Browsing AuthorPaco Neumann

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Paco Neumann

Paco Neumann is a journalist, photographer, proofreader, flâneur and perpetual amateur currently living in between Florence, Berlin, Paris and Tenerife. He´s been a regular contributor to fashion, art, trend and lifestyle magazines and worked for news, advertising and communication agencies
Firenze Jazz Festival 2019: where Florence’s streets become a jazz club
Events & Entertainment

Firenze Jazz Festival 2019: where Florence’s streets become a jazz club

10 septiembre, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Jazz bassist Furio Di Castri founded the Firenze Jazz Fringe Festival (FJFF) intending to bring jazz to the general public. It converts churches, squares, and other Oltrarno premises into the stage for the concerts. Past editions already counted around 40,000 participants. During five days, from September 11 to 15, the festival, now renamed as Firenze Jazz Festival, returns to Florence offering 40 live acts in different locations. The program stands out for the coexistence of new productions and renown international artists concerts. Firenze Jazz Festival is an innovative and sustainable show pursuing a cultural alternative in which the participation of the public is crucial. It is, above all, an event by and for the people, which is involved in the street performances, concerts, improvisation and DJ sessions. …

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Where to eat lampredotto, the typical Florentine fast-food
Wine & Food

Where to eat lampredotto, the typical Florentine fast-food

6 septiembre, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

I guess the last thing a vegan would eat in Florence is a trippa sandwich … The sandwich of the working class is the lampredotto — the Florentine fast-food par excellence. The panino di trippa o lampredotto consists of flour sèmelle local bread roll, stuffed with boiled and sliced beef entrails, rolled and seasoned with spicy sauce. This speciality is served in the trippai (little stands in the street which only serve guts). It is quite cheap and generous in size, prepared to kill hunger on the spot but providing a bunch of calories and cholesterol, as the sandwich is dripping grease.…

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Casa Musicale G. Ceccherini: the sound of music in the heart of Florence
Fashion & Shops & Markets

Casa Musicale G. Ceccherini: the sound of music in the heart of Florence

2 septiembre, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Julie Andrews sang in the movie how «the hills are alive with the sound of music». We could imagine this chant not in the Alps but at the Tuscan peaks instead: «I go to the hills when my heart is lonely, my heart will be blessed with the sound of music». At Casa Musicale G. Ceccherini, besides offering space for different courses, repair and rental of instruments, it is possible to buy a cello or a piano, an electric guitar or an amplifier, a solfeggio book or a violin string. I am not a regular of this unique music store in the heart of Florence, but from the cortile of my apartment — which overlooks one of its multiple rooms — I am amused by distinguishing how different piano students evolve every day. Naturally, this is sometimes a truthful delight; some others, just an ordeal.
Casa Musicale G. Ceccherini – Via de’ Ginori, 31R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
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The tolling of the bells: the heartbeat of Florence
Moments & People

The tolling of the bells: the heartbeat of Florence

27 agosto, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Not everything in Florence is a matter of renaissance «facade». The city could be experienced by sight, but also by taste, its smells, trough touching as well as through hearing. I hate traffic noise, but I love the rumour of the crowd and the Florentine bells. In my different stays, it has been impossible for me to avoid the ones of Santa Croce, of the Duomo, neither of San Lorenzo´s. The bells produce an energetic and penetrating sound but always embody some relaxing and peaceful vibe, spiritual purposes aside. I like to think that the sound of the bells equals the heartbeat of the city. One that has lived for so many centuries but remains alive, flourishing and young at heart. Indeed, I feel offended when a visitor complains about this particular sound. That certainly unveils my true love for this city.
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Glamour and garbage disposal in Florence
Outdoors

Glamour and garbage disposal in Florence

9 agosto, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

I think to myself quite a lot of nonsense every time I throw the garbage in Florence. Depending on where one resides, garbage disposal in Florence requires a walk of 200 or 300 meters to the nearest container. In other cities you can do so in pyjamas or in slippers, with tousled hair and bleary-eyed, but in Florence certain composure and sophistication is needed. You never know whom you could meet on such particularly long journey ……

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The best pasta in Florence at Trattoria Il Giova
Wine & Food

The best pasta in Florence at Trattoria Il Giova

8 agosto, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Although I am not a big fan of pasta, I must admit that I have started to look at it differently after my regular lunches at Il Giova in Florence. The place is small, modest and there is nothing remarkable in the decoration, but the food … the food is simply amazing! At Il Giova, the menu is so varied that they can serve spaghetti alle vongole, salmon ceviche or frying fish and seafood.…

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Medici villas #4: Villa Medici Roma
Medici Traces

Medici villas #4: Villa Medici Roma

24 julio, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

The Villa Medici in Rome, together with its garden, it is one of the most majestic of the Medicean villas. Located next to Villa Borghese Park, it was acquired by Ferdinand I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1576. Since 1803 the building hosts the French Academy in Rome. It was precisely Ferdinand I de’ Medici who commissioned Bartolomeo Ammannati to complete the structure. It is the first property of the Florentine family in Rome, with which they reaffirmed their permanent presence in the city.…

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Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence
Art & Culture

Isadora Duncan awaits you in Florence

17 julio, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSIONS BELOW

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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I have a date at Caffè del Verone in Florence
Wine & Food

I have a date at Caffè del Verone in Florence

12 julio, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Due to the tangle of streets that makes up the medieval layout in the historic part of Florence, with its narrow, winding and cobbled alleyways, it is not easy to find a terrace where you can sit and sunbathe, drink a beer, and read a short novel by Stefan Zweig or Italo Calvino. This is only possible in certain large squares and in the upper lodges of some Florentine hotels and palaces, such as the last floor of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (piazza Santissima Annunziata).
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Gian Gastone de’ Medici, the last homosexual of the Medici dynasty
Medici Traces

Gian Gastone de’ Medici, the last homosexual of the Medici dynasty

26 junio, 2019 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

The last sovereign ruler of the Medici dynasty, Gian Gastone (1671-1737), Grandson of Ferdinando II, reigned fourteen years – from 1723 to 1737. He was a lonely pubescent man who spent most of his time isolated in the Boboli Garden, concentrated in his studies on flowers and plants and his collection of dainty, delicate objects and things. It is said that because of his homosexuality, he was affected with a deep melancholy. He was the second in the hereditary line since the first soon of the Grand Duke was Ferdinando. When Ferdinando died without heirs in 1713, Gian Gastone inherited the throne. In 1697 and for alliances and dynasties reasons, Gian Gastone was forced to marry a German-Bohemian princess, Anna Maria Franziska. The matrimony was a calamity from the beginning due to the lack of comprehension combined with a high degree of repellency and depressed resignedness on part of Gian Gastone. The marriage had no children thus consequently the option of a Medici heir vanished.

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