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Studio Musivo Lastrucci: masters of the Florentine mosaic, the art of «painting with stones»
Fashion & Shops & Markets

Studio Musivo Lastrucci: masters of the Florentine mosaic, the art of «painting with stones»

28 septiembre, 2023 / By:
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The artistic discipline named “commesso” or Florentine mosaic made with semiprecious stones emerged in Florence in the 16th century. As could be expected, the Medici family was a great promoter of this new artistic manifestation. Using the traditional technique of the Romanesque mosaic, the “commesso” added interspersed gemstones with highly aesthetic results, very similar to those of a real painting. Each mosaic is handmade in the laboratory following the traditional method, which allows to maintain the authenticity of the technique and enhance the natural colour of each stone. To complete a surface equivalent to a DIN A3 size, three or four years of craft work are needed. …

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The magical world of Gucci Garden in Florence
Fashion & Shops & Markets

The magical world of Gucci Garden in Florence

27 septiembre, 2023 / By:
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After thorough renovation, Gucci has reopened its Florence museum located in Palazzo della Mercanzia. Its three floors and different rooms have been converted into a multi-space where you can eat, shop and join the Gucci constellation. Past and present merge within a fusion of animals, plants and flowers appearing as cheerful as the intense patterns of Gucci´s traditional garments. …

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Florence – To love a city
Moments & People

Florence – To love a city

2 agosto, 2023 / By:
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I feel often the captivating force of Florence acting as a magnetic power. And yet, what we know about places comes mainly by sharing certain time and space in them. Florence is there, the person appears, but the person leaves. Florence continues. The place transforms the human and the person alters the place. Thus, José Saramago once wrote: «I do not remember having ever read about the reasons that lead us to love one city more than any other (…). I believe that the love for a city is made of tiny things, of intangible reasons, perhaps a street, a fountain, or even a shadow. In the interior of the city of us all, the small city where each of us really lives. We physically inhabit a space, but above all, sentimentally, we inhabit a memory.»…

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Being an expat in Florence
Moments & People

Being an expat in Florence

1 agosto, 2023 / By:
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Meeting a foreign resident in Florence makes me wonder: “What brought him here?” (love, work, despair, art heritage, studies, food, wine, people, indecision), what moved him to stay here, what do I have in common with this person (at first and apparently quite a lot, and sometimes, in reality, nothing). However, what differentiates us, I sure know. It is usually, with natural exceptions, the routine. My discontinuous / intermittent stays in Florence let me enjoy the city with a renewed intensity each time. Such joy, I am afraid, might become ruined when choosing a permanent residence.
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History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school
Moments & People

History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school

31 julio, 2023 / By:
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History of art was, without a doubt, my favourite subject at high school. By then, Italy was for me a distant and unknown country, it seemed so far as on another planet, and I did not even know what Tuscany meant or where in the map Florence was. At the age of 17, everything seemed so phantasmagorical and unreal … How unusual, the unpredictable ways to which life sometimes leads. Especially to those who try to escape from routine.

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Via Tornabuoni, between heaven and earth
Moments & People

Via Tornabuoni, between heaven and earth

28 julio, 2023 / By:
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Via Tornabuoni is the majestic street of Florence and where most of its luxurious shops converge, even mingling coquettishly with the church of Saints Michele and Gaetano, in piazza degli Antinori, as well as with the Cantinetta Antinori, Florence ́s finest café-bar Procacci, the Palazzo Strozzi … At the opposite end, the street meets the church of Santa Trinità and the Column of Justice in piazza Santa Trinità, next to the Arno River. There, one can also treasure the shaft of the column which was a gift from Pope Pius VI to Cosimo I de’ Medici, as he returned in 1565 from none other than the Baths of Caracalla, Rome. The sight of the sky from this corner of the city is truly rewarding.…

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Florence: passion and enthusiasm
Moments & People

Florence: passion and enthusiasm

26 julio, 2023 / By:
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All passion springs from enthusiasm. Florence rescued me from neglecting feelings, an attitude that (I do not recall exactly when) came from falling lost in Berlin. Florence meant a safe net to avoid the death of the soul and helped me arise from that terrible fall. In the Tuscan capital a revolution took place inside of me. Indeed, a Renaissance. Thus, I now live here with all naturalness, feeling calm and relaxed. In Florence the days do not seem so endless, there is always something to do, even if it’s just a walk among Renaissance treasures, only to come back home later relieved. To enjoy Florence, one must be Epicurean, aesthete and eclectic. To this city, where the vicissitudes of my destiny have brought me, I will definitely elaborate a whole dictionary of affectionate expressions, because I haven´t yet met any Italian who speaks well, and with true love, about their country.
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Firenze-SMN central station: arriving alone in a foreign country
Moments & People

Firenze-SMN central station: arriving alone in a foreign country

25 julio, 2023 / By:
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I love the Florence-Santa Maria Novella train station for many reasons. For instance, its loudspeaker announcing the arrival of the Milan train by the binario otto and the departure to Venice by the binario due, or the smell of the railway machinery and, naturally, because of those who travel to other places. It is also wonderful to arrive alone in a foreign country, feeling the assault of transformation. The Italians are still here, busy living. The rhythm of their lives is different, while I am a complete stranger, an eccentric or maybe not. A friend has recently told me: «You are acquiring a past in Florence.» That´s an assertion — without going into grim details — I find not very encouraging, nonetheless quite revealing. Because, above all, I love to attraversare il binario ed oltrepassare la linea gialla.…

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Touched for the very first time in Florence
Moments & People

Touched for the very first time in Florence

24 julio, 2023 / By:
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My first stay in Florence was in piazza del Mercato Nuovo at the end of September 2008. I recall how lost I felt then, trying to find the hotel with a map in my hands. I still do not know the name of the streets and alleys, but today I could certainly move around the city with my eyes closed. I remember one particular night when, disappointed by a date, I drank a whole bottle of limoncello (yes, I’m that kind of person) that I acquired in Pisa. The following morning, I was stroke by terrible news: my friend and artist Cocó Ciëlo had been murdered in Madrid. That was the first time I walked to piazzale di Michelangelo. I had a beer or two there and cried while contemplating this majestic town. Where you led me, Florence, that fateful night? All I could feel was irrational disgust, as the city had become a carrier of bad news to me. But we later reconciled. And, as in the most intense and passionate stories in literature, we have lived since many ruptures and reunions.…

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Santa Rosa Bistrot: outdoor & eco-friendly oasis in San Frediano
Wine & Food

Santa Rosa Bistrot: outdoor & eco-friendly oasis in San Frediano

20 julio, 2023 / By:
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«Eat, drink, feel good» is the motto of the Santa Rosa Bistrot, a charming cafe-bar-restaurant decorated with exquisite taste, offering an intimate and cosy atmosphere next to Porta San Frediano wall. Open since September 2016, this establishment stands in the plot that once belonged to the Mama nightclub, closed early in the year 2000 due to complaints of the neighbourhood. Its slogan «Green» relates to a healthy and light menu based on fish, vegetables and crostini. In its garden with picnic area there is a nursery of aromatic herbs used also to prepare cocktails. Santa Rosa Bistrot is crowded on weekends, especially at night, with endless queuing to order a drink or something to eat. A better idea is to go any day during the week in the afternoon.
Santa Rosa Bistrot is open from eight in the morning until midnight – live music
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