Florence (Firenze)

Amici della Musica e il Teatro della Pergola

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Amici-della-Musica-Firenze-440x240Amici Della Musica

Founded in 1920, the Amici della Musica or Friends of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious concert groups in Florence. The group presents some of the best works and performers on the international scene. And its home is the beautiful Teatro della Pergola, Florence’s oldest theater built in in 1656, so you can enjoy a wonderful Florentine evening from boxes once maintained for the private entertainment of the city’s aristocracy and social elite.

There is surely also much scope, now that Italian performers have become experts in this field, for further exploration of the Baroque repertoire, not to mention the grandsopéras of Meyerbeer, which were staged for the first time in Italy at the Pergola in the mid-nineteenth century and have been absent from the Maggio Musicale since the 1971 production of L’Africaine with Jessye Norman. The neglect of the French repertoire in general has been one of the weaknesses of operatic programming in Florence. It is hoped that the galvanizing presence of the new general manager will succeed in breaking down this barrier, too. spacer

For more, see http://amicimusicafirenze.it

Wisteria season!

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I’m in love with wisteria and I always have been.  We are having a late spring here in Florence; last year the wisteria had already bloomed and withered by this time.  But this year the vine is just coming into its glory!  Just look!

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The story the pictures don’t tell is that the sky was blue, the breeze was warm, the birds were singing and the sweet scent of wisteria was wafting.

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How do I love thee, let me count the ways. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband in Florence.

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The Casa Guidi, as we see it today, has the same number of rooms and the same plan as it was when the Robert and Elizabeth Barret Browningrented it in 1847. The Brownings lived here happily for many years, and Elizabeth died there in 1861.
The Brownings took two years to furnish the apartment, buying at high cost one or two precious pieces such as the golden mirror of the living room, while most of the paintings and other furniture was found in small Florentine shops.

 

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https://www.visittuscany.com/it/attrazioni/casa-guidi-firenze/

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In restoring the property, the Landmark Trust and Eton College tried to maintain the original atmosphere, preventing the apartment from   looking like a museum.


There are currently some paintings and furniture that belonged to    both the Barrett family and the Browning family and that have been   generously donated to Casa Guidi, but overall the furnishings remain similar to those of the 19th century. The walls and ceilings in the  living room and main bedroom and the ceiling of the poet's studio    have been restored with the original colors of the period. All doors and fireplaces are original.


After the poet's death, the Commune commemorated her life placed an  inscription on the door (composed by Niccolò Tommaseo) according to  which her poetry had created a golden ring that binds Italy and      England.

 

Accesso handicap:
Non accessibile a persone su sedia a ruote

Contatti:
P.zza San Felice, 8
Telefono: 055 354457
E-mail: elena.capolino@fastwebnet.it

Purely Tuscan words: mesticheria

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I posted about this great shop recently, and want to dig in a little deeper on the roots of such a business in Florence.  Let’s focus for a minute on just exactly what kind of “paint store” is being advertised here and in a few other Florentine businesses.

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From Wiktionary (https://it.wiktionary.org/wiki/mesticheria) we learn that the word mesticheria in italiano is a feminine singular noun and means the following:

Sostantivo

mesticheria f sing

  1. termine prettamente toscano, indica una bottega dove si vende l’occorrente per dipingere o verniciare, e piccoli utensili per la manutenzione della casa (è molto frequente però trovarci le cose più svariate, come prodotti di giardinaggio o prodotti tessili)   A rough English translation: a purely Tuscan work indicating a shop wherein one can buy paints and small tools needed to maintain a home.

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mesticherìa s. f. [der. di mestica], region. – Bottega di colori già preparati, di vernici e di tutto ciò che occorre a pittori, verniciatori, imbianchini, e sim.  Rough English translation:  Shop selling prepared colors, paints, and all that is needed for both. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/mesticheria/

The latter definition speaks more clearly of the ancestry of these Tuscan shops: for a flourishing fresco tradition to exist and develop, extensive site preparations are necessary.  In order to prepare for a fresco, certain agents are needed to make the colored paints adhere to and chemically interact with the plastered wall below them.

I recently had a conversation with Jeremy Boudreau, the head of the art history department at the British Institute in Florence, and he said that only in Florence does one find this kind of shop, or a meticheria, selling the materials needed to create frescoes.

My guess, though, is that if you walked into one of these shops, they would be hard pressed to provide you with the materials needed to prepare a surface for the art of fresco.  It has been a while, I would imagine, since the likes of Giotto or Michelangelo needed paint supplies for this specific art form!

And, again…call me crazy, but I wonder where artists and their assistants purchased these materials in say Padua or Roma?  Did someone have to go to Florence to buy artistic materials for frescoes?!

Call me crazy, but…

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do you find it entertaining, as I do, that in Florence there is at least one shop that sells paint, hardware and perfume?!

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This great shop is on Borgo Santi Apostli, one of my favorite antique streets in Florence.  When I walk along the road, I think crazy stuff like “Dante walked this street a few centuries ago” and I feel amazingly fortunate to be living my dream.

But,  then I encounter a store like this and just the concept of a shop that sells hardware and perfume makes me joyful!  Would Dante have found it funny?

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