Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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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…
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The Games of Florence for the Patron
From the Palio of Cocchi to football in livery An old Florentine saying goes: Bread and feasts keep the people quiet. This is why the history of Florence is full of parties and games… It was June 23rd 1563, the eve of Saint John, when Duke Cosimo I de ‘Medici instituted the Palio dei Cocchi…
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The nose glasses: an invention from Florence or Pisa?
Even Umberto Eco, in The Name of the Rose, tells that Guglielmo di Baskerville shows a pair of glasses, calling them the work of today, claiming to have received them as a gift from Salvino degli Armati. A character, Salvino, whom no document from the 14th century reports or mentions. The story of the invention…
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Estimated, hatde and loved: Giorgio Vasari, the ‘thousand lives’ and the wedding planner
In the margin of a copy of “The Lives … by Giorgio Vasari”, an unsigned note was found: “Cheeky, presumptuous, evil beast, ignorant, envious, liar …” and other perhaps worse offenses. It is said that they were written by Annibale Carracci (Bolognese painter), Vasari’s archenemy… Although he was never an excellent artist, Giorgio Vasari had…
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Flower in Florence. At the Ctystal Palace and on the balconies
Spring Market Exhibition at the Giardino dell’Orticultura (Horticultural Garden) from 25th April 2022 to 1st May 2022 Every 25th April in the Giardino dell’Orticultura in Florence, at the Ponte Rosso, the traditional exhibition of plants and flowers opens. It’s worth to make a visit not only for the wonderful plants of nurserymen from all over…