Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Brodo di Giuggiole (Jujube Broth)
A “bag” as a snack to go… in jujube broth! How many have heard of “going into jujube soup” (is a way of saying typical of Tuscan people)? In Florence it was often used in the figurative sense of “going overwhelmed, going out of one’s mind from contentment” with the meaning, that is, of being…
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The First Digital Clock, the one of Santa Maria Novella Station
It can be seen from afar, as it should be for public clocks, and as it has always been for the clocks that we see on bell towers and municipal buildings. What we want to talk about is in Piazza Santa Maria Novella, on the wall at the entrance to Florence Station. A truly curious watch, and avant-garde…
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Alchermes, a florentine liqueur
A name that has little or nothing of Florentine, yet the recipe for this liqueur was born in Florence. The origin of the name is Arabic and is linked to the red color obtained from “Cochineal”, from which a red powder is obtained that dyes and characterizes the liqueur, now replaced by food dyes. Liqueur…
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The inventor of Cinema: from Florence to Cinecittà
No one would doubt, who invented cinema? The Lumière Brothers! But when it comes to inventions, let’s rummage in the heart of Florence… and, in this case, a name and a surname will emerge: Filoteo Alberini. A great lover of photography, thanks to his apprenticeship with an itinerant photographer, Filoteo, after his military service, was…
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Sgraffiti, the street art of 15th Century
“Time is a gentleman” says a proverb, but the action of time doesn’t always help certain forms of art to survive. Once again a new form of art was born in Florence: the fashion of decorated facades (at least 70 remain in the city), which dates back to the 1400s. A sort of “street art”…
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Saffron, the flower that raised the towers
A truly precious spice, because to get it one gram takes one hundred and fifty flowers … The saffron harvest is repeated every morning at dawn, before the sunlight makes the flowers open, for the entire flowering period, between the second half of October and the first of November. The work is done by hand…
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The “anglobeceri”. Poets, literators, inventors english but with florentine spirit
They spoke a funny Florentine vernacular with a strong English accent. For this they were nicknamed “anglobeceri”. “Becero” in Florence is someone who turns out to be coarse, noisy … anything but “English”. It was just irony, the Anglobecero is a stylish Englishman who lives in Florence, preferably in a villa outside the city. Like…
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Dante’s train
From Florence to Ravenna passing among the most beautiful villages in Italy After the summer break, travel with Dante’s Train, between Florence and Ravenna, resumes. 136 km aboard the “Centoporte”, a historic train made available by the FS Italiane Foundation, which on weekends travels on the Faentina railway line, the first in Italy to cross…
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140 years ago …
A very delicate movement Michelangelo’s David was moved between 30th July and 8th August 1873 On July 30st 1873, the long and difficult move of the David from Piazza della Signoria to the Galleria dell’Accademia began, inaugurated in June 1872. The task of coordinating and fine-tuning the transport of the marble giant, taking care of…
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Lambs, lions, wild boars and angels…
Fountains and small fountains in the streets of Florence Once, while walking through the streets burned by the summer heat, you met some very useful cast iron fountains that dispensed fresh and drinkable water. In Rome, rich in water, there are still hundreds of them, they are called “nasoni” due to the characteristic shape of…