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Gardens of Florence #9: giardino di Boboli, the paradigm of a 16th century Italian garden
Outdoors

Gardens of Florence #9: giardino di Boboli, the paradigm of a 16th century Italian garden

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

The Boboli Gardens date back to 1418 when Luca Pitti bought its land in Oltrarno intending to build the magnificent Pitti Palace, later owned by the Medici family. The Medici commissioned the landscaping to Niccolò Tribolo, the famous architect responsible for the gardens of their villas of Castello and La Petraia. However, after the premature death of Tribolo, it was Bartolomeo Ammannati who finished the job. The Boboli is the paradigm of the 16th-century Italian garden, as well as one of the most significant historical parks in Florence. Around the principal axes are placed avenues, hedges, terraces full of statues and fountains. The first operas of history were also represented in its open-air amphitheatre.
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Past and present of the «pensione» Annalena in Florence
Medici Traces

Past and present of the «pensione» Annalena in Florence

1 febrero, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

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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Pontormo at Palazzo Pitti: from drawing to painting
Art & Culture

Pontormo at Palazzo Pitti: from drawing to painting

5 junio, 2018 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

The exhibition Incontri miracolosi: Pontormo dal disegno alla pittura (Miraculous Encounters: Pontormo from drawing to painting) presents a series of works of outstanding importance, most of which are here displayed for the first time together. Thirty years after it was last here, the return visit to Florence of the Halberdier (1494- 1557) is the perfect occasion for an exhibition dedicated to Pontormo. This magnificent portrait by Pontormo, acquired by the Getty Museum of Los Angeles in 1989 for the then record-breaking sum of $32.5 million, now finds itself back in its home town of Florence. It’s the centre piece of the exhibition curated by Bruce Edelstein, which is now on show in the Sala delle Nicchie in Palazzo Pitti until 29th July 2018. Displayed along with the Halberdier, there is also the Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap, among other master pieces.
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Museo Effimero della Moda: fashion at Palazzo Pitti
Art & Culture

Museo Effimero della Moda: fashion at Palazzo Pitti

15 octubre, 2017 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Il Museo Effimero della Moda (The Ephemeral Museum of Fashion), produced by the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery in collaboration with the Gallerie degli Uffizi and the Palais Galliera, is placed in the spaces of the Galleria del Costume at Palazzo Pitti and curated by Olivier Saillard. The peculiarity of The Ephemeral Museum lies in its novel conceptions of staging and thematic content. The exhibition, in eighteen rooms, showcases nearly two hundred items – clothing and accessories – dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. There were created by the world’s most prestigious dressmakers and fashion ateliers, including the House of Worth, Mariano Fortuny Venice, Maison Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli,  Nina Ricci, Gianfranco Ferré and Christian Lacroix. Contemporary fashions are also well represented with recent acquisitions by the Palais Galliera, and the show includes a foray into the world of today’s fashions with selections from the latest collections by Gucci, Margiela, Fendi, Armani, Valentino, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano and Lanvin.
Until October 22
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