Exhibits & Events

Here are some first photos from the 2010 edition of "Fiera del Cioccolato Artiginale" in Piazza Santa Croce:

Here are some photos from this year's ceramics fair, the "Fiera della Ceramica", in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. This is an annual event that takes place the first weekend of October and is organized by the Arte della Ceramica.

I have highlighted the work of German artist Heiner Bauer who is one of my favorites year after year. His studio is called BABELKERAMIK. Heiner recently secured some new studio space in Italy - I need to get the details from him.

There are also pieces by Stefano Innocenti (no website!) and others.

September is a prime time of year to taste wine in and around Florence and the rest of Tuscany - the vineyards throughout the region are busy with the harvest and the towns are buzzing with activity. There are several festivals and tastings that happen this month every year - below we talk about just a few of them in the Chianti Classico region and Florence.

We went to one of the biggest this weekend in Greve, the Chianti Classico Wine Festival or "Rassegna del Chianti Classico" - sorry I didn't write about it before it took place! It is usually the second weekend in September every year though, so you can plan on that in the future. The weather (cool and lots of rain) kept the crowd down a bit this year, but made it easier for us to get to the wines we wanted to taste. This year the tasting glass was 10 Euro, which included 8 samples - 4 from the producer stalls, and 4 from the wine bar. It was more than enough - we actually gave our tickets away with a couple of punches left, and often people won't even punch your card if you are sampling more than one wine at a stand or take the time to spend a few minutes with the producer. This event takes place in Greve's charming and historic triangular main square, Piazza Matteotti.

Next weekend (the third weekend in September every year for the past dozen years or so) is one of my favorites wine tastings - the Vino al Vino festival in Panzano. Many of Panzano's producers are at this event - the quality of the wine is very high, and the mood is festive. The event is held in the small square of Piazza Bucciarelli that is right along the 222 as you come into Panzano from the north or south - it is hard to miss and even harder to park!

And the following weekend (September 26, 27, 28) there is the newer Florence Wine Event that takes place in several locations in the Oltrarno - Piazza Pitti, Piazza Santo Spirito and Piazza della Passera. At this year's festival some of the best Italian and Tuscan wine makers will be presenting their wines from the regions of Chianti, Bolgheri, and Brunello di Montalcino, along with white wines from the northern regions. You can acquire your wine tasting glass with a brochure at one of the two "Glass Points" and spend the day wandering around and sampling some amazing wines. A few of our favorites on the list this year: Fattoria di Rignana, Petra, and Casale dello Sparviero.

The exhibit "Painting Light: Hidden techniques of the Impressionists" at the Palazzo Strozzi will come to end on September 28, 2008

Painting Light: Hidden techniques of the Impressionists
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi 11 July - 28 September 2008

Info: +39 055 2645155

Opening hours:
Daily 9 a.m - 8 p.m
Thursday 9 a.m - 11 p.m
Last admission to the exhibition 1 hour before closing

Admission
Full € 10,00
Reduced € 8,50 € 8,00 € 7,50
Schools € 4,00

This year is the 25th Biennale of the Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell'Antiquariato, the oldest antique fair in Italy and one of the most important of its kind in the world.

The fair will be held from September 29th to October 7th, 2007 in the aristocratic setting of Palazzo Corsini.

If you are in Florence this weekend there is a wine tasting event centered around the Piazza Pitti and other locations of the oltrarno (the other side of the Arno). €10 for the glass will get you 16 tastes from many popular wineries. We suggest trying the following: Casale dello Sparviero (a small producer from Castellina), Castello del Teriiccio, Il Borro and Villa Mangiacane. There is more information here.

They are gearing up for the Florence Biennale already (it is six months away - so put it on your calendar!):

"The sixth edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic Fortezza da Basso from 1st - 9th December, 2007. This year's edition will include, as honoured guests, the acclaimed artists Gilbert & George and from the White Cube Gallery London, Tim Marlow. Gilbert & George will be awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize on 4th December."

17th May 2007

7th Edition of Rare Wines, Stage Furnishings and Costumes Auction
to support Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence Opera)

MaggiodiVino Committee organizes the seventh edition of an auction of rare wines and scenery furnishings, that will will take place in Florence on the 17th of May at 7pm at Pagliere Medicee (an old medicean hay loft), Viale Machiavelli, 24.

More information here.

There is an excellent "slow" market set up in Piazza Santa Croce until May 1. We just had a quick lunch there (calzones), with a glass of Mossio Langhe Nebbiolo which was great (I bought a bottle for €14.50). Mossio is a small producer with 10 hectares under cultivation producing about 50,000 bottles a year. There are also many kinds of cheeses, salamis, olives and other fresh and prepared foods available at the market, to eat or take home. Definitely worth a visit and a good place for an affordable lunch or dinner.

Florence's Maggio Musicale Opens With World Premiere of Fedele's Antigone

"Opening night at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale features the world premiere of Antigone, the first opera by Italian composer Ivan Fedele. Michel Tabachnik conducts the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, along with a cast drawn largely from Italy's baroque music specialists: mezzo Monica Bacelli in the title role, bass Roberto Abbondanza as King Creon, tenor Mirko Guadagnini as Haemon, coloratura soprano Chiara Taigi as Ismene, and countertenor Martin Oro as Tiresias."

More here.

There is a really interesting craft fair at the Fortezza da Basso from now until April 22nd:

"Tradition and innovation, pursuing high quality: this is the idea that has always inspired the International Handicraft Fair, ART, and that has enabled this event to celebrate this very year the prestigious target of the 71th exhibition. ART is the shop-window and the market for the unique products of handicraft, coming from Tuscany and from other places as well, which are being shown at the Fortezza da Basso in the spaces of the eight sectors the exhibition is divided into."

There are hand-made items for sale from all over the world: jewelry, carpets from Iran and India, furniture, ceramics, clothing, accessories, and more.

The new exhibit "Cézanne in Florence" at the Palazzo Strozzi is fantastic. A strongly curated show, that is well documented (details on every work in Italian and English, plus some notes specifically for children) and has many amazing works by Cézanne and others. The exhibit is meticulous in laying out the details of the two collectors, Egisto Paolo Fabbri and Charles Alexander Loeser, who first owned most of these paintings.

There is a small antiques market in Fiesole on the first Sunday of the month now through July. At Piazza Mino da Fiesole, from 8:00 am to sunset. Mercato del Piccolo Antiquariato a Fiesole 2007. Phone 800 414 240 or visit www.comune.fi.it (though I couldn't find any more info except the dates in the caledar they have).

The Paperback Exchange will be hosting a children's story hour on the first and third Saturdays of every month - the first Saturday will be appropriate for 4-6 year olds, while the third Saturday will be for 6-8 year olds. The story hours are from 10 to 11am and will be free. I'm unsure whether a reservation will be recommended, so for more information you can call 055-293460. The events are in collaboration with FITC (Florence International Theatre Company) Creative Campus. Study abroad students will read to the children in English - with a focus on " vocabulary building, comprehension... and fun!". The first reading, on March 3rd for 4-6 year olds, will be The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The second book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, will be read to 6-8 year olds on March 17th.

The Paperback Exchange's last children's event was a great success, so we expect this one to be lots of fun too. Ellen

Here is the official URL http://www.cezannefirenze.it for the new Cézanne exhibit which opens Friday, March 2nd at the Palazzo Strozzi. You can book tickets directly on the site (or so it says).

I had a chance Sunday afternoon to see the new Desiderio Da Settignano exhibit (it opened last Thursday) at the Bargello so I took it. This is an important show, drawing on works from the Bargello's own collection, the Lourve, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna among others.

We heard that the state museums (The Uffizi, The Accademia, The Pitti Palace, etc.) were free this Sunday, the 18th (tomorrow) - but I have not been able to find anything about it on the web anywhere. The Italian/Florentine museum websites are pretty notorious for not being up to date unfortunately. We are going to go over to San Marco Sunday anyway to see if it is true.

Update: There is also a Carnevale parade on Sunday starting at 2:00 PM - last year it went from Piazza Ognissanti to Piazza Signoria, the route is probably similar this year. Phone 055 276 8030.

This sounds interesting, from the BBC:

"A painting by the French artist Paul Cezanne that was lost for more than 60 years is to go on show in Italy. The picture disappeared after its last exhibition in 1945, before being found recently in a private collection by art historian Francesca Bardazzi. It will be shown from 2 March as part of an exhibition of Cezanne's work at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. Mr Bardazzi dates the painting, depicting a scene from the New Testament, to between 1860 and 1870. Cezanne is considered a major influence on many 20th Century artists and art movements, particularly Cubism."

Photo credit to the BBC and AFP

From russia-ic.com:

From January 19 to February 18 Florence will be hosting the photo exhibition "The Mirror of Memory" dedicated to the outstanding Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky. The exhibition to be held in the premise of Tarkovsky archive dwells on the roots of creation of Tarkovsky's autobiographical film Zerkalo / The Mirror (1975), many images of which had been inspired by his family photos made in the first half of the last century.

Tarkovsky made one of my favorite films, Nostalghia. The town of Bagno Vignoni, which sits on a hill above the Val d'Orcia just south of San Quirico (map), was a principle location of the film.

One of our favorite English language bookstores, The Paperback Exchange, is hosting children's English language theater every Saturday until Christmas. At the bookstore (located near the Duomo on Via delle Oche), The Florence International Theatre Company will be presenting "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" - a dramatization of the children's book by Tomie de Paola, directed by Amy Folkes (an American expat living in Florence). The show is appropriate for 4-10 year olds (or slightly older) and will take place Saturdays (December 9,16 and 23) at 10am. Entry to the event is free, but seating is limited so they are recommending reservations - you can call The Paperback Exchange at 055-293460 or email papex@papex.it.

Last week was the 40th anniversary of the flood of 1966. A lot of things were going on around town, and many of the exhibits will be up for the next month or so. We have more information up about last weeks events at Florence-Flood.com.

We were at the Comune offices yesterday in the Palazzo Vecchio to get our Carta D'Identita finally (subject of a future post), and got a couple of brochures about the flood and the events planned, etc. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be seen as a tourist event - the Comune site in English does not mention the flood, but on the Italian site they have a link to a great PDF file with all the things planned for the next several weeks. We have an image up of the cover of the booklet on Florence-Flood.com.

UPI is reporting a story they picked up from ANSA:

A new show in Florence, Italy, is set to offer a glimpse into the "poetic" architecture that Michelangelo created during his famed career.

The show is scheduled to open Dec. 16 at Florence's Casa Buonarroti, featuring original architectural sketches from the Italian Renaissance artist that represent Michelangelo's "poetic" style, said the news agency ANSA.

"Michelangelo writes poetry in his architecture," said the show's curator, Howard Burns. "One often comes across verses by the master right next to the architectural drawings, expressing the emotion he felt after inventing such harmonious forms."

There is a much more detailed article from the International Herald Tribune here. The Casa Buonarroti is one of the few museums I have yet to visit and this exhibit sounds like a great reason to go.

From the NY Times:

"The early-Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti spent 27 years creating the monumental gilded bronze doors for the eastern portal of the Baptistery in the Piazza del Duomo in Florence. And it has taken teams of conservators just about as long to restore them.

Their 10 panels depict scenes from the Old Testament, intricately illustrated in high and low relief. When the three-ton, 20-foot-tall doors were completed, in 1452, Michelangelo pronounced them grand enough to adorn the entrance to paradise, and so they became known as “The Gates of Paradise.” They have for centuries been considered one of the masterpieces of Western art.

Now three of the newly restored panels are scheduled to tour North America for the first time, traveling to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in April, and then to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York."

A captivating ancient bronze statue of "Apoxyomenos" is on show at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi until January 2007. This statue is a first century BC copy of a 4th century BC original and was found in about 45 meters of water off the coast of Croatia in 1999. The exhibit has an extensive and detailed presentation of the discovery and conservation of this magnificent antiquity (there are some more photos and information here). Highly recommended if you are here in the next few months. The 5€ admission to the palace also includes the regular museum, including the Gozzoli frescoes.

This weekend is the "Piante e Fiori" show at the agricultural garden (the Giardino dell'Orticultura - site is in Italian only). There will be around 35 exhibitors, and we expect to see some of our friends from the Thursday flower market.

October 7-8, 2006. From 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM - entrance is free. Giardino dell'Orticultura Via Vittorio Emanuele II 4, Villa Bolognese, 17 Firenze. Map

Last weekend there was a really great ceramics fair in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, "Fiera della Ceramica" (the organizers website is under construction). Unfortunately, we didn't know about it until the day of, or we would have told you earlier! Friends of ours know the person who runs the event, and they invited us to it on Saturday. I spent several hours there with the kids, and they got their hands into some clay at a little workshop that was set up for children. Late Saturday night we had dinner with the artists at their hostel, and we went back Sunday and bought some great ceramics - bowls, mugs, an olive oil jar, and a couple of pitchers. Everything is hand made, and the ceramists are from all over Europe. I especially liked the work of Heiner Bauer of Babel Keramik (website in German and Italian), from Dresden Germany - some of which is shown in the photo above. The bowl in the foreground is now holding lemons in our apartment.

This weekend Italy is taking part in "European Heritage Days" which is part of a European wide event organized in part by the Council Of Europe. What this means: state museums, galleries and monuments are free to visit this Saturday and Sunday. More here, in Italian.

On September 7th we took part in our second Festa Della Rificolona. This year Jane and Alice made their own lanterns (with a little help...) and met up with some friends, Clotilde and Olesia. The parade started at Piazza Santa Croce, went past the Signoria, around the Duomo and ended at Piazza Santissima Annunziata. A band led the way, and all the kids and parents followed behind until we reached the final party in the piazza. This year our girls carried lanterns, but next year they say they want the pea shooters!

See our post from last year to learn more about the history and happenings of this annual event. We've also added some new photos to our Rificolona photo album.

Ellen

(ANSA) - Florence, Sept 13 - A rare collection of sketches and designs, including little known works by Renaissance masters, goes on display in Florence later this week.

Preparatory drawings by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo Costa and Filippino Lippi will be exhibited alongside a host of other names from 15th-century Italy.

The exhibition, which opens on Friday, will showcase some 50 designs that are part of a collection built up by Saxony princes in the 1700s and 1800s.