7 best and most distinguished libraries in Florence

7 best and most distinguished libraries in Florence

PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Following the steps of German photographer Candida Höfer, who exceptionally portrayed the soul of libraries in solitude, same images in Florence reveal the splendour of the Marucelliana Library, born in the middle of the XVIII century after donation by the abbot Francesco Marucelli; the Biblioteca dell’Accademia della Crusca, placed within the Medici villa of Castello, as the largest library of linguistics and history of the Italian language; the Medicea Laurenziana Library designed by Michelangelo (holds its infamous Mannerist staircase) in the cloister of the basilica of San Lorenzo; the National Library of Florence, which also offers a free guided tour in Italian and English on Saturdays at 11:30 a.m.; the Biblioteca Riccardiana, stablished in 1600 and managed today by the Accademia della Crusca, it has also been described as «a unique example of what a patrician library in an aristocratic place (at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi) looked like;» the Biblioteca Moreniana (at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi as well), founded in the 18th century and composed of the collections of Domenico Moreni, and specialized in material on the history of Florence and Tuscany; and the modern library in the Novoli campus of the University of Florence (UniFi).…

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Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence: Renaissance paradigmatic construction

Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence: Renaissance paradigmatic construction

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It is hard to say how many times a day I pass by and around the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence — I live a few steps away from this Renaissance building, by the way, one of the most beautiful and splendorous of Florence. Besides the proximity, it took long until finally, I decided to visit it. Sometimes closeness and everydayness make us ignore the cultural gems of a city, simply because they are there and one thinks there is plenty of time to enjoy them in the future.…

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Palazzo Medici-Riccardi presents Picasso portrayed by Edward Quinn

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi presents Picasso portrayed by Edward Quinn

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Until March 1, the exhibition ‘Picasso. The other half of the sky. Photographs by Edward Quinn’ at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence proposes an approach to discover the Spanish artist and his relationship with the female world through the photos of one of the most notable photographers of the twentieth century: Edward Quinn. The show is the result of the unusual friendship that linked Picasso with Edward Quinn. Quinn became one of the few photographers who were allowed to photograph him at work, and he was embraced in his private life too. Consisting of eighty photos, the exhibition shows the intimate and private Picasso.…

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‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR,’ exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence

‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR,’ exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence

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On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the start of his career as a street artist, Shepard Fairey, also known as OBEY, presents at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence the exhibition ‘OBEY. MAKE ART NOT WAR.’ The show is a visual journey at the crossroads between four themes — Woman, Environment, Peace, Culture — recreating in the museum the ideal night-time stroll through the city. The large artworks and the small silk-screen prints are organic parts of the same family, an urban conversation between militant messages. OBEY encourages reflections on humanitarian themes, existential transitions, social utopias and values above the law. His pacifist and environmental message transforms us into little ‘soldiers’ of a new kind of activism.…

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‘Heroes – Bowie by Sukita.’ Photo exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

‘Heroes – Bowie by Sukita.’ Photo exhibition at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

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The retrospective Heroes – Bowie by Sukita, curated by ONO Arte Contemporanea, features the pop icon David Bowie through the eyes and lens of the undisputed master of Japanese photography, Masayoshi Sukita. From March 30 to June 28, 2019, at the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (via Cavour 3) the show presents 60 large-format photographs, including the iconic photos that illustrated the cover of the album HEROES, and photographs belonging to Sukita personal archive which document the friendship, that started in the 1970s, between the pop-rock legend and the photographer. With this exhibition, Florence pays tribute to Bowie and fuses, once again, the historical with the contemporary.

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Christine De Melo´s Florence

Christine De Melo´s Florence

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My Portuguese parents arrived in the US with nothing but the will to succeed. I fell in love with art, history, and architecture at a young age and longed to see the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, and Botticelli. Being firstborn to poor immigrants meant that I grew up with few prospects—Italy may as well have been the moon.…

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