Category: Things to do in Tuscany

Borgo Santo Pietro. A luxury weekend in Tuscany

Borgo Santo Pietro offers a truly unique 5 * experience for a luxury weekend in Tuscany. Located in the heart of this wonderful region and set within 13 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, this 13th century Tuscan hamlet takes relaxation and pleasure to an entirely new level.

Borgo’s accommodation combines ultimate luxury with refined elegance and exceptional comfort. The main villa offers opulent ensuite rooms, superior suites and the majestic Santo Pietro Grande Suite. Throughout the beautifully designed country estate you will also find uniquely decorated garden suites, which enjoy private gardens or secluded courtyards.

An elegant villa with a noble history, Borgo Santo Pietro has been lovingly and masterfully restored with the greatest respect to its original heritage. A sophisticated combination of classic and contemporary design provides a timeless and captivating atmosphere within the exquisite interiors and the glorious gardens. Authenticity and honesty is at the heart of Borgo Santo Pietro and both the Valle Serena Restaurant and Treehouse Brasserie offer a fusion of classic and contemporary dishes made by a passionate team of skilled chefs. Using the very best natural produce and seasonal ingredients, many of which are harvested from Borgo’s own farm.

The holistic center of Borgo is the beautiful stone-built spa, which offers an enticing combination of beneficial treatments to soothe the mind, body and soul. Or, for utter relaxation, an enticing freshwater infinity pool rests gently amidst the grounds overlooking the Valle Serena, perfect for a gentle swim as the sun goes down beyond the rolling Tuscan hills.

If total relaxation seems like too much of a good thing, then Borgo offers a bespoke concierge service where activities and excursions can be designed to suit your personal requirements. Try a cooking class with the head chef, a wine tasting session in the intimate cellar, hunt for truffles in the forest, view Tuscany from the air or hire a Vespa and explore the medieval cities beyond the gates of Borgo Santo Pietro. One thing is certain however, Borgo Santo Pietro is the perfect place to spend a luxury weekend in Tuscany.

Borgo Santo Pietro. A luxury weekend in Tuscany

Borgo Santo Pietro offers a truly unique 5 * experience for a luxury weekend in Tuscany. Located in the heart of this wonderful region and set within 13 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, this 13th century Tuscan hamlet takes relaxation and pleasure to an entirely new level.

Borgo’s accommodation combines ultimate luxury with refined elegance and exceptional comfort. The main villa offers opulent ensuite rooms, superior suites and the majestic Santo Pietro Grande Suite. Throughout the beautifully designed country estate you will also find uniquely decorated garden suites, which enjoy private gardens or secluded courtyards.

An elegant villa with a noble history, Borgo Santo Pietro has been lovingly and masterfully restored with the greatest respect to its original heritage. A sophisticated combination of classic and contemporary design provides a timeless and captivating atmosphere within the exquisite interiors and the glorious gardens. Authenticity and honesty is at the heart of Borgo Santo Pietro and both the Valle Serena Restaurant and Treehouse Brasserie offer a fusion of classic and contemporary dishes made by a passionate team of skilled chefs. Using the very best natural produce and seasonal ingredients, many of which are harvested from Borgo’s own farm.

The holistic center of Borgo is the beautiful stone-built spa, which offers an enticing combination of beneficial treatments to soothe the mind, body and soul. Or, for utter relaxation, an enticing freshwater infinity pool rests gently amidst the grounds overlooking the Valle Serena, perfect for a gentle swim as the sun goes down beyond the rolling Tuscan hills.

If total relaxation seems like too much of a good thing, then Borgo offers a bespoke concierge service where activities and excursions can be designed to suit your personal requirements. Try a cooking class with the head chef, a wine tasting session in the intimate cellar, hunt for truffles in the forest, view Tuscany from the air or hire a Vespa and explore the medieval cities beyond the gates of Borgo Santo Pietro. One thing is certain however, Borgo Santo Pietro is the perfect place to spend a luxury weekend in Tuscany.

Ai Weiwei in Florence. The exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi

From 23rd September 2016 to 22nd January 2017, Palazzo Strozzi in Florence hosts Italy’s first major retrospective dedicated to Ai Weiwei, one of the world’s most celebrated and influential contemporary artists, curated by Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi.

A dissident Chinese artist, fighting for freedom of expression, Ai Weiwei is known world-wide as much for his challenging contemporary art practice as for his political activism.

Ai Weiwei invades with his extraordinary creative freedom every space of Palazzo Strozzi: the façade, the courtyard, the Piano Nobile and the Strozzina with iconic monumental installations, sculptures and objects which are symbols of his career, and also  video works and photographic series with a strong effect.

For the first time, Palazzo Strozzi is used as a unitary exhibition space, thus creating an experience which is completely original for its visitors and allowing the Chinese artist to measure himself with a contest rich in historical solicitations and architectural sparks. A new and large installation by the artist interests two façades of the Renaissance building with twenty-two orange rescue rafts made of rubber anchored to the windows of Palazzo Strozzi: a project that draws the attention to the fate of the refugees risking their life every day to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.

The centre of the courtyard is dominated by Refraction instead, a giant metallic wing made of solar panels that is motionless due to its dimensions and weight of over five tonnes. It is an evocative metaphor for the constriction and negation of freedom.

Visitors to the Palazzo will be greeted by Reframe, an architectural intervention covering the 2 main façades of the building with 22 bright orange lifeboats. A project that draws the attention to the lives of the refugees who daily risk their lives to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

“ Hosting a retrospective of this nature in Florence means viewing the city as a modern cultural capital, not simply pegged to the vestiges of its past but able, at long last, to play an active role out in the forefront of artistic developments in our own era.” says Arturo Galansino. “The adjective ‘free’, which gives the title to the exhibition, refers to the freedom regained by Ai Weiwei in 2015, but also to his totally free and creative way in which he has used and interpreted the spaces of Palazzo Strozzi.”

www.palazzostrozzi.org

museo opera duomo firenze

Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo testifies, with its rich heritage, the incredible history behind the Duomo of Florence. The present holy building began being built in the fourteenth century, while before in the same place stood the church of Santa Reparata, built around the fifth century.
This whole story is explained and exhibited in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, which is right behind the apse of Piazza del Duomo 9.
For some centuries the rooms that now house the museum were home to the Opera del Duomo, an institution that had and still has the task of providing maintenance and care of the monumental complex: statues, projects, documents, memorabilia and objects that have formed the nucleus of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo .
After a first enlargement in preparation for the Jubilee in 2000, the exhibition space has since been expanded: now the 25 rooms cover 6,000 square meters on three floors.

The new display dramatically details the reconstruction in actual dimensions of the inferior part of the old facade of the Duomo di Firenze designed by Arnolfo di Cambio exactly as it appeared in some medieval codes. Because of these, it is now possible to admire the positions in which they were originally imagined to be, Florentine sculptures from 300-400 AD. The original doors of the Battistero, Porta del Paradiso and Porta Nord of Lorenzo Ghiberti were positioned in front. Reading the list of the names of the artists whose works are exhibited in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo can be likened to opening a book on Art History, with names such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Arnolfo di Cambio, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, Antonio del Pollaiolo, Luca della Robbia, Andrea del Verrocchio: all great artists who were formed in Florence between the 14th and 16th centuries, who assisted in the construction of the Duomo and whose works are exhibited there today.  To protect and preserve these works from damage from pollution and weather, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo features copies of these works on the outside: the 36 meter Galleria del Campanile di Giotto is now the home to 16 natural sized statues and 54 smaller ones that adorned the belltower.

Even though it was less known to the public than the Uffizi or Pitti museums, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo holds its place as a place of culture. Its new design places it on par with the other principal european museums for both content and exhibition space.

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The Christmas market of Piazza Santa Croce in Florence

The Christmas market of Piazza Santa Croce in Florence has been a regular event in the urban schedule of the city for fifteen years.

Piazza Santa Croce is one of the most evocative squares of Florence, a few steps from River Arno and Palazzo Vecchio and easy to reach even for the public transport. In December, the magnificent marble façade of the Franciscan basilica, to which Foscolo dedicated verses because it stored the remains of great Italians such as Michelangelo and Galileo, acts as the background of the small wooden chalets recreating the northern village that is typical for Christmas.

This year, over 50 exhibitors compose the Christmas market of Piazza Santa Croce that, in spite of its original name being German (Weihnachtsmarkt), gathers perfumes, colours and specialties from all over Europe. Ukrainian Christmas decorations, French cheeses, British jams and Greek delicacies share the room with food and specialty of the Germanic area, from the ever-present strudel to the gingerbread. There are also many objects and gift ideas for any price and of any material and dimension, which are appropriate for all tastes and pockets.

Strolling through the Christmas market of Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, which is opened from 10 am to 8 pm every day and until 20th December, means getting lost in an ocean of different colours and perfumes, but which matches with the Christmas atmosphere.

Participating to a celebration for all five senses: listening to the merry people’s speaking in many foreign languages, admiring the decorations, smelling the typical perfumes, tasting the European and Italian specialties, touching with your hands the products. Ultimately, it means to live a celebration atmosphere fully.

Come to the Christmas market of Piazza Santa Croce in Florence and enjoy warm tea, mulled wine, or chocolate, hot and energizing beverages: do not mind the freezing cold, which helps creating the Christmas atmosphere though, and immerse among the wooden chalets. In the joyful din of elder and youth, you will find an object, a gift, something to make your Christmas special surely.

Discover the real “Made in Tuscany” brand and download the famous App for tablets and smartphones  “Made in Tuscany” on Google Play and on Apple Store . The best one for the traveler who wants to discover the real and authentic Tuscany.

Toulouse Lautrec Exhibition in Pisa

Toulouse Lautrec exhibition in Pisa from October 16th 2015 to February 14th 2016, Palazzo Blu.
The long-awaited exhibition “Toulouse-Lautrec. Luci e ombre di Montmartre” will present one of the most significant art figures of the nineteenth century.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a linear designer, penetrating and ruthless in the representation of vices. His ideas came from the circles he frequented in Paris. From these he drew his subjects, recording in his works many details of the lifestyle of nineteenth century bohemian Paris.
Already projected toward expressionism, though linked to E. Degas’ Impressionism, he was very important in the creation and dissemination of “Art Nouveau”.
The movement’s name was taken from a Parisian shop, “Art Nouveau Bing”,
opened in 1895 by Siegfried “Samuel” Bing, who sported some innovative design entities,like furniture, dyes, carpets and art objects. The movement was inspired by the “Arts and Crafts” utopian socialism and ideology of William Morris, who had emphasized the free creativity of the craftsman, giving artistic value to everyday objects, manufactured on the model of medieval craftsmen stimulating in every European country interest in the applied arts.
The name of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is related, in particular, to the production of “posters”.

In 1881, following the abolition of a municipal tax, the streets of Paris had become full of posters giving advertisers free vent to their creativity. After seeing the famous France Champagne Bonnard poster, Toulouse Lautrec became interested in lithography. In his posters, he represented bistros and cabarets of Paris, including the celebrated Moulin Rouge.

Discover the real “Made in Tuscany” brand and download the famous App for tablets and smartphones  “Made in Tuscany” on Google Play and on Apple Store . The best one for the traveler who wants to discover the real and authentic Tuscany.

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