To encourage trade through the port of Livorno, Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici passed an edict in 1595 that allowed freedom of religion to all merchants. Soon, an English ...
It was the sunniest of Florentine mornings when I sat down in the vestry with Reverend Richard Easterling and his husband David Wohlgemuth. Richard is the new priest-in-charge of St. ...
Standing on the piazzale Michelangelo on a painterly grey afternoon, I see an oxidized green dome not quite towering above the rest, just being “present”. I wonder about its construction, ...
It’s a sunny-but-chilly winter morning in Florence and a small group of Quakers—formally known as the Religious Society of Friends—is warming up inside Sylvia Hetzel’s apartment. The fledgling family, founded ...
Florence’s Jewish community continues to flourish, welcoming locals and tourists to participate in events and cultural rites that are embedded into the city’s fabric. Here is The Florentine’s guide to Jewish Florence, from the remains of the ghetto to the synagogue, kosher food and hidden cemeteries.
Shop windows are stacked high with chocolate eggs, colomba cakes are crowding supermarket shelves and spring is in full swing: it must be Easter in Florence! From the most somber moments of Holy ...
You are approaching the Russian church when you glimpse one central onion-shaped dome and four smaller ones with turquoise, green and white majolica.
If you’re celebrating Christmas in Florence this year and attending mass is important to you, here are the dates and times of the services at the city’s English-speaking churches. Buon ...