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Chini Museum, the artistic heritage of Galileo Chini
Within Tuscany

Chini Museum, the artistic heritage of Galileo Chini

16 mayo, 2024 / By:
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Galileo Andrea Maria Chini (Firenze, 1873 – Firenze, 1956) was an Italian decorator, designer, painter, potter, and a prominent member of the Italian Art Nouveau movement or Stile Liberty. His theatrical labour includes sets designs for some Puccini’s operas. Thanks to his work in ceramics, he was awarded at the universal exhibitions in Brussels and St. Petersburg. At Chini Museum visitors can discover a permanent collection dedicated to the works and history of Galileo Chini and his family, as well as temporary exhibitions.…

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Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, Tuscany’s esoteric garden
Within Tuscany

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, Tuscany’s esoteric garden

5 mayo, 2024 / By:
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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.…

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Castello Ginori di Querceto, celebrating nature and life in the Tuscan countryside
Within Tuscany

Castello Ginori di Querceto, celebrating nature and life in the Tuscan countryside

26 septiembre, 2023 / By:
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Crickets, cicadas, tafani, pheasants, wind, rain, silence … The sounds of nature. But also the colours of sunrise and sunset, the hue of the grapes, the forest-trees, and the countryside … The flavours of wine and a splendid menu at Locanda del Sole restaurant … The aroma of the wetland after the rain … The texture of the olive tree logs and the stone walls covered with ivy. And the compassion of the sun. The days pass by peacefully between swimming pool moments alone and 20 kilometres hiking treks … between wines from the Ginori Lisci winery. The time has stood still. We are in the Ginori Castle of Querceto, enjoying with the five senses. This place is an antidote to stress (the poison of the first world), and it makes us forget about the exhausting urban life, of which we are – sometimes – slaves without redemption.…

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Carnival of Viareggio, magic and fantasy on the Tuscan coast
Within Tuscany

Carnival of Viareggio, magic and fantasy on the Tuscan coast

25 febrero, 2023 / By:
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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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Villa Puccini in Torre del Lago: where Giacomo Puccini still feels alive
Within Tuscany

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

19 febrero, 2023 / By:
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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.
Practical info…

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Viareggio Art Déco, chic decadence on the Versilia Coast
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Viareggio Art Déco, chic decadence on the Versilia Coast

20 octubre, 2019 / By:
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The walk on the seafront of Viareggio is one of the most beautiful in Italy. This promenade is where its unique carnival parade takes place. Along four kilometres of coast, one can see the beach on one side and some beautiful –  and deeply decadent – Liberty-style buildings on the other. Today a modern city, Viareggio’s most distinguished monuments are the Art Déco buildings facing the waterfront, which have preserved their original structure since the beginning of the 20th century.…

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Farewell to Bernardo Bertolucci, director of «Stealing Beauty,» a postcard movie shot in Tuscany
Within Tuscany

Farewell to Bernardo Bertolucci, director of «Stealing Beauty,» a postcard movie shot in Tuscany

26 noviembre, 2018 / By:
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Presented at the 49th iteration of the Cannes Film Festival and shot in Tuscany, the feature film Stealing Beauty (1996) shows the beautiful and cheerful wild face of Tuscany. Siena, Gaiole in Chianti, Castello di Brolio, Scorgiano, the photogenic Tuscan hills, the country houses, the olive trees meadows, the parties in luxury villas, summer, love, sex and interpersonal relationships are the ingredients of this arthouse movie. The film shows wonderful places located in the surroundings of Siena through its 19-year old protagonist interpreted by Liv Tyler. This postcard movie, with its eclectic and outstanding soundtrack  (Portishead, Billie Holiday, Steve Wonder, Liz Phair…), has been key in my romance with Tuscany and Florence. I was 19-year old as well when I saw Stealing Beauty in a cinema theatre in the summer of 1996, in Tenerife. Its romance was very important for me and blossomed my love for this land and this region. Master of the Novecento, poet, documentarist, filmmaker, producer, polemicist, Italian cinema auteur par excellence, Bertolucci died today (November 26, 2018) at his home in Trastevere, Rome, after a long illness.
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Giacomo Puccini Birthplace Museum in Lucca
Within Tuscany

Giacomo Puccini Birthplace Museum in Lucca

25 julio, 2018 / By:
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Picturing the birthplace museum of some illustrious personage leads to stage it just as it was before his decease: an unfinished glass of wine, half-readings on the bedside table, projects still incomplete on the desk … Unfortunately, this is far from reality. Converting original houses into modern museums frequently leads to the disappearance of the original essence. Puccini Museum was first opened in 1979, but closed in 2004 due to restoration of the rooms original design and the recovery of the walls decoration. The Giacomo Puccini Birthplace Museum reopened in 2011 and is today managed by the Giacomo Puccini Foundation.
Puccini Museum – Corte San Lorenzo 9 55100 Lucca
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The magnificent medieval beauty of Arezzo
Within Tuscany

The magnificent medieval beauty of Arezzo

14 enero, 2018 / By:
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Set in the rural heart of Eastern Tuscany, and despite not having the historical heritage of its sisters Lucca and Florence, Arezzo preserves a beautiful medieval town and a pleasant lifestyle, hiding also charming corners that still remind of its splendid past. This town, which was home to geniuses like Petrarca, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and Vasari, becomes today key to discover the more rugged face of the so-called region with the soft hills. It also became a lucumonia, that is to say, one of the twelve capitals that shaped the Etruscan League. Due to the quality of its clays, Arezzo was famous for its ceramics. Additionally, many scenes from the film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni were filmed there, too.…

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Alternatives to the “Stendhal syndrome:” Museum House Vasari or the artist who gave name to the Renaissance
Within Tuscany

Alternatives to the “Stendhal syndrome:” Museum House Vasari or the artist who gave name to the Renaissance

2 enero, 2018 / By:
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Vasari bought this garden house in Arezzo in 1541. In the last century some Tuscan artists turned the place into a small museum dedicated to Mannerism. This site is today an illustrious example of an artist’s house in which Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian of our era, celebrated his thoughts and his art. Its rooms are profusely decorated with frescoes and embellished with Mannerist paintings, revealing the supreme expression of 16th century Italian art. After completing his architectural works, Vasari dedicated himself to the pictorial decoration between 1542 and 1568, thus these rooms praise the artist’s role through biblical, mythological themes and numerous allegories to the astonishment of any visitor. The main rooms are substantially unchanged. The original furniture does not remain.
Casa Vasari – Via XX Settembre 55 – 52100 Arezzo
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