival is the most outstanding festivity. It is the first big celebration of the year. It involves a massive exhibition of colour, enthusiasm, and frenzy, and that is why, probably, it drives me to discover other facets and versions of the same event. It is said that “diversity is equal to cultural richness.”

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Within Tuscany

Villa Puccini in Torre del Lago: where Giacomo Puccini still feels alive

19 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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Torre del Lago (Viareggio, province of Lucca) is known for being the gay mecca in the Tuscan coast, but most especially for Giacomo Puccini ́s villa. Attracted by its peaceful surroundings, such as the Lake di Massaciuccoli nearby, the composer bought it in 1898 and lived there until his death in 1924. The simplicity of the two-storey building is offset by inner eclecticism, with highlights as his piano room and the chapel where the master, his wife, son and daughter-in-law are buried. It is great to know that tragic characters such as Floria Tosca, Mimì or Madama Butterfly were given birth within these walls. The house-museum was inaugurated in 2012 and is managed by her granddaughter Simonetta Puccini. Since 1930, the Puccini Festival is celebrated near the lake in summer, with works of the composer represented in an outdoor stage.
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Wine & Food

Trattoria Coco Lezzone: bistecca alla fiorentina for celebrities in Florence

17 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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The best way to discover authentic places is to get carried away by Florence’s vicoli, wandering around one finds the best chances merely turning in the next corner. This is what happened with the Trattoria Coco Lezzone and with most of the places featured on this blog. Toni has been working in this family run restaurant for ten years. “David Rockefeller was here in 2014 – He was 99 year old at that time. He ordered pasta with white truffle and bistecca alla fiorentina. He ate a lot! Likewise Prince Charles of England was here, in 1986, invited by the marquises of Frescobaldi, the restaurant was closed for them and all their retinue,” says Toni. The photos hanging on the walls show these and other celebrities. “Every time Pavarotti visited Florence, he came to the trattoria and had bistecca alla fiorentina,” which by the way is prepared in a centuries-old wood-fired oven. “Queen Beatriz of Holland ate pasta with white truffle and tiramisu. According to her, it was one of the best she had ever tasted.” Serving diners since 1800, this restaurant also follows the tradition of Tuscan cuisine, consisting in preparing typical Florentine dishes with fresh seasonal products. Lampredotto, bollito con salsa verde, spezzatino con verza, coniglio alla cacciatoria …
Trattoria Coco Lezzone – Via del Parioncino 26R
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Wine & Food

Al Tranvai: history and tradition of a trattoria in San Frediano

15 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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We find ourselves in San Frediano, one of the most popular Florentine quartieri; set of Vasco Pratolini’s novels and where supposedly the «locals» live. Through Torquato Tasso Square, one accesses this traditional district. A stroll along its charming narrow streets is especially pleasant: numerous shops and craft workshops encourage the area commercial activity. Al Tranvai is a very narrow tavern. Here you feel like having lunch in a tram wagon — hence its name. Regarding the room, you usually eat side by side with the diner next to you, as in the old Florentine trattorie. The menu is made up of Tuscan dishes: pappa al pomodoro, ribollita or panzanella. Among the first courses stand out the tagliatelli or gnocchi served with pesto. The authentic restaurant’ specialty are, however, the second courses: Florentine tripe, lampredotto, cacciucco, di lesso salad, meatballs fried or in sauce, and francesina. Served as an accompaniment are mixed salads, ceci bolliti, fagioli all’uccelletto and homemade potatoes. For dessert, they propose various types of pie: apple, figs and walnuts or pear. Finally, to enjoy the food, it is recommended to choose a good wine, although the list is short, Al Tranvai offers some appealing suggestions.
Al Tranvai – Piazza Torcuato Tasso 14r 50124 Florence
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Moments & People

Encounters at Piazza della Repubblica

11 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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Lovers or partners? One of the most romantic scenes I’ve ever seen did not come from a Sex & the City episode, but from a real-life passage in Piazza della Repubblica. I am not sure what drew my attention then, as I’m normally pretty clueless. However, I recall the strength of that encounter most overwhelming: such unique energy at the embrace, their looks and the gestures … it all haunted me. Despite the entire sequence being intact in my memory, I just keep these two snapshots in my Mac’s drive. It happened on March 14, 2016, and there were no alliance rings on their fingers.…

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Outdoors

Before sunset in Florence

2 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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The sunsets take on greater symbolism when in the sea, a river or in the mountains. Such moment becomes certainly the excuse to visit any bridge in Florence, go to the Piazzale di Michelangelo or even to the Belvedere of Fiesole in order to contemplate a unique Tuscan dusk. I will never stop saying it: Florence is ideal to take a refreshing walk (both, for body and soul) at any time of the day or night. And maybe that’s what hooked me most about the city: the pleasure of walking, acting as an authentic flâneur, is not just a matter of stale romanticism or acting as decadent esthete. The English skies in the paintings of Joseph Mallord William Turner, the French ones in Paul Cézanne´s or by Pierre-Auguste Renoir´s or Van Gogh´s, have nothing to envy to those portrayed in the thousands of photographs that are taken every day, at that precise time, in Florence.
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Medici Traces

Past and present of the «pensione» Annalena in Florence

1 febrero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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The story of Annalena (an orphan aristocrat adopted by Cosme de ‘Medici) and her palace is told in Niccolò Machiavelli´s Florentine Stories at the beginning of the 16th century. Her palace of Via Romana (a few steps from the Palazzo Pitti) was Cosme´s gift as she married Baldaccio di Bicci de ‘Medici. After Bicci´s murder, Annalena converted the building into a convent, to become later a casino, a luxury brothel, and finally, in 1919, a boarding house. Since then, it’s been the favourite of foreign travellers, musicians, poets, artists and actors, as Annalena displays through the furniture its splendid and decadent past. The Nobel Prize for literature Eugenio Montale used to stay here in the 30s; he shared «his room» with his lover when attending occasional meetings at the Crusca Academy in Florence. Prices depend on the season, so one double room with terrace could cost between 60 and 140 euros.
Hotel Annalena – Via Romana, 34, Florence, 50125, Italy
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Outdoors

Florentine landscapes and impressions

26 enero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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Some of my friends do not understand why I live in Florence, while others believe I tend to idealize it too much. The most surprised by my choice are Italians, including the Florentines themselves. To all, even me, the explanation resides within the words of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, as written in the foreword of Impresiones y paisajes (Impressions and landscapes, 1918): «We ought always to understand by pouring our soul over things, by seeing the spiritual where it does not exist, by shaping all with the charm of emotions. When in solitary places, it is vital to perceive the ancient souls that have passed through there; it is essential to be one and, at the same time, to be a thousand, in order to sense in all nuances. We must be both religious and profane. Indeed, to imagine the mysticism of a severe Gothic cathedral along with a wonder of pagan Greece. To see and feel all in eternity brings the reward of having no boundaries, no horizons.”…

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Events & Entertainment

Palazzo Borghese, ‘maximalist’ events in Florence

8 enero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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Do you wish to get married with style in Florence? The Palazzo Borghese will make your dreams come true. “More is more” is a dictum for this over elaborated palace with abundant ornamental details. Palazzo Borghese Aldobrandini history begins in the mid-15th century when the Salviati brothers decided to combine various buildings into a single one. But the mansion reached its peak of splendour at the end of the 16th century, when it was restored for the last time.
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Moments & People

Not a home but your home

4 enero, 2023 / By: Paco Neumann

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I am here a few months per year to please my voracious curiosity, searching meanwhile for some luck. The coexistence of different historic periods gives Florence a certain air of timelessness. Thus, I walk through these foreign streets as if my ancestors had left their trail in establishments and sidewalks; as if this is the home to which one always wishes to return. To my astonishment, I have discovered I feel at home in Florence. I especially sensed it through the intense joy, or rather euphoria, felt at the time of arrival. Also through the sadness, almost depression, lived at the moment of departure. Next comes the longing for the piercing song of the starlings and the tolling of the bells, as opposite to the exhausting sirens of police, ambulances and the squeaking rattle of the Berlin tram.…

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