Search Results for:gardens

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

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

22 marzo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

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.
…

Continue Reading
No Comments 4185 Views 4185 Views
Gardens of Florence #12: Serre Torrigiani
Outdoors

Gardens of Florence #12: Serre Torrigiani

21 marzo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

It is a real privilege to visit the Torrigiani garden and greenhouse (serre) in Florence. Linked to the Serre Torrigiani greenhouse, Vieri Torrigiani Malaspina has always devotedly taken care of the garden. You can see this is his real passion when he talks about its charms to visitors. «I was born in this garden, and I have spent here and in the countryside all my entire life. I graduated as Agrarian Engineering in Florence, and in the seventies, I expanded the existing small plant nursery to exploit it as a company, besides taking care of the garden for my family and me,» comments Vieri. At the same time, I think to myself, “What a marvellous thing to have grown up here.” Torrigiani is one of the oldest aristocratic families of Florence. The first fashion show linked to the Pitti fashion events took place in this location.
…

Continue Reading
No Comments 4029 Views 4029 Views
Gardens of Florence #13: parco delle Cascine, the largest public park in Florence
Outdoors

Gardens of Florence #13: parco delle Cascine, the largest public park in Florence

20 marzo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

It takes longer to cross the Park Le Cascine (parco delle Cascine) than to cross the historical centre of Florence, this gives an idea of its size. This park is the favourite for those who want — or try — to get fit. Its proximity to the river Arno also makes it an ideal place to organize a picnic or lie down to sunbathe. Usually, it is not very busy, not even on a Saturday at noon on a mid-spring sunny day. Except for some fountains, an eccentric pyramid, and some other ornamental lamps, there is no other human imprint or artifices made by the man, not even terraces or cafes, except the two food trucks that are next to a recreational mini-zone with decadent fairground attractions for children.
…

Continue Reading
No Comments 2489 Views 2489 Views
Gardens of Florence #4: parco mediceo di Pratolino
Medici Traces

Gardens of Florence #4: parco mediceo di Pratolino

19 marzo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

This monumental complex, property of the City of Florence, is included since 2013 in the Unesco World Heritage list. In addition to housing The Colossus of the Appenines, the work of Giambologna for which it is perhaps best known, the Medicean Park in Pratolino contains two Italian gardens and another one in romantic style due to modifications in the 19th century, when the property passed to the Lorena and later to the Demidoff. …

Continue Reading
No Comments 3811 Views 3811 Views
Uncommon Museums of Florence #4: Stibbert Museum
Art & Culture

Uncommon Museums of Florence #4: Stibbert Museum

7 mayo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

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.…

Continue Reading
No Comments 2163 Views 2163 Views
Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, Tuscany’s esoteric garden
Within Tuscany

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, Tuscany’s esoteric garden

5 mayo, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, a picturesque park located in Garavicchio, pays homage to the esoteric world of tarot. Placed near Pescia Fiorentina (Capalbio, Tuscany), the Tarot Garden was created by the Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002). It is composed of statues of intense and vivid colours inspired by the tarot major arcana figures. Although kitsch and naive in appearance, these enormous and explosive sculptures, in fact, combine art, architecture, and crafts. Besides that, they unveil a oneiric and spiritual aura.…

Continue Reading
No Comments 2570 Views 2570 Views
Medici villas #1: La Petraia
Medici Traces

Medici villas #1: La Petraia

21 abril, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Perched on a hill top of Castello, with a panoramic view of Florence, this astonishing 14th century villa was first owned by the Brunelleschi family and the Strozzi, before being home to Cosimo I de’ Medici and his offsprings. It was also the favourite residence of Vittorio Emanuele II in the company of her lover Rosa Vercellana. Its significance has paved the way for restorations throughout the centuries, thus becoming declared UNESCO World Heritage in 2013 and an asset of the state museums today. Not to miss are the famous lunettes painted by Giusto Utens — each representing a Medici villa and garden —, the sculptures of Giambologna and a wander lost in its gardens. There is a guided tour in Italian every 30 minutes. Free entrance.

Practical info …

Continue Reading
No Comments 2962 Views 2962 Views
Martina Castagnoli´s Florence
Moments & People

Martina Castagnoli´s Florence

18 agosto, 2021 / By:
PHOTOS, ENGLISH & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Se mi chiedi qual’è la mia città, infondo penso che forse è la cristallizzazione della mia idea di Firenze e non so neanche se davvero esiste più, ma vi ci porto lo stesso … Magari riuscirete anche voi a vedere un po’ di quell’incanto con cui la guardo io. La mia città, quando la vedi dall’alto, riesci a cingerla tutta in un abbraccio e i tetti rossi le conferiscono quell’aria rassicurante come lo sono certi oggetti del passato, che ti riportano alla tua infanzia, che quasi ti sembra di sentirne l’odore di naftalina che avevano i cassetti delle nonne.…

Continue Reading
No Comments 3256 Views 3256 Views
Tomás Saraceno presents ‘Aria’ at Palazzo Strozzi
Art & Culture

Tomás Saraceno presents ‘Aria’ at Palazzo Strozzi

13 noviembre, 2020 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

A visionary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses art, social and life sciences, Tomás Saraceno creates immersive works and participatory experiences that suggest a new way of living in our world by forging connections with such non-human phenomena as spiders, dust particles and plants, which become players in his work and metaphors of the universe. …

Continue Reading
No Comments 1702 Views 1702 Views
‘The Botany of Leonardo,’ exhibition at Santa Maria Novella Museum
Art & Culture

‘The Botany of Leonardo,’ exhibition at Santa Maria Novella Museum

21 octubre, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

On view until December 15 at Santa Maria Novella Museum, the exhibition ‘The Botany of Leonardo. A vision of science bridging Art and Nature’ outlines the philosophical and technological context of the time in which Leonardo da Vinci lived in order to explore his study of form and the processes of the Plant world in greater depth. Through his eyes as a “systemic” thinker, the connections between art, science and nature, as well as the relationships between different spheres of knowledge, are revealed.  The botany of Leonardo thus becomes a privileged perspective that opens up a modern discourse on scientific evolution and ecological sustainability.…

Continue Reading
No Comments 2214 Views 2214 Views