Pantheon, all dressed up
Ironwork and horticulture
I was walking along a new to me street in Florence last Friday, and when I walked by this arresting view of a gigantic succulent fenced in by brightly painted iron work, I must say it stopped me in my tracks!
I mean, the sheer size of the plant was overwhelming…it felt kind of Jurassic parklike. So cool!
23 new American sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage register
Across the nation, 23 locales have risen to become UNESCO World Heritage sites. And they’re all breathtaking.
What is a “cicerone”
Fiera Firenze, an exhibition space extraordinaire, inside a Medicean fortress
What does a city do with an historic fortress, when the idea of a fortress and its original capabilities are no longer needed/wanted?
Well, if it is Florence, you turn it into a modern asset–an exhibition/conference space like no other.
Known as Fiera Firenze, the Fortezza de Basso is now a leading exhibition centre in Tuscany located at the heart of the city, with 100,000 sq m, 65,000 of which are roofed. Among the venues constituting the exhibition area are The Fortezza da Basso, with its 55,000 sq m of covered area, Palazzo dei Congressi (with a congress capacity of around 1,500 seats and an auditorium for 1,000 guests) and Palazzo degli Affari, a modern and multifunctional venue of over 4,000 sq m, with an overall capacity of 1,300 people.
Its privileged location and its charming spaces, reflecting a perfect dialogue between historical architecture and contemporaneity, are the key factors making it a unicum in the fair & congress world.
Every year, the company boasts a portfolio of important events – some of which are leading events for men’s fashion and high quality crafts- as well as important local and international conventions and congresses, mainly focusing on medical-scientific subjects and on the IT sector.
Firenze Fiera also features a Development Department, as well as a Press & Communication Office, actively supporting the organisers of events, fair and congresses.
Noteworthy words
Cut it out! It is finally time to be who you really are!
My friend Isadora posted this on her Instagram today. I love the words and the idea that if you tear off a label, you can be wholly you! I know that isn’t what the original maker meant, but that’s how I like to see it!
Palazzo dei Pittori, my new neighbor
My new apartment is right across due viale from the very handsome Palazzo dei Pittori. The palazzo and I are separated by 2 viale or boulevards and one stream (the Mugnone), and I always admire the facade of the palazzo whenever I gaze across this space. There is nothing blocking my view except some beautiful green trees and a stream, and two grand-scale viali or boulevards. The Palazzo provides a gorgeous backdrop!
Here is a Youtube video about the palazzo and its current iteration.
And here is some background info garnered from the web on this fine structure:
On Saturday May 16th, 2016, the beautiful Palazzo dei Pittori reopened to the public – on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Florence Capital – a building that has always fascinated and intrigued Florentines and others. The president of the culture commission of the Municipality participated in the event.
The building, intended for the studies of artists, has always been called “Palazzo dei Pittori” and located on the southern bank of the Mugnone stream, today Viale Giovanni Milton, at numbers 47 and 49.
The building was commissioned by an English painter named Lemon who was living in Florence. It was designed by the architect and engineer Tito Bellini and built in the 2nd half of the 19th century to host artists of various nationalities including English, German, Russian, Swiss and also Italians, all of whom created art during the time that Florence was the capital of Italy (1860-1865).
The Palazzo dei Pittori itself was built during the “Umbertino period,” with its large spaces and austere decoration.
From its construction to the present day, there have been many well and lesser known artists who have worked in the palace, including the Sicilian sculptor Domenico Trentacoste, the Macchiaiolo painter Egisto Ferroni, Giovanni and Romeo Costetti, the sculptor Giuseppe Graziosi and many others. It was also home to a prestigious school of painting called the “Florentine School of Painting,” directed by professors Giuseppe Rossi and Alberto Zardo.
Other creative artists also worked in this atelier, including poets and writers such as Gabriele D’Annunzio and Mario Luzi.
This is therefore a place that houses an important but forgotten past, vaguely mysterious, waiting to be discovered.
Unpredictable Florentine weather
We all grew up saying that “April showers bring May flowers.” And they do!
But, this year it is raining well into May as well. The weather has been very unsettled. Cold and raining one day, warm and clear the next. However, I am not complaining. The hot summer temperatures can wait as long as possible to arrive. When they hit, they are not unsettled in the valley that surrounds lovely Firenze. They arrive and stay, well past their welcome.
But, all this rain has the fields and hills around Florence alive with flowers! Yes, we do have flowers! Bright red poppies are everywhere, they grow wild and are a welcome sign that the fields are not being sprayed with pesticides or herbicides. On the train from Rome to Florence, this view below is a constant right now.
The grape vines are looking incredible, maybe this will be a great year for wine production.
However, the olive oil forecast is not as great. Local olive oil makers are already are warning that it looks like there will be little no oil this year. The olive trees should already be blossoming and they aren’t.
Maybe it will just be a late harvest. Olive harvest in the past was done in late November and through December. But, recently, due to the changes in the weather conditions, harvest now happens earlier.
Last weekend, was another religious holiday in Tuscany. It was Ascension Sunday which falls 43 days after Easter is often celebrated with flowers. Some towns decorate streets with designs created with petals, and others have large celebrations where you can buy lovely plants. Plus, great food and drink accompanies any holiday!
If you want to learn more about this moveable feast, then here you go:
The Ascension of Our Lord, which celebrates the day on which the risen Christ, in the sight of His apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven (Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11), is a moveable feast. When is Ascension?
How Is the Date of Ascension Determined?
Like the dates of most other moveable feasts, the date of the Ascension depends on the date of Easter. Ascension Thursday always falls 40 days after Easter (counting both Easter and Ascension Thursday), but since the date of Easter changes every year, the date of Ascension does as well.
Ascension Thursday Versus Ascension Sunday
Determining the date of Ascension is also complicated by the fact that, in many dioceses the celebration of Ascension has been transferred from Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter) to the following Sunday (43 days after Easter).
Since Ascension is a Holy Day of Obligation, it is important for Catholics to know on which date Ascension will be celebrated in their particular diocese.
(See Is Ascension a Holy Day of Obligation? to find out which ecclesiastical provinces continue to celebrate Ascension on Ascension Thursday, and which have transferred the celebration to the following Sunday.)
https://www.thoughtco.com/when-is-ascension-541611
Palazzo Davanzati and Elia Volpi
One of my favorite places in Florence is the Palazzo Davanzati. One look at one of the rooms in the palazzo will show you why I love it. I visited it on my very first trip to Florence, almost 40 years ago. It hasn’t changed one bit, except maybe it is even better now with more didactic info available.
We have the art dealer, Elia Volpi (1858–1938), to thank for having saved the Palazzo as it appears today. In Florence, Volpi is known as the “father” of the Museum of the Old Florentine House in Palazzo Davanzati, as he was responsible for restoring the building and turning it into a private museum in 1910.
Now the museum, on via Porta Rossa, is opening its “Homage to Elia Volpi the Painter” exhibition, which offers the chance to discover a lesser-known side of the illustrious collector and antiquarian, that is, to see him as an artist.
Volpi trained at Florence’s Academy of Fine Arts. The current exhibition focuses on his training and the paintings he produced from the 1870s through the 1890s, with examples of his sketches and finished paintings, mostly in pristine condition. All of these works have been donated to the museum from private collections.
Volpi’s sketches are testament to his studies of the Italian Renaissance masters and, along with the male nudes, show off the early artistic skills of a young Volpi.
The paintings demonstrate his broad range; during the 1880s he explored church scenes before concentrating on the subjects and style of the Macchiaioli and more contemporary artists such as Francesco Gioli and Niccolò Cannicci.
The show also includes a multimedia section featuring a video that focuses on the artist’s personal life and a touch-screen panel with photographs that demonstrate the creation of the museum.
The exhibition is open from May 6 to August 5 in the Palazzo Davanzati Museum.
The source of this info comes from:
http://www.theflorentine.net/art-culture/2018/05/elia-volpi-exhibition-palazzo-davanzati/
get back, lauretta! 
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