On the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, we cannot forget his love story, his most famous Florentine love story. Dante and Beatrice first met when they were just 9 years old. The meeting took place in the church of Santa Margherita dei Cerchi (church where Beatrice Portinari’s family had her burials) and…
The term “villeggiare”(vacation) originated in Venice and Florence during the Renaissance to define the period of residence that nobles and wealthy gentlemen had at the country villas during the summer. The whole family moved to the villa to escape from the heat and miasma of the city where, in the streets of the center and…
The first street on the left from Piazza del Duomo (today via Ricasoli) was called “Via del Cocomero” until 1847. The strange name, which for the Florentines indicates what throughout Italy is called “Watermelon”, is due to the large crops of watermelon and pumpkins that were from the cathedral to the field where there is…
The Tracksuit Model, one-piece universal jumpsuit, was attached to the newspaper La Nazione at a cost of fifty cents at the end of June 1920. Creative marketing, advertising and sales, not of a finished product but of his project. Thus La Nazione illustrated the futurist jumpsuit: “One-piece surcoat with trousers and sleeves, of sturdy cotton…
For 550 years the golden sphere has dominated Brunelleschi’s dome The lantern, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and built after his death, was completed with a two and a half meter diameter copper sphere covered with gold, designed by Andrea Verrocchio and made in his workshop. To be able to find the necessary copper, Verrocchio went…
It was thanks to the Greeks (who introduced the grapevine in Italy in the eighth century B.C.), that the Etruscans, a hardworking and joyful people, appreciated the vitis vinifera, and its product, the wine! Not only that, while the Greeks excluded women from banquets and the consumption of wine, the Etruscans instead loved to toast…
In Via dello Studio (Studio Street) 25 there is a tower house. Above the entrance, a plaque and a terracotta bust remind us that this was the birthplace of Antonio Pierozzi (1389-1459), Dominican, prior of San Marco, theologian, scholar and archbishop of Florence, made a saint in 1523. Better known as Saint Anthony because of…
2021 is the year of the seven hundredth anniversary of Dante Alighieri‘s death, which took place in Ravenna, his place of exile, on the night between 13 and 14 September 1321. No homage to Dante, however, due to the origin of the street names dedicated to Hell, Heaven and Purgatory. Although modern Florence loves the…
“Once upon a time … A king! – My little readers will immediately say. No, guys, you were wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood … “ It can be said that the most famous puppet in the world was born in Florence. Its author is Carlo Lorenzini, born on November…
In this period, even in Florence and its surroundings, as in many other parts of Tuscany and Italy, temperatures hover around 0 degrees. A few centuries ago this was the right time to stock up on ‘freshness’ for the summer. In Florence it was the Medici who expressed the desire to follow the new fashion…