LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE
On January 5, 1589, when Catherine, the great Medici-born queen and regent of France, died of pleurisy at 69 years of age in Blois, just eight months before her son, ...
Over the centuries, history has never been miserly about thrusting odd couples together onto the world stage. Yet, in pre-World War II Italy, one of the strangest pairings was when ...
The turbulent times of the 16th century were dominated by the conflict between Francis I, King of France, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, the spread of the Protestant ...
If you were a part of the English speaking expat community in Florence in the latter half of the 1800s and needed a chaperone or a place to stay or were ill or simply wanted a shoulder to cry on, more than likely you called Isabella Blagden for help.
In 1901, when Baron Charles Alexander de Cosson and his family arrived in Florence, he had planned to stay for only two months. Instead, he would remain there for the ...
The powerful Albizi family whose German roots dated to the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III made its considerable fortune out of importing and selling French wool and ...
Recognised as the father of American illustration, Howard Pyle forever changed the way we think of our heroes through his vivid, often dramatic black-and-white and colour drawings and paintings, in ...
After Mussolini fell and the armistice had been signed, German troops occupied Florence for almost a year between September 1943 and August 1944. A climate of fear, suspicion and betrayal ...
The Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, a centre for cultural studies now housed at the Warburg Institute in London, is one of the most extraordinary libraries in the world. There is no ...
The name “Latini” has long been synonymous with traditional Tuscan cooking in Florence. For more than a century, four generations of the Latini family have nurtured and championed the best ...
The rich and beautiful of Italy’s fashion world, including Diego Della Valle, Nina Testa Fuerstenberg, Matteo Marzotto and Lapo Elkann, attended the funeral of Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani at ...
Every year, on December 8, a holiday for the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, celebrations in piazza Duomo officially begin the festive season in Florence. The mayor, Dario Nardella, ...
Eminent Italian Renaissance scholar, author and professor of art history Frederick Hartt visited Florence many times during his life, but on two particular occasions he came to help the city ...
Opera tenor Andrea Bocelli is a global superstar who today would rank high up in any list of famous living Italians. As classical music’s top-selling artist, with over 80 million ...
Foppish dandy Eustace Tilley, with his exaggerated top hat, morning coat and high-collared shirt who scrutinises a pretty butterfly through his monocle, has been the mascot of The New Yorker ...
A short street named for Italian World War I patriot Cesare Battisti runs between two of the most important piazze in Florence, San Marco and Santissima Annunziata. Most of us ...
After four years in the fashion wilderness, designer John Galliano finally returned to the catwalks, first in London and then in Paris. Formerly head designer for Christian Dior, in 2011 ...
For some, it may have seemed like a normal February weekend in Florence, with some spectacular spring weather and a good crowd of both locals and tourists downtown. But to ...
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bagni di Lucca, a spa town not far from Lucca, was much loved by foreigners, some of whom were passing through, while others settled there permanently. The English Cemetery there holds the remains of many interesting and illustrious expats. If you go, look
A student in Florence when the flood hit, Diana Daffner (formerly Weinberg) shares her experiences of looking down from her Arno-side apartment as the water rose and ravaged the Ponte ...
In May 2015, using the Italian verb rottamare (‘to scrap’)—a catchphrase that Matteo Renzi used in his election campaign to indicate it was time for the old guard of politicians to make way for the new—Oscar Farinetti, founder and owner of the up-market
In commemoration of the 1966 flood, The Florentine is interviewing the city’s Mud Angels, the individuals who responded to the disaster, tirelessly retrieving muddied manuscripts and soiled artworks, knee-deep in ...
The week after Ferragosto is curiously quiet in Florence, but while the locals have deserted the city in search of water fights on Tuscany’s beaches, Florence’s hotels are still busy welcoming guests from all over the world. The Florentine met with Beatrice Grassi, president of Consorzio
On July 20, 2015, 80-year-old Italian avant-garde fashion designer Elio Fiorucci died at his home in Milan. After a funeral at Milan’s basilica of San Carlo, a stone’s throw from his historic shop near piazza San Babila, his remains were interred at the
